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October 28, 2024
HUDSON – Sometimes in life, things fall into place – almost as if that’s how they were always meant to be.
Chad and Carol Trainor said such was the case with their downtown Hudson-area bistro, Urban Olive & Vine, located at 520 Second St.
A little more than seven years ago, Chad – a chef with 25-plus years of industry experience – and his wife, Carol, were working at Urban Olive & Vine when they said Lady Luck came knocking.
Chad said he had gotten a job there first, but the owner, Kay Timm, was looking for a daytime server.
Carol said her background was in math, science and physics, but she had worked as a server during her college days and thought it might be nice to get back into the restaurant/hospitality industry.
“I applied for the position, and about a month after Chad had started, I began working there as well,” she said.
The couple said that set them on a course that would forever change their lives.
From employees to owners in short order
The couple said Timm wanted to get out of the restaurant business and focus solely on retail instead.
“She had already set the wheels in motion for her own retail store, coincidentally, just a little way down from where the restaurant is located,” they said.
From there, Carol said Timm broached the subject of taking over the restaurant with them, and the decision to buy the business came to them pretty easily.
“Buying it was a good fit for us,” she said. “We live right up the street, and our kids were out of the house. Kay wanted out, and we were looking to take over. The stars just kind of aligned.”
Carol said this December, it will be seven years since they bought Urban Olive & Vine.
Time for some changes
When they took over, the Trainors said the changes they made were subtle and gradual and seemed natural to both customers and employees.
“We were pretty much running the place already anyway because Kay was busy getting her other business started – except for handling the books and so forth – so we were pretty much doing the bulk of the day-to-day management and operations,” Carol said. “So it wasn’t a huge shock for customers when we took over as the new owners.”
The decision to not make a lot of changes as soon as the ink on the sales agreement had dried, Carol said, was a conscious one.
“We decided to slowly expand on the things that had been working,” she said. “With the things that weren’t working all that well, we slowly started to weed them out. The bones were already here, so we slowly made those small changes – but we also wanted to bring our own vision to the restaurant and retail part of the business.”
The couple said their vision centered around expanding menu offerings, especially having more items for people with food allergies or who were trying to eat more ethically.
This, Carol said, included vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free foods options – as well as adding more retail items to those they were already selling.
“I personally have a lot of food allergies, so that’s something that’s near and dear to me – to be sensitive about and care for people who can’t eat particular things and being careful also not to cross-contaminate,” she said. “We’ve also had a lot of employees over the years who were vegetarian or who had celiac disease, and they would give us ideas. That helped us think about and create new menu items. They’ve been a good resource. We have some good carnivore items, too. We love to give everyone several choices, not just one or two.”
A peek at the menu
Among the items served at Urban Olive & Vine, Carol said, are various salads, soups, quiches, sandwiches and wraps.
One of the restaurant’s signature items, she said, is the quiche – “we always have three types or flavors of quiche in the building at all times.”
“We offer a spicy, a non-spicy and a vegetarian option,” she said. “There’s probably 30 quiches in the building at any given time, but customers can order from three at any time. When we’ve sold out of one, we go on to the next. We just keep rotating through them. We may change the flavors of quiche in the middle of lunch if we’ve run out.”
Carol said that’s one of the reasons they don’t offer any online ordering for customers.
“We’re kind of low-tech, old-school like that,” she said. “When we sell out of one we move on to the next. That would be hard to keep up with online. All our quiches are gluten-free.”
As for soups, Carol said the tomato basil bisque gluten-free is one of their signature soups, as is the mushroom and caramelized onion and brie soup.
“Vegan soup is available upon request,” she said.
Unlike many other restaurants, Carol said they don’t offer a lot of common food found at other establishments – such as burgers, fries and Friday fish.
“This is a very old building, and we don’t have the ventilation to put in fryers,” she said. “So you have to get creative with what you can make on a flat-top heating source or a panini grill. That’s why we don’t have burgers or fries or any of those kinds of items.”
Not only did Carol and Chad expand the various sauces, dips and jams they use in their recipes in the restaurant, they are also available for purchase among the different retail items the establishment has.
