It is a perfect spring
weekend in mid-May, the kind that inspires leisure activities like boating or
biking on Long Island. Yet Courtney
Thompson and her father Jim are working feverishly at a storefront location in
Farmingdale. They’re focusing their
energies on creating a new kind of iconic Long Island experience.
Courtney’s hair is pulled
back and she is working on a cupboard that reaches from floor to ceiling. Jim is sponging freshly painted caramel
colored walls with a lighter paint, creating warm dappled effect. The back room is filled with sinks,
refrigerators and crates containing professional kitchen appliances. They have invested months of sweat equity,
and there is still much work to be done, but shortly they expect to cut the
ribbon on a uniquely Long Island enterprise.
“A Taste of Long Island,”
located at 211-A Main Street in Farmingdale, will offer a retail market for established
artisan foods crafted on Long Island, combined with a shared-use commercial kitchen
for aspiring food entrepreneurs looking to produce and launch new local food
brands. The venture is the first of its
kind for Long Island, whose spirited food culture is often concealed by suburban
sprawl.
“There’s so much food made
on Long Island and people don’t even realize it’s made here,” says Courtney who
approached her father – a successful small business entrepreneur – to partner
with her on a new venture when the economy became challenging and jobs were
scarce.
“I’ve always worked in his
stores,” she explains. “I always knew
people can own their own business. You
don’t have to work for someone else.”
Originally they hoped to
launch a food truck, but realized that the food would need to be prepared in a
licensed kitchen, and no such facility was available for rent in Nassau or
Suffolk counties.
“We realized there’s
really a need,” Courtney says. They
floated the idea on several message boards and found an enthusiastic response
from potential kitchen clients. Since locating
the store and beginning renovations, cooks, bakers and canners anxious to rent
the commercial kitchen space have approached them.
The kitchen is equipped
with state of the art professional appliances, including a 10-burner range, a
double deck convection oven and 30-, 20- and six-quart mixers.
Courtney explains that
many of her family members are teachers. She sees the chance to work with new
food entrepreneurs as a teaching opportunity and a convergence of all her
skills. She has an undergraduate degree
in marketing and public relations, she’s worked as a new business consultant
and has a teaching degree in family and consumer science.
Courtney and Jim plan to
sell a range of established Long Island products in the storefront market,
including goat cheese, honey, chutney, specialty pickles and locally roasted
coffee. Jim calls the selection planned for the market, “an eclectic
collection” of the best of Long Island food products.
“A Taste of Long Island”
provides a valuable opportunity for entrepreneurs just starting a food
business. Beyond access to the resources
of a professional kitchen, the retail food market offers an additional
advantage.
“By having the market, we
have the ability to give our kitchen clients who are just starting out their
first storefront,” explains Courtney.
“By allowing them to sell in our store, they’re building their customer
base.”
“A Taste of Long Island” will
also offer training and recommends that all clients starting out prepare a
business plan. The food market will be
arranged boutique-style, and each business will have the opportunity to create
a retail area within the store that educates the public about their specific
product line.
Courtney and Jim thought
the Main Street site was idea for it’s central location and hometown village feel. Future plans call for “A Taste of Long
Island” farmers market on Saturday’s that will showcase home grown produce from
local farmers.
So what does Long Island taste
like?
“Fresh!” Jim answers without
hesitation. With farmers and vendors
located just miles away, Jim says the products they’ll carry are “as local as
local gets.”
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