Meet local pastaio Matt Ruzga. Matt owns Porta Rossa Pasta & Provisions, a shop that started in our shared commercial kitchen as an artisanal pasta delivery service.

Matt’s story begins during the pandemic. After spending years mastering his craft at the best Italian restaurants in NYC, Matt suddenly found himself at home. The Covid quarantine, however, freed him from the hustle of running professional kitchens. Away from places like Marta, Del Posto, the Fox & Falcon, he found time to dream about a business of his own.

Access to Commercial Kitchen Turns Dream into Reality

After rolling pasta and simmering sauces at home, he joined Garden State Kitchen and made his business a reality. He started sending weekly emails to customers to sell his food. When orders and quantities came in, he shopped for ingredients and booked just the right amount of kitchen hours. In one of our catering kitchens, he prepped, packed, and rolled out for delivery.

Matt also used our shared cooking space to work out kinks and scale up. Because he didn’t have to pay high monthly membership fees, or cover utilities or insurance, he could experiment without taking on a lot of risk. Paying only for storage and kitchen time meant he could fold profits back into his business. This cost savings, along with a successful crowdfunding campaign, gave him enough to open a place of his own.

Business is Booming

Today, Porta Rossa (yes, with a red door) stands as a specialty grocery store where Matt sells local and imported products. He still simmers sauces and rolls pasta into traditional shapes that tell a story beyond typical grocery store shelves – and he’s still growing his concept. He constantly creates delicious new items for his customers. Fresh herbed focaccia waits on the counter and there’s a daily selection of hand-spun gelato to choose from. A small list of sandwiches evolved into a full lunch menu – along with a need for more seating. This spring brings even more growth. A new outdoor dining patio will welcome diners when the weather is nice.

Evening Dinners + Special Events

Though Porta Rossa is open mainly during the day, Matt has ventured into some evening activities. He recently led an after hours pasta-making class, sharing his love of the craft. He’s also hosted exclusive dinners in conjuction with a local wine shop which provided pairings. ‘An Evening in Abruzzo’ took diners on a flavorful trip from the mountains to the sea, just east of Rome.

True to Italian Roots

While Porta Rossa’s offering keeps expanding Matt stays true to his roots. He still makes small batch pasta the old fashioned way, focusing on technique and context. Every shape tells a story of place and time in Italian history. Some require custom extruders or are cut by hand. Others he stuffs with fresh cheese or ingredients available only for a moment in the season. All are available by the pound to take home and enjoy.

If you drop in (and we think you should) please say hello! And if you’re looking for a way to grow your dream food business, we have a kitchen ready for you too. Come take a tour.

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The post How to Grow an Artisanal Pasta Business appeared first on Garden State Kitchen.

Meet Molli Dowd, architect of Edible Estates, a luxury craft gingerbread house company. Molli bakes her special cookie kits in our shared rental kitchen and prepares the icing and decorations. While she designs gingerbread houses for any occasion – including sweet renditions of her customers’ summer homes – winter is go time. Now, she’s busy scaling her business in our professional baking kitchen – and celebrating a recent feature in New Jersey Monthly! Congrats Molli!

Cake Jars also books extra hours at Garden State Kitchen during the colder months. This purpose-driven business spends a few days a week crafting their desserts in our professional baking kitchen. This winter, they’re at the Union Square Holiday Market with some sweet new offerings. Owner Dawn Estrada donates part of proceeds to two non-profit children’s health organzations. She’s also showcasing her new 100% vegan menu, a bonus her customers appreciate. If you want to see what it’s like to vend at a big festive market, stop by the Cake Jars booth. While you’re there, pick up a jar and treat yourself!

If you’re inspired by these stories, we’ve got the perfect place for you to grow your food business. Take the first step. Sign up for a virtual tour or come see us soon.

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We’d just opened when Erica Leahy of Three Daughters Baking Co. rented our commercial baking kitchen for the first time. It was 2018, and renting a professional kitchen by the hour was just what she needed: a low-risk way to scale her start-up food business. She could vend at local farmers markets while she built a small bakery and cafe inside the General Store Co-op, a shared retail space in Maplewood.

This year, she traded the co-op for a proprietary storefront in a brand-new building in downtown South Orange. Three Daughters Baking Co. opened on Valentine’s Day with a line down the block.

Erica and her husband Chris Leahy, also a chef with decades in the business, run their sparkling new bakery together. They knew it was a big step, but one worth taking. A few months in, they are expanding their menu, attracting new customers, and often close with an empty display case.

