2: Hot Chocolate, Santa, and Controlled Chaos: Inside a Small Business Community Event

In this episode of Small Business, Big Life: Inside Fort Orange General Store, Joe Slichko and Erica Cubello break down what it really takes to pull off a major community retail event as small business owners—while juggling family life, exhaustion, and very big ideas.

The focus is Downtown Albany’s Hot Chocolate Stroll, a beloved annual event that brings hundreds of people into local businesses in a single afternoon. After their first year owning Fort Orange General Store, Joe and Erica realized that simply offering a shopping deal wasn’t enough. This year, they decided to fully participate—by making and serving 13 gallons of spicy hot chocolate and hosting a Santa meet-and-greet inside their store.

What sounds festive on paper required serious planning and problem-solving. The episode walks through the logistics of making hot chocolate in a home kitchen, transporting it safely, managing electrical load inside a historic retail space, and preparing staff for nonstop foot traffic. Joe shares what it was like to worry about breakers, timing, and execution, while Erica reflects on trusting the vision and leaning into the chaos.

The conversation also explores how the same day can feel completely different depending on your role. While Erica experienced the constant flow of customers and energy on the sales floor, Joe—dressed as Santa—found himself waiting backstage, anxious that no one would show up, before stepping into a role that brought unexpected insight.

One of the most surprising takeaways came from overhearing unfiltered customer feedback. Because visitors didn’t realize Santa was one of the owners, Joe was able to listen quietly as people talked openly about the store layout, product mix, decorations, and atmosphere—offering rare, real-time validation of months of creative and business decisions.

The episode also touches on the family impact of hosting back-to-back events, including live music the night before, coordinating childcare for four kids, and deciding when to include children in the business—and when it’s too much.

This episode is an honest look at experiential retail, community-driven marketing, and what happens when small business owners decide to go all in.

Keywords: small business podcast, community events, retail entrepreneurship, hot chocolate stroll, experiential retail, family business, brick and mortar retail, holiday events small business, Fort Orange General Store, Albany NY small business

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to Small Business, Big Life Inside Fort Orange General Store, where
 entrepreneurship meets marriage, kids, and controlled chaos.
 I'm Joe Slichko, and with me, as always, is my wife, business partner, and the owner of
 Fort Orange General Store, Erica Cubello.
 Hey, Joe, how are you doing today?
 I'm doing well, a little under the weather, but that's not going to stop us from doing
 this podcast.
 No, it won't.
 Like we were just saying, I had it last week, you get it this week.
 Thank you for that, most likely.
 That's a love.
 It is.
 So in today's episode, we are going to discuss the hot chocolate stroll of 2025, and what
 that looked like from both the business end as well as the relationship and family end.
 But before we get there, we're going to ask our listeners to please not forget to like
 or subscribe wherever you may listen.
 It really helps us grow the show.
 Reach more people and make sure you care about all these ridiculous stories that we're
 telling, and we would also like to give a huge thank you to all of our listeners.
 And I say that because the response to our launch of episode one of this podcast has been
 mind blowing over the top, amazing, more than we ever thought, hoped, dreamed or expected.
 So thank you all for listening and validating what it is that we're doing here.
 Yeah, it really has.
 It's been so overwhelming in the most positive way to see the love and positive response
 like Joja said from everybody.
 It really means the world to us and makes us feel like our little idea wasn't so crazy
 after all.
 Which kind is the theme of the podcast here all our crazy little ideas, let's validate them.
 So having said that, here we are, episode two.
 And we want to focus on the story of the hot chocolate stroll.
 Can you give our listeners a little recap or background information, I should say on what
 is the hot chocolate stroll in Albany?
 Yeah, of course.
 So Jo, the hot chocolate stroll takes place every December for the past six December's
 in the beginning of the month.
 And it is put on by the Albany bed, the business improvement district of downtown Albany.
