PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s prominent food business incubator will soon have a significant presence in the city.
Additionally, the organization is currently negotiating to occupy a facility within the city’s West End in order to equip five new shared used kitchens as well as build out kitchens for Hope & Main graduates. Those kitchens will also be a feeder for the new marketplace, Hope & Main said.
Lisa Raiola, Hope & Main’s founder and president, told Providence Business News Wednesday the impetus of creating this new marketplace and kitchen space in the city was because the Warren kitchen facility was having a “capacity issue.” The organization said that over the past two years, it felt the pull of increased kitchen demand from aspiring food entrepreneurs. Raiola in a statement said there has been a recent “surge” of people leaving traditional food service work looking to create their own food businesses, with about half the inquiries coming from the Greater Providence area.
“We really need to explore a shared-use kitchen in the Greater Providence area so that we can better serve half of all of our applicants,” Raiola told PBN.
The Papitto Opportunity Connection, which has its offices at 100 Westminster, provided a “very significant” grant to support Hope & Main’s new initiative, Raiola confirmed to PBN, although Raiola declined to divulge how much money the connection provided to Hope & Main to create the programming and provide staff. Papitto chose to invest because 40% of Hope & Main’s entrepreneurs are founders of color, Hope & Main said. Barbara Papitto, the connection’s founder, said in a statement the marketplace will offer “another innovative channel to promote these small businesses and help them grow and thrive.”
Raiola also said she was connected with Joseph R. Paolino Jr., managing partner of Paolino Properties LP who also owns 100 Westminster, and Paolino asked how his firm can help with Hope & Main’s mission to support underserved communities and businesses. A space that was a restaurant inside 100 Westminster will be used what Raiola describes the new marketplace as a “groc-aurant.”
Paolino told PBN he was approached by Papitto if there could be a three-way partnership on the new marketplace between his firm and the two nonprofits. He recalled his daughter Jennifer taking Paolino down to Warren to see Hope & Main in action. After getting to know Raiola and the operation, Paolino was impressed, he said.
The new marketplace in the former restaurant, which had been vacant since last year, will offer hand-crafted and locally sourced made-to-order items, corporate catering, hot and cold foods and a curated selection of Hope & Main members’ products and foods, the organization said. A coffee, tea and craft beverage bar anchored by Schasteâ, a Hope & Main business, will also be part of the marketplace, Hope & Main said.
The marketplace, Hope & Main says, will also support new local food being produced and will also create opportunities to explore foodways of multiple cultures. It will also allow entrepreneurs prepare and sample items representative of their business concepts and unique food heritage ranging from places such as Ethiopia, Trinidad, Israel, Mexico, Cambodia and the Philippines, Hope & Main said.
“You go into cafes and you see grocery stores, sort of this hybrid experience where you’re getting high-quality, hand-crafted small batch food,” she said. “But it is quick, convenient and it doesn’t require a big front-of-the-house staff. You’re going up to a bar, ordering food… and it’s great food. That’s the food our members produce here.”
Paolino also said in addition to donating the restaurant’s equipment and furnishings worth more than $1 million to Hope & Main’s new marketplace, he will also contribute $50,000 annually to support its operations.
Raiola also said that Hope & Main has, over the course of eight years, launched enough businesses to support a new marketplace that will soon open inside 100 Westminster. As far as the new kitchen space slated to be built, Raiola said that space will open later next year. She feels the new kitchen space will support between 90 to 130 makers to launch new food businesses.
Paolino also said Hope & Main’s new marketplace fits into his vision of creating a “campus” at 100 Westminster, and hopes the marketplace can help entice people to return to working within the city after the COVID-19 pandemic made working from home the norm.
“If people know that there are more places they can socialize, I think it’s important,” Paolino said. “Some people are so gun shy [to socialize]. Having this [marketplace] as an amenity I think will help. It helps my tenants. This is a need the tenants have.”
(Updates: Comments from Raiola and Paolino added through out)
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
