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MECHANICVILLE — On a July 24 Mechanicville planning board meeting, William Pouch owner of Esperanto located at 4 Caroline St., was approved to operate a commercial bakery at 55 Viall Ave. in Mechanicville. The property located at 55 Viall Ave. is approximately 8,481 square feet and the asking price is listed as $399,000.
“We’ve been talking for some years of attempting to expand our already good concession business and we’ve wholesaled the “Doughboy” but now we’re calling it “Oboy” since we are rebranding, we wanted to get it further and wider to the world,” Pouch said.
“We do Beer Fest, all the SPAC concerts and so on, and what prompted it, is the desire to take a product that everyone seems to love, even though it has common ingredients, there’s some kind of magical element to it. So we want to take the product and get it further out into the world,” he added.
According to Pouch, he has been looking at other locations as well since he has not purchased the property in Mechanicville as of yet.
“We are going to build a Doughboy bakery somewhere and we’re hoping it’s this place in Mechanicville but we’ve worked with a lot of really cool people and really cool spaces up in Glens Falls and Queensbury and Luther Forest. So we have a home for our doughboy bakery and we’re hoping we found it... We got some backups just incase and what’s next is we open a USDA inspected bakery to bake what I consider to be pretty magical product,” Pouch said.
In late 2017 Esperanto partnered with Stewart Shops to bring Doughboys to more fans and have been selling to Live Nation at SPAC for 14 years. Right now Doughboys can also be found in some convenience stores in Troy as well as Skidmore College. Pouch aims to bring Doughboys to Connecticut, New Jersey, other concert venues like the Times Union Center, outdoor amp theaters, more colleges and convenient store chains. As for the rebranding Pouch said it was intentionally done quietly to see the reaction. However, the Fourth of July is considered the official kick off of the rebranding.
“If you’re a fan and you want the doughboy to grow up and become a big boy and become more independent, I guess this is our path way,” Pouch said.
But why change the name of one of Saratoga’s favorite late night snack?
“At fairs and concession stands, people see dough boy and think fried dough with sugar but also... Lets just say OBoy is a good name, we’re told because people say ‘Oh boy I love it’ and it’s also just a cool logo, “ he added.
But Pouch says fear not, “It’s Oboy now but it’s okay it’s the doughboy you know and love. Call it whatever you want but it will be available near you.”