 And all the businesses downtown are encouraged to participate by creating their own version
 of the classic winter drink of hot cocoa.
 And the bed puts out a map for all of the participants.
 I think there were over 20 businesses that participated this year.
 And so everybody who buys a ticket and this year it sold out early, over 830 people gathered
 together downtown Albany and followed this map around to all the participating businesses
 who served their version of hot cocoa.
 And a lot of businesses will also do a shopping deal or a percentage off.
 And the participants of the stroll walk around to not only taste the different hot cocoa's
 but also vote on their favorite and enjoy some sort of shopping special.
 Great.
 Thank you for that recap of the hot chocolate stroll.
 Now what has the historic role of Fort Orange General Store been in the hot chocolate
 stroll prior to 2025?
 Well, we have always done either a shopping deal like spend a certain percentage and receive
 a gift or a percentage off your total purchase.
 Great.
 However, Erica did not think that was sufficient for 2025.
 Did you, Erica?
 Well, no.
 I didn't.
 Because the first year that we owned the store in 2024 and mind you, we were only business
 owners for about two weeks before this massive event that the downtown bid puts on every
 year, like I said, for the past six years.
 So we were getting a lot of customers that were coming in asking where our hot chocolate
 was, where they could get a sample.
 And I don't know if you remember when we were taking part in the actual stroll, I got
 these frantic messages from our employees like, where's our hot cocoa?
 What are we serving?
 People are coming in looking for this.
 And we were only listed as a participating business doing a shopping deal.
 We weren't listed on the map as a drinkable spot.
 So going into this season, I wanted to change that naturally.
 So we decided to partake not only in the business side of it, the shopping side of it, I should
 say, but also to hand out and distribute some hot chocolate like the other vendors.
 Now for those of you who have not had the chance, the opportunity to step foot in Ford
 Orange General Store, Erica, tell our listeners, do we have a commercial kitchen by chance?
 No, we don't.
 So, what would this entail?
 What did this entail?
 Well, we made it all in our own kitchen.
 I mean, why not?
 We have one.
 We certainly do have a kitchen.
 And to expand on that, just a little bit, it meant waking up at about five in the morning.
 And then somehow figuring out how to transport these four massive earns of hot chocolate from
 our house down to the store, which to your credit worked out perfectly.
 It was fine.
 Like I always say, it'll be fine.
 It'll be fine.
 That is Eric's tag line.
 It'll be fine while Joe is in the corner sweating bullets.
 But you made it happen.
 Well, we both did.
 Yes.
 Yes.
 I mean, without your planning and overcompensation in the worry department, it all came
 together just fine.
 Thank you.
 Now, you're kind of making me sound a little ridiculous to your listeners.
 I'm not going to lie.
 Perhaps, was there something else going on that we were going to embark on on this same
 day for the hot chocolate stroll?
 Well, yes, Joe, there was.
 And what was that, Erica?
 Well, we decided that it would be a grand idea to not only serve hot chocolate, but also
 have the most important guests of the holiday season visit for an orange.
 And that would be?
 Well, Santa Claus himself, of course.
 Uh-huh.
 Yes.
 So for the listeners that don't know, one of my first jobs when I was still in high school
 was I used to work at the mall, the local mall county center, before it made its transition
 and makeover way too long ago, I'm dating myself.
 And I would take pictures for Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, and because of that, I clearly have
 a close personal relationship with the big guy, as we call them in the biz.
 So we reached out and asked if he would grace us with his presence at the Fort Orange General
 Store.
 Now, as you can imagine, he's busy, especially at the beginning of December.
 So unfortunately, he was not able to come, but he did give me permission to dress as him
 at the store, which I thought was pretty cool.
 Yeah, it was quite amazing that Joe was granted this special permission by Mr. Claus himself
 to dress up and greet the little children and our customers and everybody who joined us
 that day.
 Let me tell you, Joe took this role very seriously.
 Well, you have to take it seriously.