While opening a bakery isn’t easy, Erica and Chris bring deep culinary experience. He’s on the savory side and has run professional kitchens for trendy restaurant groups. She’s led high-volume commissary baking and production kitchens. Their new place is much larger than the co-op and holds bigger opportunities.

In the glass display case, Erica’s elevated desserts stand beside Chris’s inventive sandwiches and egg dishes. Diners sit indoors or out, enjoying espresso with a perfect slice of cake or a wedge of seasonal ramp and goat cheese quiche.

We salute Three Daughters Baking Co. and are proud to have played a small part in their success. If you find yourself in South Orange, stop by and see what’s in the case. We’ll see you there!

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Budgeting isn’t the fun part of running a food business, but it’s as necessary as a great recipe, especially in shaky economic times. With inflation and the threat of recession dominating headlines, join us for a discussion of tactics you can use right right now to boost the financial health of your company.

We’ll cover the top 5 budget mistakes food entrepreneurs make just as their business starts to grow, and how you can fix them or avoid them in the first place.

UCEDC‘s Kevin Chu (Loan Officer) and Ellen McHenry (Senior Director of Financial Programs) lead the conversation and Jewell Domino of BelleJohns’ Soul Food will share strategies she used to scale her business and open a place of her own.

Take this one-hour workshop if you:

• own a small food business and have been operating for two years or more
• understand the concept of cashflow but your bookkeeping could be better
• need to boost resilience against inflation, fluctuating prices, and recession
• want to understand how business lending works and what the opportunities are
• have an idea of your breakeven point
• want to fully understand how pricing, recipes and operating costs impact profit
• want real-world answers from industry experts who can help your business succeed
• want to see your numbers in a powerful new way

Hope to see you there!

The post New – Financial – Workshop Alert! appeared first on Garden State Kitchen.

While there are many Black-owned food businesses at Garden State Kitchen, we want to highlight two members who cooked in the kitchen this month. In honor of Black History Month, meet vegan chefs and lifestyle coaches Plant Based Planet, and Bro-Ritos, a growing company with iconic green food trucks and incredible burritos.

Plant Based Planet

Plant Based Planet is a famliy-run business that helps customers transition to and maintain a vegan lifestyle. With an eye toward health and longevity, they focus on the Black community, though they work with everyone. They prepare meals at Garden State Kitchen that are delicious and nutritious, and support new vegan clients with cooking classes, guidance on grocery shopping, and private holistic health coaching sessions.

Bro-Ritos

The guys at Bro-Ritos run a Mexican fast-casual food truck business, but when they need room to prep for a large corporate event, they work at Garden State Kitchen. Renting additional space gives them the ablility to quickly reach new customers in more locations without the expense of immediately opening a kitchen of their own. When the weather warms up, look for their bright green trucks at festivals and events across the state, but be willing to wait. There’s always a line.

Want to learn more about the entrepreneurs who cook at Garden State Kitchen? Check out our blog. 

The post Black History Month in the Kitchen appeared first on Garden State Kitchen.

Summer means beach days, farmers markets, and lots of ice cream cones. This summer, there’s hot stuff happening here at Garden State Kitchen! We’re welcoming many new faces and saying farewell to some who’ve been with us from the beginning. (Watch this space for their success stories.) We also just hosted an ice cream social here in the kitchen parking lot. Some of our member entrepreneurs enjoyed a tasty treat with Garden State Kitchen staff on a warm summer afternoon. Thanks to all of you who joined us – and we hope to see you at the next gathering.

Enjoy these lovely, final days of summer and keep in touch. There’s always something great happening at GSK. Want to subscribe to our newsletter?

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With six different kitchens for rent by the hour 24/7/365, we’re here when you need us, for as long as you need us. With no monthly fees or minimums, Garden State Kitchen offers an easy, low-risk way to start or keep your small food business growing. Here’s how some of our members do it: 

🚚 Prep for a Food Truck Event

Mezoco, Tio Eddy’s, The Pincho Truck, are just a few of the food truck businesses that chop, cook, and store their prep at Garden State Kitchen. Space is tight inside the truck, so they use our kitchens and walk-in refrigeration to set themselves up for success.

🧁 Extra Space for Restaurateurs Who Cater Special Events

Some of the entrepreneurs who rent space at Garden State Kitchen own restaurants. Jersey City favorite Krewe preps for private special events in one of our large catering kitchens. The extra space helps them get the job done without interrupting regular restaurant service.

