Lack of Late Night Food

Many St. Lawrence students have shown frustration with the lack of late-night food options in downtown Canton, but they should be careful with where they direct their frustration. Some of the most popular places for students to get food off campus include Indian Express, Sergi’s, Little Italy and McDonalds. The catch? McDonalds, Burger King, and Pizza Hut are the only places that remain open after 10 p.m.  

Some of these issues in restaurant hours are still traced back to covid mandates. “During covid, we were mandated to close at 8 p.m. After that, we tried to stay open, but we didn’t really have any business at all,” said Jessika Furnace, owner of Little Italy Pizza in Canton. “There was business, but not enough business to pay what we pay for payroll hours… it didn’t make sense at all,” Furnace added.  

Aside from the covid aspect, staffing issues also persist in a small town like Canton, regardless of the fact that it is a college town. At Little Italy, they have one pizza maker, one cook, and the owner, Jessika. They all work open to close, every day. “Adding on another four, five, or six hours (to their workday) it just not feasible,” Furnace noted. 

Aside from Little Italy, which closes at 8 p.m. every day that it is open, there are a number of other food spots in town that close early. Sergi’s, Indian Express, JRECK Subs, and KFC all close by 10:00 p.m. every night of the week. The only places that remain open relatively late are McDonalds, Burger King, and Pizza Hut. For college students who may want to eat healthier, those are certainly not the best options.  

Even the places that close a little bit later don’t necessarily see any positive effects of staying open past other businesses. “We’ve only been open since August, so we are still tweaking our hours… but we wanted to get some of the business from the places that close early,” mentioned Marta Kowalski, operations manager at 11 West. “During the week, we’re usually done here by 9:00 or 9:30 p.m.,” Kowalski added, “we stay open until 10:00 p.m. but the majority of our crowd dies out by 9:00 or 9:30 p.m.” 

Both Little Italy and 11 West, one being a pizza shop and the other being a sit-down restaurant, experience similar issues in terms of not having enough late-night business to make extending their hours worth it. Even the manager of 11 West, who originally considered extending her venue’s hours, does not see its benefit anymore. Whether college students like to hear it or not, the underlying reason as to why these local businesses close early is because of the lack of profitability at night.  

And for those students holding out hope on a potential Chipotle or Chick-Fil-A opening up in town, their dreams may be crushed. “The fast-food places have a really tight rubric on how they establish a restaurant, and they would have to see certain demographics and certain population before they commit to a community like ours,” said Mayor of Canton Village, Michael Dalton. “What happens after the school year is over? At that point, those (student) customers disappear for a couple months and that’s hard for a business that ends up depending on a college crowd,” Dalton went on to say. For the foreseeable future, students should not expect a change in business hours of restaurants in town, nor should they hold out hope for any new fast-food spots opening up in Canton.