Four New Local First Community Kitchen Entrepreneurs Begin Business During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the face of the hospitality industry for small local independent businesses drastically and, perhaps, forever. Some businesses have had to alter operations, expand or shrink their offerings, pivot to takeaway, and in some cases, sadly, close their doors.

A new group of entrepreneurs is using the current crisis as a springboard to grow their business and serve their community. Goat and Ram, Heart 2 Home, Garnished Cuisine, and Taste by Fabio are blazing new paths for their businesses using the Local First Community Kitchen in Mesa. We’re excited to introduce you to them:

Sausage and mushroom Pizza Mesquite smoked tomato sauce. Italian sausage. Roasted mushrooms. Caramelized onions. Mozzarella. Parmesan. Chives. Yes, please. — Sausage and mushroom Pizza
Mesquite smoked tomato sauce. Italian sausage. Roasted mushrooms. Caramelized onions. Mozzarella. Parmesan. Chives. Yes, please.

Goat and Ram

Goat and Ram is a mobile kitchen specializing in pizza, pastries, and whatever else strikes owner Dan Medlen’s fancy. Dan and his wife, Morgan, are most passionate about baking and sharing that love with their guests.

The idea for Goat and Ram was born just a few weeks before the COVID-19 stay at home orders were issued as a side hustle while Dan pursued baking at his “day job”. When the orders were put in place, he found himself furloughed like many restaurant workers. Fortunately, Morgan was able to continue her work managing Puro Cigar Bar.

The couple seized upon the situation as a catalyst to bring Goat and Ram into existence full-time. “We decided to move forward as it made no sense to stop building” says Dan, continuing, “The timing seemed to work for us as the build finished as people started to come back out and things started to open up.”

The Local First Community Kitchen has helped Goat and Ram scale their business without the huge overhead of owning or renting a commercial kitchen. Goat and Ram has centered their work in the first week of operations at local tap houses in the East Valley and they couldn’t be happier with the outcome, “The clientele and the employees are awesome, and I never complain about the choices I have for a post-shift beer!”

Find Goat and Ram:
You can find Goat and Ram’s schedule of stops on Instagram here and Facebook here.

Heart 2 Home Elderberry Syrup

Heart 2 Home Elderberry Syrup is the creation of Amy Chandler, who works full-time as a child and family therapist specializing in childhood trauma.

Amy’s passion for her product comes from the health benefits of the elderberries that she has seen in her own family. “I’ve watched my children transition from battling the common cold for six days to happily springing back to their wild and crazy selves after just three days. I witnessed how much it helped me with my allergies and helped a dear friend go six months without a major illness when she previously couldn't even last a month!”

Determining the right time to start a food business is hard, but backed with the knowledge of her product’s health and immune system benefits, Amy knew the crisis was the right time to launch. “With so many sick and the ever-increasing need to maintain health and immunity, I wanted to be able to share the products that I have come to know and love in the hopes that they may benefit others.”

Once she determined that larger scale production was what she wanted to do, she started reaching out to local kitchens, but kept running into barriers due to price or various other requirements that were a little too advanced for a startup. “Finding the Community Kitchen has been such a blessing! Unlike some of the other kitchens I researched, with the Local First Community Kitchen I instantly felt like I had a partner/mentor/teacher, which is exactly what I needed, as the commercial cooking industry is definitely outside of my wheelhouse. I feel like I now have the resources, knowledge base and opportunity to succeed in a way that would never be possible on my own.”

Amy is excited to bring Heart 2 Home to farmers markets, meet the members of the community, and to network with like-minded individuals in the kitchen to form successful partnerships.

Find Heart 2 Home:
Heart 2 Home can be found in Instagram here and Facebook here.

Garnished Cuisine

Garnished Cuisine is Chef Kelsey Blatnick’s new meal prep and catering business.

Kelsey is a thirteen-year veteran chef, working for various catering companies around Phoenix and the East Valley. She is passionate about sourcing locally and creating comfort foods in meal prep format that creates a tight-knit sustainable food community. Much like the other new entrepreneurs in the Local First Community Kitchen, she sees this as her chance to create personalized meal plans based on individual preferences and dietary needs.

For the past six years, Kelsey has been slowly growing Garnished Cuisine from her home. But when the pandemic hit, she knew it was time to ramp-up the business and to provide nutritious meals to her community. The Local First Community Kitchen has helped her to take on more families as clients to realize her goals.

Kelsey is excited to offer pop-up dinners and participate in farmers markets around the Valley as she continues to grow Garnished Cuisine.

Find Garnished Cuisine
Her website is here and her Instagram can be found here.

Taste by Fabio

Chef Fabio makes dinner for front-line workers

Chef Fabio Borges is bringing his passion for ingredients and creating health conscious meals to his clients through his catering venture, Taste By Fabio.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought Chef Fabio an opportunity to support and nourish 400 health care first responders at the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. This large contract enabled him to move his business forward full-throttle while keeping with CDC guidelines for his existing clients and health care workers.

“Local First Community Kitchen has given me the opportunity to work in a clean, professional environment.” The incubation the kitchen provides for small businesses has helped with operational or logistics concerns he has faced as a business owner.

Chef Borges is excited to get back to public events, like Devour, special events at public venues, parks, the Desert Botanical Garden, and the Phoenix Zoo. Taste by Fabio also proudly offers private chef services, private events (small or large), and out of state traveling chef services.

Find Taste By Fabio
You can find more about Taste By Fabio checking out his Instagram here and his Facebook here.

About the Local First Community Kitchen

The LFA Community Kitchen is a collaborative space located near downtown Mesa, Arizona. The kitchen is available to food entrepreneurs who are looking to start or grow their business and need a fully equipped space for small and large food operations to use at a low cost. Our space supports residents through entrepreneurial development and skills training, and aims to advance a healthy and engaged culinary community. We believe that through food, we cultivate inclusive and creative communities for generations to come.

Learn more here, or email Chef Gabe at gabe@localfirstaz.com.