👩🏾‍🍳 Keep Baking When You Are Between Kitchens

When vegan dessert wholesalers Keeping You Sweet suddenly lost access to their commercial kitchen, it was easy to slide into Garden State Kitchen’s commercial baking kitchen. It took one day to transfer paperwork and get back to fulfilling orders for Whole Foods.

Do you need extra space to cook or prep? We can help!

The post 6 Kitchens Ready When You Need Them appeared first on Garden State Kitchen.

All six of our kitchens, from prep to baking to catering, are humming with activity this summer. Here’s what some of our members are up to.

 Herbalist Ricardo Da Costa (above), owner and founder of Yogic Chai, rents space to brew his organic masala chai concentrate and package his award-winning loose leaf blends. He launched his business after returning from a spiritual quest in India where he fell in love with the iconic beverage. Today, he distributes small batches of his artisanal tea to local shops and cafes.

Dixie Jackson of Dixie Grace’s Boiled Peanut Co. is one of many entrepreneurs prepping for sales at seasonal farmers markets each week. Her version of the ‘caviar of the south’ comes healthy, organic, and in lots of delicious flavors.

 Testo Pizza is another business using the kitchen to get ready for farmers markets and special events this summer. Stephan Gainiuk and Mila Golovanova make their gourmet pies with fresh, peak-season produce that is sustainably grown on farms in our area.

Want to see what it could be like to cook at Garden State Kitchen?

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Meet April Harris, founder and owner of Keeping You Sweet. April joined Garden State Kitchen when she suddenly lost access to the commercial kitchen where she was making her vegan and gluten-free desserts. Losing production space is never great, but when you wholesale to Whole Foods Market, you need an immediate solution.

We hear this story a lot at Garden State Kitchen and are proud to provide clean, reliable space for makers right when they need it. Since our rental requirements are industry standard, it’s easy for established food businesses to move in and quickly get started. Our flexible hourly rates mean there’s no need to rush into a lease or mortgage and the operational costs that come with it. No stranger to hustle, it took April less than a week to visit Garden State Kitchen, sign up, stock her cold, dry, and frozen storage shelves, and begin working in our large production baking kitchen.

As a former pop sensation—April was part of the platinum-selling freestyle dance trio Seduction and toured with other marquee acts—creativity and drive were already part of her repertoire. She got serious about baking after her mother, a successful caterer, passed away in 2011. She started reworking family recipes, her mother’s handwriting inspiring her as she removed gluten and refined sugars. She says it felt like they were cooking together in the kitchen.

These days, she runs Keeping You Sweet at Garden State Kitchen while she builds out a production space of her own and Whole Foods places her treats in more stores. It’s a big step toward scale, stability, and much well-deserved success. We think her mother would be very, very proud.

It’s easy to get started at Garden State Kitchen. Here’s how:

The post Former Pop Star Finds the Sweet Spot in the Kitchen appeared first on Garden State Kitchen.

Meet Connor Sterphone and Jared Prince, the partnership behind Garnish.

You’ll find their beautiful jars of vegan overnight oats online and at shops and cafes in NJ and NYC, but before that, you’ll see Connor and Jared making their creations at Garden State Kitchen.

To meet customer needs, they book the large windowed large prep kitchen (above) and fill hundreds of jars on top of the stainless steel tables. Their healthy to-go breakfasts balance sweet with refreshing, creamy with light, indulgent with nutritious. Date cardamom is a popular flavor along with fig lavender and wild blueberry, often laced with chia and a bit of toasted coconut or pistachios for crunch.

Dedicated to quality, Connor and Jared are also committed to social and environmental responsibility. Garnish often runs community fundraisers and operates with a mission to embed sustainability into everyday life. They use simple, organic ingredients, all dairy-free, gluten-free, and sourced from local purveyors. When it comes to oat milk though, they make their own. Shelf-stable plant-based milks contain additives, gums and stabilizers, which they will not use.

While Connor and Jared appreciate Garden State Kitchen’s composting service, they try to never put anything in the bin. Instead, they dehydrate scraps and overripe fruit to avoid waste and invent the garnishes that add so much flavor.

Want to see what it would be like to cook in a professional kitchen? We have six commercial kitchens for rent by the hour – two for prep, two baking, and two catering kitchens. More details below.

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