Lobster rolls, hot dogs and free s’mores are on the menu at Tanners Boathouse. Ice skating is coming in winter.

“I’m a workaholic,” says Ryan Chadwick. This is his explanation for why, given that he has already amassed a portfolio of top restaurants in New York City and vacation spots like Montauk, Nantucket, and Aspen, he’s also currently revitalizing the low-key Catskill mountain town of Tannersville.

Chadwick recently reimagined and opened lobster shack Tanners Boathouse, hosted an artisan market in a Main Street storefront (one of two he is leasing), is working on launching $2 trolley rides this summer to make up for a lack of local public transportation, and is in the process of seeking approval for a drive-through coffee and donut spot across from Williams Lumber.

“I like learning new things I haven’t worked on before and I like doing it from scratch,” he says.

Business isn’t what initially drew Chadwick to Tannersville, population 858, in 2019. He came pre-pandemic from New York City to visit a friend, staying at the Deer Mountain Inn. He and his wife fell in love with the location.

He grew up in Maine, she in Connecticut, and they met in Aspen.

“We like skiing. It’s easier to get to Tannersville than to Aspen,” he says. So they bought some land. And then, as with many other upstate-curious New Yorkers, the pandemic fast tracked their plans to spend more time in the Hudson Valley.

Not one to sit still, even as the world around him shut down, Chadwick came up with ideas for the new wave of tourism he’s hoping to attract to his adopted town.

First he launched a glamping project with safari tents. “That did really well,” he says. For his next hospitality project, he wanted a waterfront property. When he saw the local boathouse was closed, he approached its owner, the village of Tannersville.

“I said, ‘Let me activate it and I will take it from there and come up with different ideas — not just the boathouse but for the pavilion and the lake itself,’” he recalls.

The village agreed to let him reconceptualize the space.

He opened Tanners Boathouse in September with a revamped menu, a plan, and a party. There were a few bands and some local vendors from an artisan market he also launched (selling wares like lotions, candles, and leather goods).

“A lot of the community showed up. It was a good turnout,” he says. This included Tannersville’s longtime mayor, Lee McGunnigle. “I think it’s a great partnership,” says McGunnigle, who can walk to the boathouse to dine with his wife.

At first, the Boathouse was meant to be a summer thing, when weekend tourism for hiking and biking balloons. But then Chadwick heard ice skating is popular, so he scrambled to find local staff (not easy these days), and is keeping the Boathouse open year-round — Wednesday through Sunday this winter.

So far the gamble is good. Chadwick says he’s doing a strong local lunch business, even in winter. The menu is planned to attract locals and tourists alike. Yes, there’s a $26 lobster roll, but there’s also a $3.50 hot dog and a $6 burger. The decks of cards on every table and board games by the fire are for all. So are the free s’mores and hot chocolate outside by the firepit.

Whenever the temperature cooperates enough for the ice to freeze, Chadwick has lights ready for night skating on Lake Rip Van Winkle. There’s a bar, too, with local beer. Chadwick says it wasn’t hard to obtain a liquor license.

Glamping in the Catskills: View listing here

Inside one of the tents at the glamping site run by Chadwick in Tannersville.

Some town planning boards across the Hudson Valley are notoriously tricky for newcomers to navigate, but apparently not in Tannersville.

“The town planning board is super business friendly. I have had a great time dealing with all of the people there. I want other restaurants and hotel people to come here. There’s a lot of opportunity to create some really cool fun things for everyone,” he says.

Mayor McGunnigle credits Chadwick for moving fast and following rules. “He has been very accountable on an amazing level. He is bright and he supports regulation and review. I think that’s really vital. Sometimes public entities can be deficient in their own processes and frustrate private investment,” he says.

McGunnigle has worked hard to make sure Tannersville has clear rules in place to create a level playing field for private industry wanting to be part of the village, which he says has tens of thousands of people traveling through it “all of the time.”

“As a private partner thus far, [Chadwick] is very well respected. He does what he says he is going to do very efficiently and quickly,” says McGunnigle.

The trolleys Chadwick purchased for the new transportation service coming to Tannersville in summer 2022.

Tannersville recently received a $10 million downtown revitalization grant, some of which will touch the waterfront. Come summer, Chadwick hopes the community will return to the beach at Lake Rip Van Winkle to swim — and rent the Boathouse’s canoes and paddleboards. There’s a playground where he envisions having ice cream for kids.

“The village of Tannersville hasn’t been able to find a lifeguard. I want to get that beach open,” he says.  

Chadwick, who sees himself as a problem solver, is also planning on operating several trolleys up and down the mountaintop to bring people from various nearby hiking trailheads, including the popular North-South Lake Campground, Kaaterskill Falls, and Palenville to Tannersville. This will help with road congestion and mean people can enjoy a few beers and not worry about driving.

Chadwick purchased the trolleys, but the revitalization grant will support the system of how they will run, including bus stops, according to the mayor.

To staff his various projects, Chadwick is committed to hiring locally. He’s also launching a small town revitalization internship program with his alma mater, Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. He’ll house six students in  and they’ll get school credit in their respective business and marketing programs. Maybe one can even be a lifeguard.

Chadwick hopes his ideas spark other entrepreneurial ventures. His Tannersville businesses so far are small footprint concepts, easy to run, with low labor overhead. He’s trying them all out to see if they can grow.

“I have seven restaurants. I don’t have that kind of bandwidth. But a coffee store with two or three employees?” That he can do — as long as the planning board approves.

Keenly aware of gentrification as well as a lack of affordable housing locally, Chadwick isn’t looking to sell lattes and cappuccinos. His coffee will be “super affordable.” But he’s clearly not anti-growth. He wants to see local buildings that have been empty of homeowners or tenants for multiple decades demolished or cleaned up.

“That doesn’t do justice for anyone,” he notes. His version of growth involves balance. “If all of your Main Street is turned into an Airbnb, then what do you have left? It’s a slippery slope.”

These days, Chadwick still lives in New York City and travels a lot for work, but he considers Tannersville his home base, having spent much of the past six months there to get projects like the Boathouse off the ground.

“I have been looking for something like this for a long time in my career. I have found a town and I am really happy to grow some roots.”

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A born-and-bred New Yorker who spent childhood weekends and summers all over the Hudson Valley, Alexandra Zissu transplanted fully to New Paltz in 2013 with her family to be close to the farms that feed them-the best move ever. Waking daily to a view of the Gunks sustains her. She's obsessive about family meal, loves trying to grow vegetables with her two girls, talks to trees as she walks in the woods, fosters kittens, and has written six books, all about the environment and health.