image description — Tucker McNinch of McNinch Restaurant Group at the Drifters pub at Bousquet. The McNinches are taking over operations at the restaurant this winter.

Bousquet Mountain Drifters Restaurant Under New Local Ownership

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
05:26AM / Monday, December 08, 2025Print Story | Email Story

The look of the pub isn't changing but the McNinches are planning a redo of the menu.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The restaurant at Bousquet Mountain will reopen under new management.

The McNinch Restaurant Group will operate Drifters Bar & Restaurant, opening on Dec. 12.

McNinch Restaurant Group is operated by father and son duo John and Tucker McNinch. They currently own and operate Patrick's Pub and the 101 Restaurant and Bar in the Holiday Inn.

"I think we have a strong understanding of Bosquet's culture, the clientele there, who they're trying to reach, who are with the ski mountain itself as well as the general area," said Tucker McNinch. "It felt like a connection that was meant to happen."

The partnership happened quite fast. The group was reached out to in October by Bousquet and will open the restaurant this Friday.

Bousquet General Manager Kevin McMillan said they are excited to start working with them.

"John and Tucker have a really great reputation in town. They really understand Pittsfield and Pittsfield market, and we're a local ski area, and our goal is always to try and serve the Pittsfield community. And I just think this is just a perfect partnership between the two organizations," he said. "We're really excited to start working with them."

This is now the third restaurant the group has taken on, though John McNinch owned the Olde Heritage Tavern in Lenox for two decades. Tucker McNinch said they like the challenge and have great support behind them to make it easier.

"I like to say you should always challenge yourself, but, if you're not a little bit uncomfortable with the new challenge, then you're not doing it right, but I think we're well equipped to handle it," he said.

Chef Brian Drumm who's been helming Patrick's will be moving to Drifters; he also worked at Heritage and 51 Park. McNinch said the house manager, Colleen, has also been a huge help getting started.

"Having great people with good experience makes it a lot easier, even though it will definitely, no doubt, be a challenge," he said.

The McNinches don't currently have plans to expand more but are always open for an opportunity.

"I like to think of myself as an opportunist. More than anything. I'm not out there searching for the next opportunity, but I'm, you know, if something amazing presents itself, I'm always willing to look at it," Tucker said.

"So as of right now, I have nothing in the cards. But as opportunities arise, we look at them, but we definitely have our hands full for now."

No changes are planned for the restaurant itself and the menu will change but will keep the pub-style fare. McNinch said the group will be "doing it our own way" as the past kitchen staff left and a new staff is coming in.

While they try to keep their menus different at each restaurant, the McNinches will be bringing their famous wings but maybe with a little twist.

"We will have wings and nachos, which we're definitely known for," he said. "I don't think they'll be the exact same way we do them at Patrick's, or the exact same way we do them at 101, because every restaurant's a little different."

The collaboration is with Mill Town Capital, which owns Bousquet. The McNinch said he's excited to work at the mountain where grew up skiing and used to watch his father, John, race in the Alpine league.

"I would say it was definitely a plus. I mean, I'm excited to be working with Mill Town. I'm excited to be working with Bousquet. All these things are and the fact that I now get to work at a ski mountain when I haven't gotten to ski nearly as much as I wanted to," he said. "You know, as I've gotten older, I don't ski nearly at all anymore, so being at a ski mountain, I find it such a fun new place to be."

McMillan said the resort has been looking for awhile for a good partnership to connect with guests and bring in a local perspective.

"We knew that we wanted to have a partnership with a local F&B (food and beverage) firm in town to run the restaurant. What we've been doing is sort of specializing in areas that we're good at, identifying areas that we currently struggle at, and then trying to bring in some local expertise," he said. "And the McNinch Group fulfill that need perfectly."

McMillan said the McNinches are the perfect group as they know the community well and that it will be a great partnership.

"John and Tucker have a really great reputation in town. They really understand Pittsfield and Pittsfield market, and we're a local ski area, and our goal is always to try and serve the Pittsfield community," he said. "And I just think this is just a perfect partnership between the two organizations. We're really excited to start working with them."

The restaurant group currently looking for people to join the team at Drifters and is hiring for both front and back of house.

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NAMI Raises Sugar With 10th Annual Cupcake Wars

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
06:09PM / Saturday, April 25, 2026

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. To contact the Crisis Text Line, text HELLO to 741741. More information on crisis hotlines in Massachusetts can be found here.

Whitney's Farm baker Jenn Carchedi holds her awards for People's Choice and Best Tasting.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) of Berkshire County held its 10th annual cupcake wars fundraiser Thursday night at the Country Club of Pittsfield.

The event brought local bakeries and others together to raise money for the organization while enjoying a friendly competition of cupcake tasting.

Local bakeries Odd Bird Farm, Canyon Ranch, Whitney's Farm and Garden, and Monarch butterfly bakery each created a certain flavor of cupcake and presented their goods to the theme of "Backyard Barbecue." When Sweet Confections bakery had to drop out because to health reasons, NAMI introduced a mystery baker which turned out to be Big Y supermarket.

The funds raised Thursday night through auctions of donated items, the cupcakes, raffles, and more will go toward the youth mental health wellness fair, peer and family support groups, and more.

During the event, the board members mentioned the many ways the funds have been used, stating that they were able to host their first wellness fair that brought in more than 250 people because of the funds raised from last year and plan to again this year on July 11.

"We're really trying to gear towards the teen community, because there's such a stigma with mental illness, and they sometimes are hesitant to come forward and admit they have a problem, so they try to self medicate and then get themselves into a worse situation," said NAMI President Ruth Healy.

"We're really trying to focus on that group, and that's going to be the focus of our youth mental health wellness fair is more the teen community. So every penny that we raise helps us to do more programming, and the more we can do, the more people recognize that we're there to help and that there is hope."

They mentioned they are now able to host twice monthly peer and family support groups at no cost for individuals and families with local training facilitators. They also are now able to partner with Berkshire Medical Center to perform citizenship monitoring where they have volunteers go to different behavioral mental health units to listen to patients and staff to provide service suggestions to help make the unit more effective. Lastly, they also spoke of how they now have a physical office space, and that they were able to attend the Berkshire Coalition for Suicide Prevention as part of the panel discussion to help offer resources and have also been able to have gift bags for patients at BMC Jones 2 and 3.

Healy said they are also hoping to expand into the schools in the county and bring programming and resources to them.

She said the programs they raise money for are important in reaching someone with mental issues sooner.

"To share the importance of recognizing, maybe an emerging diagnosis of a mental health condition in their family member or themselves, that maybe they could get help before the situation becomes so dire that they're thinking about suicide as a solution, the sooner we can reach somebody, the better the outcome," she said.

The cupcakes were judged by Downtown Pittsfield Inc. Managing Director Rebecca Brien, Pittsfield High culinary teacher Todd Eddy, and Lindsay Cornwell, executive director Second Street Second Chances.

The 100 guests got miniature versions of the cupcakes to decide the Peoples' Choice award.

The winners were:

Best Tasting: Whitney's Farm (Honey buttermilk cornbread cupcakes)
Best Presentation: Odd Bird Farm Bakery (Blueberry lemon cupcakes)
Best Presentation of Theme: Canyon Ranch (Strawberry shortcake)
People's Choice: Whitney's Farm

Jenn Carchedi has been the baker at Whitney's for six years and this was her third time participating in an event she cares deeply about.

"It meant a lot. Because personally, for me, mental health awareness is really important. I feel like coming together as a community, and Whitney's Farm is more like a community kind of place," she said

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