The owners have a business that they can completely call their own and has grown with their marriage.
Bruce and Martha Walters first came to Amherst in 1988 to revitalize an ailing cafe in Salzburg Square called Salzburg Cafe. They immediately changed the name to Black Forest Cafe and built their business with very little to start off with.
They found their customers and eventually found a perfect location for their business on Route 101, which at the time was occupied by a sports bar that soon went under. They jumped on the property soon after to establish the cafe location that remains to this day.
The Black Forest Cafe is now a place to sit down for comfort food, pick up a unique snack or stop in for a quick treat at the bakery.
We talked to co-owner Martha Walters about her and her husband’s business and what it is like to operate a higher-end cafe in Amherst.
Patch: What are the biggest rewards of owning your business?
Martha: If you can get in the right mindset and open your ears, you can listen to people say fabulous things and that is really rewarding. When you are in the middle of something, you tend to tune out and get your business face on. You forget that people know and recognize you, but ‘oh my god’ the ice machine exploded and there is ice all over the floor. If you can get past the crises and listen to the positives that come from your customers, you are good. That is why I love Facebook because people say the nicest things!
Patch: What are the biggest challenges?
Martha: The biggest challenge is all the things that aren’t related to running the restaurant, that are not related to putting out food. Things like equipment failure, bad weather, power failures and other issues. Weather and other things out of your control in New Hampshire put a different tweak to running a business. We have perishable product, so if we are closed one day, we are throwing stuff away. It breaks your heart.
Patch: What are the most popular items on your menu?
Martha: The most popular thing is the Black Forest Chicken Salad, which we have been making since we opened 23 years ago. We haven’t changed the recipe and it sells, and sells and sells. We even had a staff contest to see how many pounds we sold last year, and we sold sold 7,700 pounds. That is a lot of chicken salad. We also sell a lot of quiche, chocolate mousse cake and chocolate chip cookies. They are the basics and in our minds they may not be the most creative things, but they are the classic comfort food standbys and that is what people love.
Patch: What is it like to work with your husband?
Martha: It is tricky. We have been married for 28 years and doing this for most of it, but we work at it. Bruce is the creative director. He is the foodie, recipe man, menu planner and creative eye. I am all about the service side of it like the details, customer service, bookkeeping and marketing. It is right brain and left brain work. We step into each others boundaries sometimes, but you have to get rid of the ‘my honey is criticizing me’ mentality and see it for what it is. Somebody is watching while you are not there, because you can’t see it all.
Patch: How would you describe the culture at your business?
Martha: When Bruce and I said we wanted to run a restaurant, we said we would never have an environment like Kitchen Nightmares. It is not screaming and swearing, where the front of the house staff is fighting with the back of the house staff. That is classic restaurant environment and we would have none of it. We want people to work here who feel they can be respected. Working at the average restaurant is hard. It is typically lower wages and bad hours and mean co-employees and you just don’t feel good about it. It is usually a transitional job and we didn’t want to make it a transitional job. If we were going to take this seriously and make it our career, we have to treat our staff with that mentality.
Patch: How does your business fit into the culture of Amherst?
Martha: We are not very trendy and I don’t think people here are following the latest food trends or style trends. We are more of a steady as she goes kind of place and are not just going to make something random because it is hot in New York, because nobody here really cares what is hot in New York. We just focus on really good stuff, make sure it tastes good and have the best customer service we can. We know we are going to see our customers outside of the business and our business is to be honest and forthright.
Patch: What are the plans for the future?
Martha: The size of the property means you can’t expand, so we are limited with what we can do in this facility. However, we are working on providing food and smaller catering for the new Labelle Winery. There will be a small menu that people can order that will pair well with the wines they have. We will also be able to provide food for bridal showers, meetings and even art openings there. We are going to have to hire people if it goes well, and it is going to be busy.
