Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
After a series of delays that pushed the project back by several months, Matt Funiciello says he expects to relocate his Rock Hill Bakehouse and Cafe in January to the Shirt Factory annex building in Glens Falls.
“We’re coming, we’re coming!” Mr. Funiciello said, when contacted by The Chronicle.
Mr. Funiciello announced in December of 2018 that he was closing the Rock Hill Cafe in downtown Glens Falls, citing financial strains following a downturn in sales particularly since Labor Day of that year.
In February 2019, he sold the building to Chris and Sara Patten, who have continued operations as the Exchange Street Cafe — with renovations, some menu changes and much of the same staff.
Mr. Funiciello’s Rock Hill bakery and retail store remain at their original site in a small strip mall on Route 9 in Moreau, north of Northway Exit 17.
Mr. Funiciello said Stone Industries purchased that building soon after the December announcement. “They have been very generous landlords,” waiting out the delayed move, he says.
He attributes slower-than-anticipated going at the Shirt Factory to the difficulties of reworking what had been a warehouse space housing large machinery and building supplies into a “vanilla room,” ready to build-in a wholesale bakery and restaurant.
He said the space originally was a railside warehouse for the Nabisco company.
“I’m very happy with the Shirt Factory and all the contractors we have worked with,” Mr. Funiciello said.
He said he had hired cafe staff anticipating a September or October opening at the Shirt Factory.
“We are keeping everyone working at the retail store and in the bakery. But we’ve been carrying that weight a little bit.”
Mr. Funiciello says, “We must have 20 or 30 people come in every day asking when we’re opening. We are every bit as eager to move. We thank everybody for their patience and we’re gratified that people care.”
They plan to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, “with not much takeout or catering,” he said.
The new bakery and cafe will be “100 percent vegan,” Mr. Funiciello notes, reflecting his ethical choice.
He said he’s still creating recipes, touting on Monday a “successful” lasagna he made for his father’s 82nd birthday that he described as “dairy-, meat- and nut-free, also wheat and gluten free.”
They expect the building to be ready in a week, but he said inspections will have to wait until after the holiday season. They’ll open the bakery first, “and the cafe a couple weeks after,” Mr. Funiciello said.
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