“If people like an item, they can grab the sauce we used – or whatever it might be – off the wall and buy it to use at home,” Carol said.
Carol said something else that sets Urban Olive and Vine apart from many other restaurants is that customers’ dogs are allowed on their outdoor patio.
“Under Timm’s ownership, there were a few menu options for people’s canine friends, but we’ve taken those offerings to the next level,” she said.
The “Yappy Hour” menu includes two different size dog biscuit options, a rawhide alternative, homemade doggy meatballs, puppaccinos, frozen yogurt dog treats and pigs ears.
“As a beverage choice for dogs, Urban Olive & Vine offers ‘Bowser Beer,’ which isn’t actually beer, but the name has a nice ring to it,” Carol said. “Bowser Beer is a non-alcoholic broth made specifically for dogs and contains glucosamine to help promote healthy joints.”
Carol said a lot of people bring their dogs to hang out on the patio – some even bring their dogs to help celebrate their birthdays.
“The uncovered outdoor patio is open seasonally and weather-permitting,” she said.
Retail items and more
Carol said at one point, the space occupied by Urban Olive & Vine was home to a bookstore, so the walls had a lot of shelves that neither Timm nor the Trainors have removed.
Instead, she said they used the shelving to hold the various retail items the restaurant sells.
Carol said retail items include different types of craft items made by local artisans, such as paintings, cutting boards, handmade cards and jewelry, which are sold on commission.
“Friday and Saturday nights we feature live music for a couple of hours,” she said. “It varies between a solo act, a duet or a trio. If the weather is nice, music is featured on the patio. If it’s raining or during winter, they play inside in the front dining room.”
Carol said there’s no cover charge to listen to music.
“It’s just to provide some background music for people while they’re dining,” she said. “It’s a lot of jazzy, folksy-type musicians, mostly from the Minneapolis/St. Paul area or the local Hudson area. We have regular musicians who play here every month or two and they have a nice following in the area.”
On other occasions, the couple said they offer painting classes instructed by Audrey Martin, who is one of the artists who sells her work at the restaurant.
“People can order something to eat and even drink wine while they paint,” Carol said. “There’s no need to be skilled with an artist’s paintbrush. Martin walks them through the painting process, step-by-step, so even if you know nothing about art, it makes for an enjoyable evening to come and take the class, enjoying something to eat, a glass of wine and the ambiance at the same time. (Martin) has been doing this here for years, even before we took over.”
COVID-19 pandemic was a ‘wild ride’
The Trainors said though Urban Olive & Vine had to close partly during the COVID-19 pandemic, they didn’t have to close completely, which helped keep things going.
“We offered carry-out only for several months, but then we were able to allow limited seating before transitioning back to pre-COVID status,” Carol said. “It was enough to keep us going… We kept the people who really depended on their jobs here to pay their bills. They became phone answerers, food packers and whatnot. It was difficult, but it was enough for us to stay afloat.”
Carol said supply-chain issues also hampered the restaurant.
“We had trouble with certain items for some time – like to-go boxes that we couldn’t get for a few weeks or a particular menu item we couldn’t get for months,” she said. “If the supply chain didn’t allow us to find certain menu items, we apologized to customers and told them we had to take the item off the menu until we could get that item back in stock. It was inconvenient, certainly, but not terrible, or overwhelmingly so.”
Carol said prices also went up during that time – “understandably so.”
“Prices went up everywhere and for everything, especially for supplies,” she said. “You just have to adjust your costs, in some ways, to accommodate for that. And people have come to expect it and are used to it. Nobody really even blinks an eye.”
Carol said the restaurant is fully staffed again averaging about 30 part-time employees, most of whom are teenagers.
“We pride ourselves on our mentorship of teenagers,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of really awesome young people. Most of them have no experience working or working in a restaurant, so we give them the tools they need. They also help teach each other, too. It also helps them build some leadership skills.”
When they’re not working, Chad and Carol said they like to go out to eat.
“When downtown Hudson is busy, it’s better for everybody – everyone benefits from it,” Carol said.
For hours and additional information, visit the restaurant’s website at UrbanOliveAndVine.com.
