Showrooms: Coffee With Crema Marfil?

  Not that there’s anything small about Benson Stone these days. Started in 1930 to cut Indiana limestone for building exteriors, natural-stone fabrication is only a part of the operation today. Along with offering kitchen and bath countertops in granite, marble and natural quartz, Benson sells fireplaces, brick, landscape stone and pavers, cabinetry, furniture, and several lines of patio furniture and barbecues.
  Although the company operated out of several locations while employing four generations of the Benson family, vice president Steve Benson explains that between 1992 and 2001, the business was situated in a busy commercial strip near Interstate 90.
  “We were surrounded by restaurants,” he says. “A lot of our customers come from quite a distance because we have quite a few destination products. As they came in, it was nice to have food there. People would eat and then come into our store and browse.”
  When the company relocated to its current 130,000 ft² building, the new neighborhood was considerably different. The building is an old furniture factory near the business district, with a lot of surrounding residential areas.
  Recognizing the importance of food to the shopping experience, the Bensons decided they had enough space to open a small café. Helping cement the decision was Paul Gnacinsky, an experienced restaurateur looking for a job.
  “I don’t know if he wanted to stay in the restaurant business, but he’s very good at it,” says Steve Benson. “We told him our plans; it fit together, and he took it to the next level.”
  The Hearth Rock Café opened on the building’s first floor in about 1,500 ft² – including the kitchen – with a menu that includes not just coffee and a bakery, but a large selection of sandwiches, salads and espresso-type drinks. Open the same 7 a.m.-5 p.m. hours as the stone side of the business, the café also serves breakfast.
  “At first, we seated about 40 people and we thought that would be way more than enough most of the time,” says Benson. “It turns out people really like the little café. We’ve expanded our seating into the area where you walk into the main showroom. There’s a seating area in front of the big two-story fireplace we have.”
  With the two areas, Benson says the café can now comfortably handle 80 diners, with an additional five overflow tables at the top of the stairs near the fireplace.
  The café does give the Bensons a chance to show off many of their products. The café tables are cast-iron pedestals topped with granite; there’s a limestone baluster in front of the dining area; and, along with the large fireplace inside the front door, the original café has a three-sided fireplace with a natural thin-stone veneer.
  It also allows the company to demonstrate its barbecue products.
  “One of the first things we did was actually grilling out here,” Benson says. “Paul would have a grill out and cook up our specials. We have a pulled-pork sandwich that’s kind of our signature sandwich. We also do barbecue classes.”
  The barbecue classes have also proven more popular than the Bensons originally imagined. Gnacinsky teaches some of them, but Benson has brought in other chefs, as well. When the company began offering cabinetry, an operating kitchen was installed on the second floor behind the big fireplace, and the classes expanded.
  “We’ll be doing regular cooking classes that tie in with our Kitchen Design Center,”
   Steve Benson says. “I expect the cooking classes will do even better than the barbecue classes.”
  He says another possibility with the operating kitchen is classes on stone care and maintenance.
  As with the café, Benson says the classes are really a sales tool. If somebody buys a kitchen from the company, they’ll receive a free class or classes. And, he says there have been times when someone will take a class, then make a nice-sized purchase.
  However, he acknowledges the café isn’t a perfect sales tool.
  “The majority of our customers still come to the store for stone and home furnishings,” Benson says. “However, out of the people who actually eat in the café, the majority have come for the food.”

This article first appeared in the October 2005 print edition of Stone Business. ©2005 Western Business Media Inc.