 The big guy, you know, don's this upon you.
 You can't just go in willy-nilly and wing it, you know?
 No, no, you did not, and you made him very proud that day.
 This is his reputation after all that I'm worried about.
 So to review, not only 13 gallons of hot chocolate to be made and transported in the morning,
 but I'm also, you know, busy getting ready, suit, makeup, all of it for the event.
 That's right.
 That's why I was a little stressed.
 Uber, but let's also preface that this part was not my idea.
 This was 100% your idea.
 I'm not so sure.
 That's how I recall it, but for the sake of the podcast, we'll just accept that as we
 say here.
 Both had two big ideas, right?
 And the same first really season for us doing this hot chocolate stroll.
 So we both had, like I said, two big ideas that we were blending together on the same day.
 I went with it.
 How'd that go, Erica?
 It went really well, really well.
 We had an amazing turnout.
 And the response from our customers, our downtown community was so overwhelming.
 Like I remember sitting down with you afterwards and just being like, oh my God, that was incredible.
 Like it took us a few days to really process how amazing that day was.
 Sure.
 So let's walk through that day a little bit for people that maybe we're unfamiliar with
 it.
 The day itself starts with all 800 plus people who have a ticket meeting at a central location
 and getting their materials, little gifts, things like that, the map.
 And then they disperse out and kind of forge their own path, although it makes the most
 sense to kind of go in order from where you start.
 Right.
 And they started up at the Palace Theatre this year.
 So let's say it's about 3/4 of a mile from our location on South Broadway.
 And so we were given a time frame like, well, the majority of the strollers will hit probably
 around one o'clock.
 Well, the stroll started at 11 and we were kind of slammed from like 11, 15 all the way
 till about 3/30 and it ended at 3 o'clock.
 It was just an incredibly awesome day, like people were in the store walking around and
 it wasn't just like come in, grab your hat, cocoa, and run.
 It was people walking around looking at all the things, just hanging out and enjoying the
 vibe that our store was putting off that day.
 So my point of view of the morning was a little bit different because I was putting a different
 role.
 So we got down there really early because of the hot chocolate and one of the things I was
 nervous about was blowing all the breakers, plugging in these earns.
 And we only did that once in the beginning, thankfully, and then I figured out which outlets
 were on which breaker and that worked out fine.
 And then our employees came in, we got them squared away, talked about each one of their
 roles and then I had to start getting dressed, getting my makeup on and doing all the things.
 So it was probably a little after 11 when I ducked away and started to do that and at that
 time nobody was there yet because we had just opened and the stroll was just kicking off.
 So I was anxious.
 It was one of those, if you build it, they will come moments where we're throwing this
 big party and no one showed up yet.
 So I was, you know, a little, I'm not going to say panicky, but I don't know, I was feeling
 the feels.
 I was a little disappointed, anxious, scared, what if no one comes, all this stuff.
 And then I think I texted you to come help me with the makeup and you didn't respond.
 I didn't.
 And I was like, what is going on?
 So I actually checked the cameras real quick and I went, oh my God, the stores filled already.
 So then it felt absolutely awesome.
 But that initial feeling, the waiting period and then having to duck away, I missed that
 initial crush that you were talking about.
 Right.
 All of that worry and anxiety definitely built a different feel for you that I probably
 wasn't able to pick up on.
 I wasn't putting myself in your position at that moment, which I'm sorry about.
 We, I think where my mindset was focused on getting the store ready, like making sure
 all of that was set.
 And then you had this huge weight of making sure that you were playing the role properly
 and in the best way possible.
 Yeah.
 And I'm not saying that you needed to, you know, be in that mindset.
 Because I was in that mindset, I was just kind of articulating, we're both there on the
 same day, doing the same thing, but experiencing it in different ways.
 That can happen in business, that can happen in life, that can happen at home with the kids.
