LEEDS — Each morning before employees at Scotti’s Drive-in off Haydenville Road lift the partition that covers the eatery’s order window, signaling to early-bird customers that the shop is open, linksmen begin hauling their golf bags up to the adjoining Meadowcrest Golf Range for some early work on their game.
The popular drive-in and golf range, an establishment that for years enjoyed its status as the freshest fast foodery in the Valley, is now retooling its reputation as a kickback for families who like to pair their quality time with a lobster roll.
The drive-in boasts a new bar space, which was inaugurated after Scotti’s received its beer and wine license in April. The bar features prominently on the business’s roadside letter board encouraging passers-by to grab a beer alongside an order of Scotti’s famous Leeds burger.
The bar owes its shiny new fixtures to its new owner, Larrat Williams, who bought the business and land in May from Amanda Ashton for an undisclosed amount. Williams uses the pronoun “they.”
A Mississippi native who has lived most recently in the Hartford area, Williams said they surprisingly feel “not far from home” in Leeds, where Scotti’s purchases its produce from local vendors and small farmers reminiscent of Williams’ agricultural upbringing. An insurance expert licensed in Massachusetts, Williams continues to work in that business in the offseason.
“I’ve always felt welcomed in Northampton, and, at the end of the day, buying Scotti’s wasn’t about becoming a millionaire, it was really about doing the right thing and having fun — it’s a lot of hard work, but it’s a lot of fun, and it’s just a great feeling being here,” says Williams, who on a recent morning was hauling an old cash register to a nearby pickup truck before customers begin trickling in.
Like much of the equipment at Scotti’s, which opened in 1990 under its previous owner and namesake Scott Brisson, the stalwart register has served its time.
Employees began adjusting to cashless transactions this season, when Williams expanded Scotti’s capacity for card-based transactions to include the driving range, which used to accept cash only.
Going paperless, Williams said, inevitably shortchanged kitchen staff who are accustomed to receiving tips, but a salary increase made possible by profits from the eatery’s extended hours more than compensated for the hit — employees’ base salaries now start at $19 an hour and reach $27 an hour with tips, Williams says.
While Williams has avoided making gratuitous changes to the business — the menu, for example, remains untouched — kitchen staffer Lacey Sanderson said targeted tweaks have already helped grease the operation.
Sanderson, a lifelong Williamsburg resident and devout Scotti’s patron, has worked in the culinary industry for about 15 years, but it’s her first season as an employee at the local haunt.
She begins chopping, mincing, stocking, and firing up fryers and grills four hours before the day’s first customers crop up under Scotti’s metal awning, and her prep period has doubled since the restaurant’s closing time was pushed back from 3 to 8 p.m.
Williams hired a large cohort of new recruits this season to shoulder the expanded workload, but Scotti’s 200-square-foot kitchen still presents a challenge with seven employees inside it.
Sanderson, who worked a food preparation job during her first pregnancy, has known dysfunctional kitchens, ones that overtax their limited staff — and Scotti’s isn’t one of them.
“We extended our hours, but we also hired a bunch of new people, so nobody’s killing themselves, nobody’s overworked, and whenever someone calls in [to take time off], we can still function,” she said.
She envisions the establishment adopting a daily special before the season ends in October — the business is open from spring to fall. It’s an idea she’s peddled to her co-workers as an opportunity for cooks to exercise creative liberty behind the grill.
On the menu, Sanderson recommended the Scotti’s buffalo chicken sandwich. Off the menu, she pitched a teriyaki burger as a potential daily special. She also mentioned the menu could benefit from an additional side dish: cole slaw, a crowd favorite.
Williams’ vision for Scotti’s also transcends tradition. They’re currently exploring a partnership with the Northampton Department of Recreation to sponsor golf lessons at the driving range and introduce footgolf, an amalgam of soccer and golf, to the community.
They also imagine sectioning off a portion of the land to cultivate a community garden and start rotating crops, and they emphasize the need to retrofit the facility and make Scotti’s more energy efficient, replacing propane-reliant equipment with a cleaner operation powered by solar energy.
Williams, whose grandparents owned a dairy farm, said properly managing the land and its carbon footprint is paramount.
“Land is so important to me, we are located right by an agricultural preserve, by conservation land, and I think we need to honor that promise we make to the state because land is scarce,” they said.
Leeds locals can also look forward to potential movie nights at the drive-in. The possibilities, Williams said, are endless.
