Northport Biz Q&A: Changing Times Ale House

In our new weekly feature, Patch gets out into the business community to get a feel for the pulse of small business in Northport. This Thursday we stopped in at in East Northport to speak with manager Bobby Hyde as his sports bar steadily filled with locals awaiting the Knick's first half finale.

What's the biggest attraction here? Now it's all our food. Over the last four or five years since Tommy Plitt's become the chef, it's really stepped up big time. We still have our great sporting events, like tonight you come here and it's gonna be Knick's mania. I've gotten so many revservations for the Knicks today if Jeremy Lin would break his leg I think I'd be happy about it-- I'm tired of hearing about him. The guy's had seven good games in his career and it's like he's a folk hero!

How many chicken wings have you ever sold at once? This Super Bowl Sunday we probably sold about 26,000 wings. About 60 percent was to go. We set up a tent in the backyard, we have a register out there, people call starting in the beginning of the week. They just keep bangin' out wings.

How many TV's do you have in here? I think there're about 48, including one in the men's room...Come on, guy's don't like to miss a play! But I have had girls complain that there's no TV in the ladies room. It's kind of small so I don't know where we'd put it.

What's the electric bill like? Fugghedaboutit! If we had to pay it at home we wouldn't be able to afford it. It's big-- let's just say the gas and the electric are probably even.

Have you seen a change in how customers spend their money since the recession? People who used to tip well might not tip as well as they used to, but, spending wise, they still come in and spend the way they always did. This business, knock on wood, has been good for us. But we don't have Hooters on the corner, we don't have Kodiak's like on 110. We don't have a million places around here to compete with.