 You know, I tell a story all the time when I'm, you know, doing professional development
 that, you know, you can go to a movie with a friend and sit right next to them as awkward
 as that is because if you're watching a movie at your house with someone, you wouldn't
 like sit next to them, you'd have space, but in a movie theater, that's perfectly fine.
 And you watch the movie and you walk out of the movie, then you start talking about it,
 like, you know, people do.
 And you start talking about different things that you saw and you find out that your friend
 didn't pick up on those things or those details.
 There you were sitting in front of the same movie, the same screen, nothing else going on,
 but you're picking up different things.
 And that happens in life altogether.
 So I think this was one of those moments where we're both on the outside doing the same thing,
 but inwardly because of the roles we're playing, receiving the information in different
 ways.
 That's a really good point.
 I like that analogy.
 Thank you for that, Joe.
 You're welcome.
 That's one of my favorites.
 All right.
 So, people are in the store, Santa Claus comes out, you're my handler.
 I was definitely a side, yes, I had very specific instructions that I was not to leave your side
 at any point while you were on the floor.
 I had to be right there in case if any little tiny failure was to occur, like beard gets
 pulled by a little one, like maybe Joe's hair is popping out from the side, like, anything
 I had to be focused on you.
 Actually, you had to be focused on Santa who we were representing.
 Thank you very much.
 You're right.
 I had to be focused on Santa.
 So people start coming in and we're interacting with them and it's going well.
 I think we should take a step back and talk about the night or two before the hot chocolate
 stroll when I decided to do my little dress rehearsal at home, put the suit on, make
 sure everything fit, make sure, you know, the makeup that we bought was appropriate and things
 like that.
 Yeah, and this is kind of a precursor to a lot of what happened that day that we should
 have anticipated, but we didn't because we grew up with such a fondness of this person
 that we didn't take a step back and look at what was really happening in front of us.
 So Joe really wanted to perfect the role as we put forward.
 He took a couple of dress rehearsals at home putting on the suit, putting on the fat suit
 because he insisted that there be a fat suit with it.
 I actually said preemptively, if you order this suit without a fat suit that is going to
 insinuate something and I'm not going to be able to bounce back from that.
 So we got the whole thing, okay, and then we added in the white makeup for your beard and
 you know, the bottom of your hair line like it was perfected, but only through these dress
 rehearsals.
 And in these couple of times at home, we had to walk this delicate balance of how do we
 talk to the kids about Santa Claus and Joe dressing up as him and how does that make sense
 to everybody.
 So we pulled this story that we started this podcast with, how he wasn't available, but
 because of my connection with him, we were given permission, so.
 He felt comfortable letting you play the role.
 Exactly.
 So there we are at night.
 I'm in our bathroom.
 I get all dressed and everything, you're out there making dinner, boys are playing, doing
 whatever.
 And then I come out in the suit, all dressed up.
 What was the reaction?
 Well, it wasn't received so positively.
 Do describe.
 Well, our two older boys thought it was really cool, like they were into it.
 Our youngest was very frightened, he did not like you at all, and he loves Joe.
 Like Joe was his favorite person and big hugs, kisses like.
 And so when he saw you dressed up as Santa, he, he wouldn't talk to you.
 He wouldn't look at you.
 He was totally upset.
 That's true.
 It's a little heartbreaking to be honest, but we talked it through everything.
 Once I got undressed, he was back to normal with me and all the things.
 So fast forward, now we're at the store, back to where we were in the story.
 We're out in the, I'm out in the suit, we're doing the thing.
 People are in and your parents bring the boys in.
 Yup.
 And it was right back to that night.
 The three year old would not look at you.
 He would not go near you.
 He clung to me.
 Like, there was a point where I had to hold him for it because he didn't feel safe being
 on the floor.
 And when asked, you know that's just Joe, right?
 Oh, yeah, he knew.
 He knew.
 It made me feel great.
 So yeah, but this was not the only negative reaction that we saw that day.
 There were a lot of people that just didn't like it, like remember when we went out front
 to like, you were bringing the bell.
