Posted by Katie Dinarte '24
The staff of the Kraverie has been known to craft creativity through food and music and enact similar behaviors inside the locale. The staff greets and engages in conversations with their consumers. Over time, staff create ‘regular’ relationships—whether it be with a performer, consumer, or even a researcher—encouraging friendly conversations and interactions. This is due to their close relationships with each other, crafting closeness in the small restaurant. Kraverie crafts kinship-like relationships as much as they craft their menu.
The interactions within this space have supported a family-like group, where staff and regular performers and consumers are recognized as a “family” and “close-knit”. Furthermore, viewing how both staff and regulars perceive the space demonstrates the preservation of cultural heritage. The space prior was known as a mom-and-pop store established in the early 1900s by the Scuderi family, immigrants from Italy. Nowadays, Kraverie is run by Michael Gasser, a fourth-generation descendant of the Scuderi family.
Although his restaurant isn’t phenomenally large, Michael Gasser uses the space to create meaningful connections that allow for the diffusion of history and recognition that Kraverie is run by the staff that also depends on their regulars. Additionally, even through generations, the building was kept in the family. Michael Gasser renovated that building in 2008, and it continues its lineage as a commercial business but is also now an art community setting. Kraverie has adapted and created its own identity to be accepted in a neighborhood currently known for art.
References Halligan, Lauren. 2016. “Eatery set to open in Spa City’s Beekman Street district.” The Saratogian. Signor, Lee, and Penelope Jewell. 2008. Dublin revisited: Stories of the West Side, Saratoga Springs, New York. Saratoga Springs, NY: Published by Adirondack Press. Links |