My Little Shop is Opening
In the 4th Grade Classroom of the old Stonington Elementary School
For years, my business, Narrative Food, has been an online business with boxes shipping far and wide — but now, for the very first time, we have stamped some shopping bags with our logo, and are opening our doors for our local shoppers! I’ve had ongoing email and telephone correspondences with most of my customers over the past 15 years (yes we are turning 15 this year!) — from our farm to table home delivery customers in SoCal, to my clients for our corporate gifts — but I’m so excited to finally have a space where we can connect in person with folks looking for earth-friendly, delicious foods.
While I’ve gone into great detail in previous posts about our move to Maine — from scraping the paint off the worn windows of our abandoned farmhouse, to planting our garden, I have largely spared you any talk of what it’s been like to re-locate my business post pandemic…
Many of you know of pandemic endeavors, becoming essential workers — packing up thousands of boxes of local organic food, and delivering them to doorsteps across 1000 zip codes in SoCal, while most people were staying safe in their homes. We re-routed hundreds of thousands of dollars of organic farm products to doorsteps, when farmers markets and restaurants shut down and a huge demand for home delivery suddenly mushroomed (and I worried deeply about everyone on my team and the unknown risks of venturing out of the safety of our homes). You can read more about it in this article that featured our work, in the NYT — and led to a waiting list of more than 500 names.
There was no follow up to that story, post pandemic, when my costs had soared, and a large part of our pandemic customers went back out into the world, and suddenly nothing was adding up anymore. But this interview with my friend Russ Stoddard goes into greater detail about how we pivoted the business to corporate gifting, and made the bold decision — a huge leap of faith — to move ourselves, and my business, lock, stock and barrel, to an island off the coast of Maine.
The move was two years ago, and I’m still reinventing this new incarnation of Narrative Food. Though the goals are still the same: to support small scale, mostly organic growers and makers, by curating boxes of sustainable food (whether a produce box or a gift box), this new narrative is still writing itself.
Last fall, while battling with the challenges of packing hundreds of gift boxes from the rough and ready backroom of the farmhouse, I called the wonderful Linda Nelson, the Economic and Community Development Director of Stonington — our island lobster port — and asked her if she knew of a space we could rent. “Yes, actually I might have the perfect space for you”, was the magical answer.
And so it was that we occupied the old 4th Grade Classroom of the Stonington Elementary School, a landmark building which is now being re-branded the Stonington Connectivity Hub, with the help of a considerable grant Linda procured for improvements like an elevator and wifi. With the Adult Learning Center next door, and a Haystack Crafts School “Fab Lab” (think 3-D printers, and innovation) moving in across the hallway, and the weekly Stonginton Farmers Market taking place in the parking lot during the summer months, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to take part in this community-minded project. And so, by October, we had emptied out the crowded packroom in the farmhouse, and occupied the classroom. Folks who visited took in a deep breath and smiled: “It still smells just like it did when I was in 4th Grade here, decades ago!”
Not only does this space grant us much more elbow room, but I have set up a small retail space, for a Popup Shop during the farmers markets that take place every Friday from Memorial Day through October. We will feature some of my favorite pantry products from the home delivery days (culinary items don’t tend to end up in gift boxes), and are planning Scavenger Hunts with recipe cards, so you can find the various ingredients needed to cook a recipe, from our local Farmers Market participants, and additional items, from our shelves. My partner, Beau, is also bringing us a selection of his favorite herbs and spices from his 50-year old spice shop in Olympia WA, Bucks Spices.
In tandem, I’ve been building relationships with Maine makers, and Maine-based companies, urging them to move their corporate gifting dollars from Starbucks cards and swag, into gifts that support their local community. To this end, we have also created a range of products featuring some of my favorite local products — and illustrations from my daughter, Lily Piette. In a time where many have shied back from “impact” messaging, we have leaned right in. The products are called “Coffee for Community” (tagline “Change is Brewing”), Caramels for the Climate, Chocolate for Change etc. with labels telling the story of the impact-driven makers and growers who created them. The products give back 2% of all sales to non-profits. This past week I participated in two events, and launched these products and our services to Maine businesses. Somehow, I even got interviewed on local TV, talking about what we do!
Honestly, my company is not out of the woods yet, but my goal — to lean into my local community, support our local makers, and move food dollars into small scale community yummies — is finally taking shape. Our first popup is this coming week, on Thursday, as part of the local “Wings, Waves & Woods Festival” bringing birders and other nature lovers to our island. The farmers market launches on Memorial Day Weekend, and with that we will be open every Friday from 10-12 AM as a counterpart to the farmers market. I hope to see you there!
Scavenger hunts with recipe cards! I could not love this more. Hope I get up your way this summer.