Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://specialtyfoodmagazine.epubxp.com/i/139333
store snapshots • • • • • • Salt Free Kosher Certifed All Natural No MSG GlutenFree High Fiber NEW! Hand-Crafted Beans Since 1988 For information contact: Ray Leard at 800.359.7873 or email rayleard@purelyamerican.com www.purelyamerican.com Visit us at booth #4517 to sample our healthy dinner kit recipes! Summer Fancy Food Show Booth 4517 Award Winning HUMMUS CHIPS Customer base and product mix… Two distinctly different boroughs have given way to equally distinct customers, who have influenced the offerings at each Foragers location. "People expect a level of serious professionalism [in Manhattan] that they're much more relaxed about in Brooklyn," says Castellani of the Manhattan store, noting that too much professionalism in Brooklyn could be alienating to the customer base there. "So here we have to change the spirit a little bit, without losing our identity." The Brooklyn store sees a mix of arts-and-tech creatives— with olive oil of Summer Fancy Food Show Booth 461 112 ❘ SPECIALTY FOOD MAGAZINE specialtyfood.com PHOTO: EVA MESZAROS Product USA Points of distinction… Foragers is driven by quality and ethics. The market's website declares its effort in "going the extra mile to find foods that are healthy for human, animal and land." Building on that philosophy, the owners regularly visit the farmers and producers they buy from, generally sticking with smaller-scale operations. "I'm much more comfortable with them," Castellani notes. In fact, she and Lamb have a farm of their own in Columbia County two hours north of the city, where they live with their children. There the couple grows organic vegetables, including peas, carrots, kale, lettuce, potatoes, garlic, asparagus and fennel, which are sold at the stores. Lamb takes on much of the labor involved in maintaining the farm, which is also home to nearly 200 chickens, whose eggs are sold at Foragers, while Castellani divides her time between the city and the farm. The original store offers more dedicated space to grocery, but the Chelsea Foragers has a unique set of features. An Asian-fusion restaurant in back, called Foragers City Table, takes up nearly half the space, and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as weekend brunch, serving up such dishes as fermented tea leaf salad and lettuce-herb noodles, featuring ingredients from the farm. A wine shop next door to the market offers bottles from small-scale wineries near and far, from the local and 5-years-young Red Hook Winery to the biodynamic offerings from French winery Chateau Maris. Spirits are also on offer, such as whiskey from Michigan's New Holland Brewing and Brooklyn's Van Brunt Stillhouse.