Cherry Street Kitchen launching culinary careers
Barbara Simpson of Princeton has spent her life in the food business, and in 2012, she was in the middle of completing coursework at the National Gourmet Institute in New York. And that’s when the epiphany happened.
She noticed throughout the five boroughs - especially in Long Island City and Brooklyn - there were tons of commissary kitchens. Licenced, communal, commercial kitchens where caterers, bakers, meal prep services, food trucks - basically, any small foodbased entrepreneur - would be able to ply their trade.
She also noticed there were none of these kitchens in Princeton. Or Mercer County. In fact, the closest one was in Englewood.
“She realized there were none here,” said her husband, John Vadnais. “And she always had an interest in Trenton, and if she ever opened a business, she wanted it to be in a ‘recycled’ building, and the location is great and … well, I don’t know Barbara. Why did we do this?”
“Because it was a great idea!” Simpson said.
And with that, the process of opening Cherry Street Kitchen on Cherry Street in Trenton was born. A little more than two years ago, the kitchen opened, and today, dozens of small food operations use the kitchen as their home base.
“I’ve been here since December,” said Tara Senski of Tara’s Cozy Kitchen. “If I wasn’t here, I’d probably be going to Englewood. Instead, I can just drive up a few miles and be here.”
Senski sells baked goods, mostly through a retail pop-up market in Merchantville. She was in the midst of putting together Irish Car Bomb cupcakes for her upcoming St. Patrick’s Daythemed sale.
Then there’s Lewis Parham of Crab Cakes by Lew. Parham is a Hamilton resident trying to get his gourmet crab cake business off the ground, and the Cherry Street Kitchen has proven to be the ideal launching pad.
“We’re a start up crab cake and catering business,” Parham said. “This is perfect for us. This allows us to get started. It’s a great, clean facility. It’s just what we need right now.”
And if not here in Trenton, would he be trekking up to Englewood?
“No,” Parham said. “In fact, I’m not sure if we’d be in business if this wasn’t here. I’d have to wait to get some funding to have a restaurant or a storefront location. This is the difference maker. Not just for me, but for all of us that come here.”
And “here” is important to Simpson and Vadnais. They wanted to be in Trenton, they wanted to be part of the solution in helping to make Trenton a thriving economic community again. In fact, Simpson thinks Trenton could be what Brooklyn has become, especially in regards to food.
“Brooklyn has become a food city, and there’s no reason Trenton can’t become the same,” she said. “There’s so much history here.”
There’s history in the building, as well, which was originally built in 1952 and, for over 50 years, housed the Holland Mold Company. Then it became a pay phone repair shop, various other businesses.
But when Simpson saw it, she knew it was perfect.
“It has good bones,” Vadnais said.
Now it has multiple bays, prep areas, cooking areas. Four groups could be using it at the same time, and it’s open for operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There’s cooler space, freezer space, everything. Honestly, The Food Network could run a few shows out of the space if they so chose.
“We’re bringing in people to Trenton, they’re paying their money here, doing their business here,” said Vadnais. “And we’re trying to make it easy for food entrepreneurs.”
Mission accomplished, I’d say.