During World War II, moms would send their soldier sons care packages filled with baked goods and smoked sausage and fresh wool socks and reminders of home.
Michael Coris got something a little more substantial ”“ a letter from his mom telling him he was the proud owner of an abandoned Victorian-style mansion and 54 acres of land between the Hudson River and Route 9D in Beacon. It was his to do with as he pleased.
After getting out of the Army, the gunnery sergeant turned his attention to the building. In 1947, with the assistance of a boyhood friend, Coris opened Dutchess Manor to the public. Sixty years later, the wedding and catering facility is still in the family, operated by his sons, Harry and Dean Coris, and daughter, Georgea Whitson.
Along the way, people from around the world were acquainted with the food and service of the Coris family, from Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis and future husband of Jackie Kennedy to another well known Greek, actor Anthony Quinn, to U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese and Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.
Peter X. Kelly, the winner of an Iron Chef competition and a Hudson Valley restaurateur, cut his teeth in the kitchen as a teen-ager working for Michael Coris. This place is filled with stories, said Harry Coris, who rules the kitchen.
Dutchess Manor has grown from its early days as a bed and breakfast, bar and restaurant and now catering and event work. It hosts about 150 weddings a year along with 200 to 250 special events from fundraisers to corporate functions.
The business is weekend oriented, with weddings in season ”“ May through October ”“ the manor”™s mainstay, Dean Coris said. The family handles a tremendous number of second-generation weddings ”“ sons and daughters of parents who themselves had their weddings at the manor. In 2005, Dutchess Manor hosted its first third-generation wedding.
“If you a do a good job, they come back,” Dean Coris said. “In this tight economy, which has been with us for the past several years, the only thing that sets apart the good businesses is the level of service and that goes across the spectrum in different businesses. If you provide good service you”™re going to be busy.”
Coris said “it impresses me no end” to the loyalty of some clients such as Emil Panichi, who owns Hopewell Junction-based Royal Carting Service, who has held functions at the manor for more than 20 years.
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Change in the business climate
Today, while business isn”™t horrible, there”™s down time that wasn”™t evident in previous years.
Demographics dictate the number of weddings the manor hosts, Dean Coris said, and this year it”™s down a bit.
“You want to diversify because it”™s tough if you put all your eggs in one basket. And that”™s the challenge right now; trying to get the diversification.”
The family used to draw an imaginary circle on a map and name all the top clients they had. That circle has gotten larger and the clients fewer as businesses have moved away.
“Prior to 1988, there was a lot of industry in the area, so we had the weekday business and the weekends,” Harry Coris said. “A lot of industry pulled out and others consolidated and moved out. Beacon was fantastic years ago.”
His brother echoes that sentiment.
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“A litany of companies have left. Texaco was a huge client of ours. Nabisco, which was Federal Paper, was a big client. Green Fans, which became Tallix left. Tuck Tape ”¦ it”™s a one-way door there, nothing”™s coming back,” Dean Coris said.
“And we really need to stimulate growth,” with “we” referring to business and government leaders.
“We try to develop business leads outside the area; in the area there”™s nothing. In a 20-mile radius the area”™s lost a lot,” he said. “Some of it is the downturn in the economy. The first place that businesses are going to cut is their expendable income.”
Dean points to Minneapolis, the hometown of his beloved Vikings football team as an example of a mix of businesses from the headquarters of Target, General Mills and U.S. Bancorp to mid-size companies that have helped the city and its suburbs thrive.
“In Manchester, New Hampshire, they took all these old mill buildings, much like Beacon has, and all these big companies have come in. It”™s something we need to look at hard here,” Dean Coris said.
It”™s the state and local governments that set the tone, he said. “They”™re the ones that are going to set the taxes. They”™re the ones that are going to spend the money. They”™re the ones that are going to develop the business plan.”
He acknowledged the waterfront plan for Beacon that includes a hotel and conference center, but said it will take some time before it is built citing environmental issues that have to be addressed.
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Changing with the times
It has been suggested to the Coris family that they consider building a hotel on their property with the magnificent views of the river and Shawangunk Mountains. But that was quickly dismissed, Dean said. “Who wants to work 24 hours a day?”
But he acknowledges that the hotels in the area ”“ nine in Fishkill alone ”“ have “a little leg up on us, because you lose the multi-day conference when you don”™t have rooms.”
But earlier this year, Coris worked with Marriott Courtyard in Fishkill and negotiated an offering that Dutchess Manor now includes in its wedding packages.
The shell of a building that Michael Coris transformed is being changed once again. During the winter, a side patio area will be enclosed to deal with the windward side of the river”™s ever fickle weather. It will add another cocktail reception area to the manor”™s two primary banquet rooms. Some other changes will be included to offer a more contemporary feel to the circa-1860 building.
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Other changes have occurred in the kitchen under the purview of Harry, who is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park. As the clientele changed, especially with more Indian families having their receptions at the manor, the food offerings changed as well.
“We do Indian food very well,” Dean Coris said. The biggest challenge was finding the correct seasonings for the special meals.
In recent years, the manor has hosted Buddhist water ceremonies and a Japanese-Irish wedding that included visitors from County Kerry and Tokyo.
Although the area has become more of a bedroom community as industry has left, the brothers believe their decision in 1988 to focus solely on catering was the correct one.
Dean said the manor”™s location on the river makes it suitable for special events, but not necessarily a return to restaurant work.
“With most people now involved with commutation to work (that amounts to) 14-hour days, they need something conveniently located for them, closer to their homes. So our physical location probably limits us.
“The physical and geographical location of the building ”“ that”™s what people are looking for. So few are on the water that are accessible to people, and most are too expensive.”
As far as pressing their respective children into the business, the brothers won”™t, knowing from the hard work involved.
And as long as the sentimental and economic views of the business and property keep in step, selling is out of the question.
Their parents even refused selling to Gov. Nelson Rockefeller when he was developing his “baby,” the Hudson Highlands State Park, which includes Breakneck Ridge and Bannerman Island, all within view of the manor.
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