Photo: Michael Derr
Hungry patrons rarely see the blood, sweat, and tears that go into the development of their favorite foods. They often don’t ponder the work or thought that go into packaging. And they are certainly not kept awake at night wondering if or how those foods became shelf stable.
With the help of Town Made’s Food and Beverage Operations Director Rachael LaPorte, who cultivated funding totaling over a half million dollars in government grants and matches by other local interests, 22 local makers are working to answer those questions and create the food businesses of their dreams.
The Town Made A.C.T.I.O.N. (Agriculture and Culinary Trades for Innovation and Opportunity Now) Scholarship provides kitchen time and equipment, storage space, and general and specific guidance to individuals seeking to start a food business committed to utilizing 51% or more local produce in their operation.
The scholarship, open to anyone interested — whether they have food service backgrounds or not — creates a three-year trajectory that Town Made and the USDA hope will end in success, creating solid partnerships between local growers and program participants.
LaPorte, who has experience bringing a similar program to a different location, said, “The whole premise behind this USDA grant is to create value-added products in our local food system by providing operational infrastructure support to local makers.”
Town Made, South Kingstown’s shared commissary kitchen, supports renters and A.C.T.I.O.N. Scholarship participants by remaining open 24/7, allowing makers to access the kitchen space any time it fits their schedules.
This accessibility has helped remove barriers for scholarship recipients, many of whom maintain full-time jobs outside of their food business activities.
This availability is especially important to Ted and Carrie Sherman of Westerly, proprietors of 401 Sauce Company, who work full-time in addition to nurturing their dream of selling sauces locally and beyond.
401 Sauce Company’s spark was lit, then quickly blew out, immediately before the pandemic. Ted had struck gold in the form of a creamy garlic sauce he created for his son after a negative takeout experience.
“Ted said ‘I can do something better than this’ and whipped up a sauce that was delicious,” Carrie said.
Then she sent Ted to the store to get some bread so she could taste the sauce on it.
“By the time he came back, we had a name, we had a logo, we had a Facebook page, and we had an email address. We were ready to go!” she laughed.
Once the couple decided to get serious about production, however, the pandemic caused delays.
The couple happened upon Town Made shortly after it opened, and they signed a lease two days later.
The Shermans applied for the scholarship as renters at the kitchen and were awarded the scholarship to continue to grow their sauce repertoire.
“In January, we expanded our line to include hot sauce and barbecue sauce,” Carrie said.
Carrie works as a medical assistant at Westerly Hospital and Ted works as a contractor around Southern New England, modifying veterans’ homes to become handicap accessible. The couple shared they are both quite busy during the week, so the fact that they can pop into Town Made when they’re both free has been a blessing.
They also shared that the space they’ve gained at the Town Made kitchen has helped save their home a bit.
“Our living room has been taken over by three deep freezes we store the garlic sauce in, then we just have shelves with stacks of hot sauces and barbecue sauces,” Carrie said.
Creating sauces on a larger scale and utilizing the kitchen’s storage has helped 401 Sauce Company, whose original moniker was 401 Garlic Sauce, become scalable. The couple sells their garlic sauce at Mystic Garlic Fest, their hot sauces at Connecticut’s Spicy Food Festival, and they have maintained a consistent presence at local farmers’ markets.
“Town Made has been absolutely wonderful,” Carrie said.
The couple has been selling their garlic sauce frozen and has recently begun the process of building sauces that will soon use primarily local ingredients. LaPorte has helped the couple find farms from which they can procure hot peppers, tomatoes, and other important ingredients.
401 Sauce Company is now able to take orders online via 401saucecompany.com and delivers their product locally as far as Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Hope Valley’s Hanna Lange returned from Germany with a yearning for the inventive vegan spreads she tried there, and has been working to create similar products in the States.
“I personally don’t like hummus,” Lange said, which motivated her to begin thinking about flavors she may be able to create.
First canvassing her community for honest opinions about early versions of her spreads, Hanna eventually found herself at Town Made, in a conversation with LaPorte.
“I told them what I was planning,” Lange said, “and Rachael said, ‘You should definitely apply for the scholarship.’”
Based on her desire to use primarily produce for her spreads, she had become part of the program.
Because Hanna has no food business experience — she holds a master’s degree in history — she has begun to build a business from the ground up.
Hanna is learning what combinations of ingredients would make her spreads shelf-stable, has recently completed food service certification, and is planning to pursue a food service license.
Though she hopes to be able to provide a tasty selection of shelf-stable spreads like those she sampled in Germany, Hanna realizes she still has much to learn.
“I’m going to concentrate now on just three flavors,” Hanna explained. “I’ll definitely make a tomato one and I’ll make an eggplant one. And I’ve been working on a mushroom one, which is really good, but the issue is that I might need too many mushrooms.”
Guidance from Rachael and Town Made, by the design of the A.C.T.I.O.N. Scholarship program, will lead Hanna, should she pursue these flavors, to local producers who can provide her with the amount and quality of produce needed to make her spreads.
“I am in contact with a bunch of local farms who said they’d be willing to work with me,” she said.
“This is just the test phase,” Hanna said. “This is the first time I get to see what people think and if they’re accepting of this product, and if they are accepting, then yeah, I would like to build this out.”
“This is definitely something I could see doing full-time and making different products.”
Beach Town Beverage Company, the brainchild of Narragansett’s John and Hilary Patterson, creates a simple and ingenious way to make delicious cocktails and mocktails at home.
The couple became popular for crafting mixed drinks for friends and family but wanted to find an easier, less time-consuming way to deliver the drinks.
The idea for the business came after the couple stayed with Hilary’s parents, who loved their margaritas. Once John and Hilary left, they asked the couple for the recipe. Even though they were shown how to create the beverage, they were unable to duplicate the flavors John created.
The couple then created 2 oz. cubes of the frozen mixer and began sharing them with their inner circle.
The mixers evolved into six-packs, which then evolved into packs of 18, in eight different flavors, which they sell locally, via delivery on Fridays or pickup at Town Made on Thursday afternoons.
Like most of the other scholarship recipients, the couple has their hands full. Hilary is a pharmacist for a drug company in Boston and John is a police officer turned stay-at-home dad to the couple’s two-year-old son, Owen.
Because the family is so busy, they took advantage of the design services available to them through Town Made’s marketing and design arm, Lineage Corporation.
“We used them for our packaging, and they did a phenomenal job with our packaging and our stickers,” Hilary said.
Frozen mixer flavors available right now from Beach Town Beverage are Grapefruit Rosemary, Watermelon Mint, Strawberry Basil, Pineapple Jalapeno, Mango Habanero, Coconut Punch, and Cranberry Ginger, which will be retired soon and return as a fall flavor.
The company provides instructions via its packaging, its website, and easy-to-follow videos. As much as possible, the ingredients are locally sourced, and the couple says they are currently formulating fall flavors incorporating local, organic ingredients including a mulled cider.
The cubes can be mixed with alcohol in a blender or BlendJet, or defrosted and served on the rocks.
Beverage recommendations are provided for customers, but ultimately, customers are free to try any combinations they’d like.
“Our Strawberry Basil, for example,” John said, “we find mixes very well with a blanco tequila or vodka or rum.”
The Pattersons are working with the state on how to meet standards for wholesale so they can distribute their product more widely.
Customers can order online at btbevco.com and either pick up their orders on Thursday evenings between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. or arrange for home delivery.