Tuesday, January 31, 2012CARROLLTON, Ohio -- Rumors that the Days Inn here is booked solid the next two years make for good gossip – and yes, occupancy is way up just as businesses enjoy more and more sales since the oil and gas industry came to town. All restaurants and hotels are seeing a lift as employees of out-of-town energy companies set up shop in Carroll County to manage and supply drilling operations.
Meantime, lucrative bonus and royalty checks recently paid to large landholders have starting to circulate throughout this town of 3,000, putting cash into the pockets of small-business owners. “In general, the whole community is busier,” said Don Warner, co-owner and manager of the Days Inn on Canton Road. His hotel has turned lodgers away on several occasions, Warner said, and weekday rates are higher today than a year ago. He attributes much of this to the influx of rig workers and subcontractors employed by large energy companies drilling in the Utica shale. He denied reports that lodging is so scarce that the 43 rooms his hotel offers are filled every night and booked two years out. “I wish we were sold out. That’d be really good," he laughed. "But, that’s not the case."
He said no company has approached him about a long-term occupancy lease or purchase. Given the attention that energy giants such as Chesapeake Energy Corp. have paid Carrollton, Warner isn’t the least surprised by the rumors, he said. Chesapeake and its competitors are stepping up their exploration in the Utica shale, a rock formation 8,000 to 9,000 feet below eastern Ohio that holds vast reserves of liquid gas. Warner, a certified public accountant, built the Days Inn 13 years ago because he believed he could bring new business to his hometown, he said, not because he anticipated huge profits. What he'd like to see is the newfound wealth resulting from of energy exploration be put to good use. Occupancy is high weekdays, Warner reported, but less so weekends because many workers return home. "Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights are normal," he said. Just how much new business in Carrollton can be credited to the oil and gas industry is open to speculation, Warner noted, because “we don't keep track. But, yes, we're busier."
It’s not just the Days Inn that’s seen an increase in business. Restaurants such as Gionino’s Pizzeria, Ponderosa Steakhouse on Canton Road, and Jimmy’s Backyard BBQ in the central square have also experienced an upswing in business that resulted from the drilling industry. “With those guys in town, we see an extra 30 to 40 people a day,” reports Jim Buxton, general manager at Ponderosa Steakhouse. “In a week’s time, that’s quite a bit of money.” Buxton says his business jumps whenever a well is drilled nearby. The new customers are truck drivers, road crews, pipeline workers and those who provide auxiliary services to drilling operations, rather than the rig workers themselves, Buxton said. Buxton reported his Ponderosa has been in growth mode more than six years, so it's hard to place a number on just how much the oil and gas industry has affected sales. “For me to sit down and put a percentage on it, I can’t,” Buxton said. Another factor, he suspects, is the extra money in the local economy resulting from farmers cashing in on advantageous leasehold agreements. “A lot more money’s flowing around, so that’s the big hit,” Buxton said.
Sarah Reynolds, co-owner of Gionino’s Pizzeria, says she's also noticed a spike in business -- most of that spike because of deliveries to the Days Inn. Reynolds and her husband, Jim, bought Gionino’s four years ago and have since opened Jimmy’s Backyard BBQ on Main Street. The couple has also benefited from renting their house to a family who relocated here because of work in the oil and gas industry. The renters have an option to own. Jimmy’s BBQ opened in November 2010. In no way, Reynolds says, was she prepared for the oil and gas rush that began in earnest last summer. The restaurant caters to a large crowd at dinner, but the biggest boost has come from a growing lunch trade and deliveries to the oil derricks sprouting up. Business might be a little too good at times, Reynolds suggested. “Many nights,” she explained, “we had to close down at 6 p.m. because there was no food left to serve." Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.