AUBURN — Finger Lakes Business Services Inc. (FLBS), a firm that operates its answering services for businesses, has expanded its headquarters in Auburn, moving into a space a neighboring tenant had vacated.

FLBS also acquired the telephone-answering service operations from Watertown–based S.T.A.T. Communications Inc. and has launched an answering-service call center in Watertown.

The company made both announcements in separate news releases issued in mid-July.

FLBS, headquartered at 42 Westlake Ave. in Auburn, offers answering service, call center, message center, and paging-center services.

FLBS has had “organic growth that results in just the need to have … a few more operator stations, a few more administrative staff,” says Gardner McLean, company president. McLean spoke with CNYBJ on Aug. 6.

McLean is the firm’s majority owner, while Ray Schremp, company vice president of operations, is the minority owner, according to McLean. He declined to disclose each man’s specific percentage of ownership.

The company now operates in a 4,000-square-foot space, having added 1,000 square feet with the expansion, he says. 

A physical-therapy office moved to a larger facility, creating in the vacancy, according to McLean. 

Active Physical Therapy Solutions moved to a new building at 91 Columbus St., according to a December 2014 newsletter posted on its website. The company also confirmed FLBS moved into its space, following an email inquiry from CNYBJ.

A contractor “gutted” the walls and created a new, larger space for our answering-service staff, which FLBS refers to as “agents,” according to McLean. 

The work in Auburn enabled FLBS to expand from 11 agent stations to 21, “so we also doubled the agent staff” and constructed four offices, including one that’s used as a conference room, he says.

FLBS and WST33, LLC, which owns the building, handled the renovation cost, which totaled about $90,000. 

Fritz Construction of Auburn completed the renovation work, McLean notes. The renovation work started in January and the company has finished “most” of the project.

“The operational side of the business [has] been in there for a couple months now,” says McLean. 

FLBS will also move an administrative employee into the renovated space within a month, he added.

Watertown acquisition

FLBS closed on its purchase of the answering-service portion of S.T.A.T. Communications Inc. on Sept. 25, 2014. 

“We … jointly operated it until … late May, which was when we converted everything over to our computer system,” he says. 

McLean declined to disclose the acquisition cost.

S.T.A.T. listed [the] service for sale with Trout Creek, Montana–based TAS Marketing Inc., a broker that specializes in answering services that are up for sale and one with which McLean has a “connection.” 

“So the broker contacted me, asking if I was interested,” he adds. 

AnswerWatertown started operations under AnswerUSA on Oct. 1, 2014, even though the staff and management were mixed at that time. 

“We started building the customers and marketing under that name,” McLean says.

FLBS first launched its AnswerUSA Group division in 2010, he adds.

FLBS is renting an 850-square-foot space at 44 Public Square in Watertown, where eight of the company’s 70 employees work.

“We chose that because it’s directly above the S.T.A.T offices and made for an easier process of migrating customers to our system,” McLean says.

The firm is looking for a new space “preferably” in downtown Watertown, he adds.

The Watertown location represents the 11th operation that FLBS has acquired. 

It has previously purchased New York operations in Auburn, Ithaca, Syracuse, Oswego, and Rome. 

FLBS also acquired out-of-state operations in Brandon, Florida; and Steamboat Springs, Greeley, and Hotchkiss in Colorado, according to its news release.                      

SYRACUSE — The Armory Square restaurant, most recently known as Small Plates Detroit, has closed for renovation work but plans to reopen under a new name and restaurant concept next month.

Aster Pantry & Parlor will open in mid-September at 116 Walton St. in Syracuse — a location that also was once home to PJ’s Pub & Grill and PJ Dorsey’s.

The Small Plates Detroit owners wanted a concept in Syracuse “that really fits the location, the area, the region,” says Jonathan Gregory, VP of operations for Syracuse–based RainDog Hospitality Group, which owns the restaurant. He spoke with CNYBJ on Aug. 11.

Small Plates Detroit closed on Aug. 1 and plans to reopen under the new name and concept on Sept. 12, Gregory says. 

Gregory contends the Small Plates format “was successful,” but the owners believed they could do “something very special” with a regional flair at the restaurant.

“We all liked Small Plates, but I think that we really had an opportunity in Syracuse to do something very special, and it felt right to take advantage of that situation,” says Gregory.

When asked if the business has any concern about customer confusion with another name change, Gregory says he has no concern about that.

Aster Pantry & Parlor will have a menu that is “regionally inspired with creative flair that is cross cultural,” according to Gregory.

He says Aster will have fine-dining level service and fine-dining level food because the guests “deserve that.”

The renovation work doesn’t involve “knocking down walls” but does focus on “aesthetic things,” says Gregory.

Jacobs Architectural Woodworking and Kingdom Hardwood Floors are two of the companies working on the ongoing renovations inside the restaurant, he says.

When asked about the renovation costs involved, Gregory didn’t provide a specific dollar figure but noted it does involve “a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.”

Owners Todd Wenzel and Patrick Danial started thinking about the change earlier in the year, and hired Gregory as the firm’s vice president of operations in May.

Wenzel is CEO of RainDog Hospitality Group. Besides the restaurant, Danial is also the co-founder of Terakeet Corporation, an Armory Square firm that focuses on “engagement marketing technologies,” according to its website.

When asked about the restaurant’s name, Gregory says Aster comes from the “widely grown” wildflower in Central New York.

The parlor side, where patrons will consume snacks and drinks, will have a “Victorian” theme, he says. The pantry side of the eatery will combine elements of both the urban feel of the city and the rural of its suburbs, he adds.

“We have such a big space that it almost makes sense to … separate them,” he says.

Aster will employ between 50 and 100 full and part-time employees. They include Damien DiPietro, who will serve as the restaurant’s executive chef.

Gregory hired DiPietro, having been familiar with his work through their involvement with the Philadelphia–based STARR Restaurants. 

DiPietro, 30, who lives in Philadelphia, has been working with chefs since he was a teenager in New Jersey, he says. DiPietro spoke with CNYBJ on Aug. 11.

Gregory grew up in Albany and married a woman from Cazenovia, he says.

He previously worked for about 10 years for STARR Restaurants, which describes itself as “one of the largest multi-concept restaurant companies in the country,” according to its website. STARR Restaurants operates restaurants in the New York City and Philadelphia areas that include Buddakan, Morimoto, The Continental, and Barclay Prime.