 I was videoing you, doing your jolly Mary thing to get people inside, you know, welcome.
 That sort of a thing.
 And people were ignoring you.
 They didn't like it.
 And then inside the store, it was a very mixed response.
 Some people liked it.
 Some people didn't.
 The older generation seemed to kind of grab onto it a little bit more, I think.
 Like you had way more ladies sitting on your lap that day than children.
 Well, I think that's a different episode and conversation altogether right there.
 Erica, I'm just going to say, but yes.
 And that kind of mirrors my experience when, you know, I took pictures for Santa.
 It was 90% where the screaming crying children picture as a quote memory of, you know, trauma
 that we were putting on these poor kids because think about it.
 Here is the all-knowing individual of every behavior that you have.
 And all the goodies in life hang on, you know, the list that he carries of how you're acting.
 And he's large and he's over the top and he's covered in hair.
 And that's intimidating.
 And what does he do?
 He lures you in with candy at this candy cane.
 I mean, it felt a little weird at times.
 I'm not going to lie, but as much as we just focused on how I terrorized the Albany community,
 that was a small portion of the reaction of people.
 Yeah.
 We had a really fun day doing it.
 I mean, we did have some really sweet little babies that got their picture taken with you.
 And people had fun with it.
 There were a lot of ridiculous things that were sad that were hysterical.
 And you were just like right in it with them.
 And that was amazing to see.
 Like, you were very good at turning on this character.
 It was.
 It was a lot of fun.
 And we also had some folks bring their pets in, because we promoted that.
 We are very dog friendly, pet friendly store to an extent.
 Please don't bring an ostrich in.
 I'm not going to be able to deal with that well at all.
 But we took pictures with them and that was fantastic.
 We had some of our local celebrities stop in our current mayor and our mayor elect both
 came in at different times, which was absolutely fantastic.
 We love that support and it was so much fun.
 It was an amazing turnout.
 Like Joe just said, the support from everybody that day just came together.
 And it was, it was sincerely overwhelming.
 Like Joe and I sat down afterwards and had something to eat because I was like the first
 time we'd eat in that day.
 And we, it wasn't like an, we were exhausted.
 Don't get me wrong because of everything that had transpired not to mention.
 We hosted live music the night prior being the ridiculous entrepreneurs that we are.
 Like you just, you make it work, right?
 You have to do it.
 So yes, we were exhausted physically, but it was more of a mental exhaustion that like we
 can't even process the gratitude that we feel for what happened that day.
 Absolutely.
 One of the things that I was not expecting was so there I am sitting in the store dressed
 as Santa and in between the meet and greets, you know, I was sitting there at greet people,
 but you know, I didn't want to make a weird and just like follow people around.
 So I would just sit there and I was listening and people that didn't know us did not necessarily
 make the connection that Santa Claus is one of the owners of the business.
 So I was able to over here a lot of conversations that I don't think I normally would have been
 privy to because, you know, people don't want to say certain things, you know, in front
 of employees, owners, whatever.
 They were just speaking freely amongst themselves and I have to say the feedback that I was hearing
 about our products, the store, the layout, the decorations, Erica, the flow from start to
 finish, the spicy hot chocolate that we decided to serve as an alternative to the very sugary
 and sweet hot chocolates that were, you know, being served elsewhere was also positive and
 really, really fun to listen to.
 Yeah, it was really cool to be able to have that experience to get that inside scoop.
 So that was really interesting to listen to the stories that Joe heard and also like so inspiring
 it just made me, me, and Joe feel like we're really doing this.
 What we are feeling is working.
 It's not just in our heads.
 It's not made up like there's a positive positive feeling.
 It was great and, you know, from the business end, it was the biggest hot chocolate stroll
 day that we've ever had so it definitely, you know, the data, the numbers proved the concept
 of, you know, going above and beyond and doing these other promotional ideas at the same
 time.
