‘Full steam ahead’ for East End Food thanks to $5M state grant

East End Food in Riverhead is about to embark on an ambitious new chapter in its 15-year history, thanks to $5 million from the New York State School Food Infrastructure Grant Program.

After several challenging years, precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic and followed by the loss of their Southampton commercial kitchen, the non-profit that has brought farmers, food processors and the community together with a focus on promoting local food sustainability and security, will soon begin construction on a new permanent home and commercial kitchen at the intersection of County Road 105 and Route 25 in Riverhead.

The goal of the new Food Hub is to have a farmers’ market open indoors during the winter, with a space for educational programs and a storefront featuring offerings from local farms and food producers.

“The plan right now is that the whole right side of the building will be for the market, education and events,” said Marci Moreau, the non profit’s executive director since July. “The [grant] funding, which is a great announcement, has given us so many opportunities to promote local farmers, get out there, and help the community, schools and increase access to food. I’m excited. So many people have been waiting for the commercial kitchen.”

Reflecting on the setbacks, Ms. Moreau said she feels that for East End Food, this is the ultimate comeback story: “When I first started as executive director, they were in the midst of so many changes that it was like the perfect storm. This is a story of persistence, grit, resilience and most importantly, commitment to the East End.”

In the state press release announcing the grant, Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard said, “This program not only helps provide local jobs, but promotes the use of local agricultural products. It’s a big win for the community. Thank you, Governor Hochul!”

Ms. Moreau is gearing up to start hiring staff. “This is a great opportunity for jobs in the area. We want to have a quality team,” she said, adding that in the next few weeks, the design for the shared commercial kitchen goes before the Town Board. “We will be bringing back all of our farmers and food producers.”

In the fall, the 5,000 square foot former Homeside Florist building at 139 Main Road was connected to municipal water, a $120,00 project. The water main hookup was just one of many challenging delays, funding issues and permit holdups.

“We’re basically now able to go full steam ahead,” Ms. Moreau said, noting that the grant will allow East End Food to begin construction and complete the purchase of the building. “So, it’s cementing East End Food as an asset to the North Fork — an asset to sustain our regional food system.”

Another important focus of the non-profit’s mission is providing food for schoolchildren. Ms. Moreau explained that the organization is in the midst of meetings with six school systems in the region, including Riverhead, to integrate North Fork farm-grown food into meal plans and onto children’s cafeteria trays.

“While we’re doing that, it’s also generating a food system that is fueled by community, equity and sustainability which is the power of food,” Ms. Moreau said.

Most of the approximately 80 member farmers and food processors who left the Hub during Covid are expected to return, Ms Moreau said. “The sabbatical we had to take was because of the hurricane of challenges. Now we can execute and deliver on our mission,” she continued. “It’s almost like hey, East End, we’re back and better than ever, and this will be a really powerful sustainable community.” 

East End Food Project director Kayla Barthelme, who is also a member farmer, said the organization and the Hub are crucial for farmers to connect and expand their businesses. Her Mattituck garden grows medicinal herbs which, when produced in the commercial kitchen, become value added products to various teas, salves and tinctures.

“It’s one thing to grow really good produce, but building a successful business doesn’t always come easy,” Ms Barthelme said. A lot of farmers rely on the Hub to process their food. Otherwise, if they don’t sell it at the farmers markets or supermarket, it would wind up as compost.” 

Accessing the commercial kitchen to process their products helps create shelf stable food, and the indoor Hub will allow for year round sales in person and online.

“This is a real game changer. It gives us the opportunity to establish a world-class location in Riverhead,” said Board Chairperson Andrew Mintzer. “We’ve had our challenges, primarily because we lost our lease at the facility in Southampton college. It completely shut down our ability to produce food. We have had a wonderful track record over the last 15 years. Now, we will own the building so we can control our own destiny. This is a re-start for us.” 

For now, the market will continue operating indoors at Twin Fork Beer Co. on Raynor Avenue in Riverhead, as it has since last June. Ms. Moreau credited the member farmers for keeping it running, but she wasn’t quite ready to pinpoint an exact opening date for the new hub.

“Once the grant is released in a few weeks and we get our TCO [temporary certificate of occupancy] from the town, that will allow us to use the education and farmers market space,” she said. “Then our goal is to have the kitchen open by the end of the year.”