The Catskills economy runs on weekends, second homes and short-term guests. Here is how owners in Sullivan, Ulster, Delaware and Greene cover the weekday gap.
Apply Now →Unlike regions with a steady local customer base, many Catskills businesses depend on visitors and part-time residents who show up on weekends and holidays. Restaurants, shops, lodges, farm stands and activity businesses in Sullivan, Ulster, Delaware and Greene counties may earn most of their income across a fraction of the week. Fridays through Sundays can carry the whole payroll.
That makes weather, road conditions and holiday placement into real business variables. A rainy summer weekend is not a minor inconvenience; it is lost revenue that does not come back.
Restaurants, inns and rentals need full staffing for peak days and carry the same rent on slow ones. They buy food and supplies before the busy weekend, so cash goes out first.
Contractors, landscapers, cleaners and property managers work when owners are away or arriving. Their calendars cluster before and after peak seasons, and invoices from absentee owners can be slow.
Farm stands, small producers and boutiques sell to visitors and wholesale accounts. Wholesale invoices create a wait; visitor sales create spikes.
For illustration only: a rental-and-restaurant owner with $13,000 in monthly fixed costs who makes $5,000 in a quiet month has an $8,000 monthly shortfall. Over three such months that is $24,000, before spring repairs.
The 2026 state minimum wage is $16 an hour in the Catskills counties, and seasonal hospitality staff are often paid above it. Housing is scarce in some towns, which means owners may spend more to retain workers during a short season. Keep the labor line at the center of your plan.
Short-term rentals support a chain of small businesses: cleaners, linen services, handymen, landscapers, snow plowers and property managers. Many of them work for absentee owners and bill after the guests leave. The owner of a cleaning company may do forty turnovers in a busy month and be paid for most of them weeks later. Meanwhile, wages and supplies are weekly expenses. For companies in this chain, the main funding need is a cushion between the work and the check.
Because weekend traffic drives so much of the Catskills economy, the calendar placement of holidays can matter more than the month. A summer with several long weekends is stronger than one without, and a late spring can shift a whole opening. When you look at last year's statements, compare weekends and holidays rather than raw monthly totals, and plan the request around the weaker pattern.
New York Biz Funding funds $25,000 to $5,000,000. Funds can arrive in as little as 24 hours. The application takes about five minutes with a soft credit pull. We typically ask for about three months of business bank statements and do not require tax returns. FICO 500 and above is considered, and sole proprietors can apply. Start on the application page.
Sullivan, Ulster, Delaware and Greene are the core counties, with edges varying by definition.
That pattern appears in your bank statements. Size the request to the weekday gap and the purchases you need.
No. In 2026 it is $16 an hour in the Catskills counties, compared with $17 in NYC, Long Island and Westchester.
No.
Sole proprietors and small owner-run businesses can apply, based on business bank statements.
Three months of business bank statements and a 5-minute application. FICO 500+ considered. $25,000 to $5,000,000, funded in as little as 24 hours.
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