June 26th: Think Tank Potluck

Dear Greenpoint Food Market Fans,

We hope this finds you well. We have some sober news, the next market which was slated for June 26th has been cancelled. In it’s stead we will present Think Tank Potluck. Here is why:

Since in inception last fall Greenpoint Food Market has been functioning a bit underground, accentuating the neighborly and community based, specially focusing on food that is literally homemade by individuals interested in perfecting their special recipes and sharing it with everyone. A couple weeks ago there was an article in New York Times that put GFM on a much wider map and inevitably, put us on radar with the officials. Since then we have gone back and forth with the city trying to find a solution to how the market can keep its mission while adhering to rules and regulations.

The market will never be the same. It will expand to a much wider audience (we received fan mail from Canada, Brazil, and even Iceland!), all food will now be produced from a certified commercial kitchen and each vendor will be food protection certified and permitted for each participating market. This requires not only time to make visits to city hall every month but money to find a kitchen to make the food. In order to give all our vendors the opportunity to figure out all the paperwork we will host Think Tank Potluck to address the much wider issue all this presents and open it to the public so that everyone might have the opportunity to not only be familiar with the struggles small food businesses are facing but to help us as we make an effort to request changes in legislation and potentially open our very own incubator kitchen.

Please join us June 26th, 1pm at the Church of Messiah as we commence for Think Tank Potluck. It will be an open discussion where vendors can meet the public, questions can be asked, changes can be requested, and food can be shared. We would love to see everyone walk in with a very delicious dish. More than anything, we need EVERYONE’s support and attendance to exemplify how pivotal the food movement is within a failing economy, what business opportunities it offers, and how the lack of resources hinder individuals from pursuing their food dreams. We hope to see you there, hungry and curious. Please do RSVP to greenpointfoodmarket@gmail.com so we have a general headcount.

Topics to discuss include:
– How you know when you’ve got a viable product to start a small food business with.
– How to figure out city codes and regulations.
– How to tap into available commercial kitchen resources.
– What changes need to be made in legislation to make it more accessible to food start ups with high overhead and low profit margins.
– How possible it would be to run a non-profit incubator kitchen funded and supported by local gov that all vendors can use and can host GFM (long term project).

Speakers in the panel include:
– A rep from Dept of Health
– Council member Stephen Levin

– Harry and Taylor of Brooklyn Kitchen

– Rich Awn of Mombucha
– Kelly Geary of Sweet Deliverance
– Terry Frishman of Creative Marketing Workshops

– Jessamyn Waldman of Hot Bread Kitchen

– Joshua Kace of Slantshack Jerky
– Allison Robicelli of Robicelli’s
– Shamus Jones of Brooklyn Brine
– Danielle Gould of Brooklyn Food Coalition

Thank you for all the love and support you’ve shown Greenpoint Food Market so far. It brings tears to our eyes, seriously.

Please also join our facebook group for more updates and announcements!

Best regards,
Greenpoint Food Market