 It was the best hot chocolate stroll in the six years that we've participated.
 It was amazing.
 So thank you everybody who came out to support not only downtown Albany, but our little
 four-door in general store.
 Thank you.
 Yes.
 Thank you.
 But now let's talk about the family impact.
 So you already mentioned that the night before was first Friday and can you just talk about
 very quickly because this will be another episode altogether?
 What first Friday is in Albany?
 Yeah.
 So it is a night where businesses in Albany participate in like a shopping deal or some
 sort of incentive and a lot of businesses host musicians playing.
 So Metroland now sponsors the first Fridays and organizes all of the musicians and events
 that are going on.
 There's art shows that are being held like, it's an art night.
 And a special shout out to Erin Harkes from Metroland.
 Yes.
 She's absolutely phenomenal, huge proponent of small businesses, the Albany scene, all things
 Albany and four-door in general.
 We love you.
 Thank you so much for all of your support.
 So we have that event going on on Friday night.
 You already heard about the hot chocolate extravaganza of the morning and the transportation
 and all of that, but we have four kids.
 I think this was one of the first times where we had to reach out and ask for some help.
 Yes, and thank goodness we have people that we can reach out to and ask help from.
 So my parents graciously took my boys and luckily Joe's kids were with their other half.
 So we were able to put on this two-day event at the store hosting the live music until
 later than normal business hours going home, preparing for the next day.
 But it does.
 There's an impact on our family life.
 We weren't able to have the boys that night, but they were able to come and see this amazing
 event the next day.
 So there's the good in the bad.
 They understand, I think, from seeing us do all of this work, the value.
 And it goes a little deeper than that because in order to schedule coverage for the kids if
 you will, probably the wrong word.
 But to make sure that they're set up, that's a week or two of looking at calendars and
 planning out and then reaching out and making sure people are available and can take them.
 And if it's ever a no, if other people's lives, which they have, are busy too, and that's
 something that we have to pivot on, and we do on a pretty regular basis.
 But in this one, we felt that there was way too much going on, and it wouldn't be good
 for them.
 It would be a disservice to them because we knew the level of development, that direct
 involvement that we needed to have for all these events, and it wouldn't have been fun
 for them whatsoever.
 No, no, no, no.
 Normally, we want to include them into what's happening, like the first Friday's that we host,
 the boys come down and help out or watch because it's entertaining, the music's great.
 So when it makes sense, we do want to include them so that they see the behind the scenes,
 the real life of owning a business and what that means.
 But like Joe said, it was a little too involved.
 Great.
 Is there anything else, Erica?
 Do you want to make sure our listeners know about the hot chocolate stroll of 2025 extra
 Avaganza?
 Maybe not, no, but just to reiterate that we felt so loved that day, and without the community
 that is down there that surrounds our small business, we wouldn't be where we are.
 And I just, I can't express how grateful I am for everybody's support.
 Thank you.
 Great.
 Well, I think that's a natural place to end our podcast for this week.
 So I'm going to ask our listeners, if you participated in the hot chocolate stroll, can
 you drop us a comment, maybe say how great Santa was, and how not awkward any of the interactions
 were at all?
 Or just your experience, did you see things differently than we did?
 Did you notice, you know, the same things we, we noticed, was it as fun for you as it was
 for us, whatever's on your mind, we would absolutely love to hear it.
 Yeah, it means a lot to hear from our listeners, and just what you think about the episode too.
 And if, if you didn't participate in the hot chocolate stroll, is this something you
 might think about doing next year, or any feedback you want to give us, it really means
 a lot to hear from you.
 And if you want to add 17 more ideas that we can wrap into the same day too, why not?
 Let's do it.
 Go figure, go home, right?
 I agree.
 Let's hear it.
 Well, thank you all once again for listening.
 Thank you for your constant support, and we look forward to sharing our lives with you again
 next week on Small Business Big Life inside Ford Orange General Store.