RABHYA MEHROTRA PHOTO
One of Wednesday’s ribbon-cuttings.
In the midst of a pandemic-spawned recession, New Haven officials Wednesday cut the ribbon on three new storefront businesses.
A group of restaurant owners and government officials, including Mayor Justin Elicker and Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz joined a group of business and government officials for the first outside of CBH (Crafted by Hand) Cafe at 167 Orange St. at 12:30 p.m.
The three restaurants highlighted were CBH, Vegan Ahava, and Edible Couture.
CBH Cafe technically opened up in July, while Vegan Ahava and Edible Couture have now opened a shared storefront business after operating as food truck and catering enterprises.
Bateman outside his cafe.
Chris Bateman, the owner of CBH Cafe grew up in Connecticut. His career as a hotel chef took him around the world. “I helped open up 16 restaurants in Dubai,” he said. “But I’ve also done openings in Hartford and Stamford.”
He’s now been living in the East Haven area for four years, and has “dreamed of having a restaurant in New Haven for ten to 15 years.” This is Bateman’s first time opening up a restaurant on his own. “The best part is that you can completely do what you want,” he said. “I have total creative license.”
His new cafe serves breakfast and lunch. Dishes range from a bacon-cheddar-avocado-egg “sunrise quesadilla” and corned-beef hash bowl to chipotle cauliflower tacos and truffled grill cheese.
His favorite dish? The Huli Huli chicken tacos, which he learned while working in Hawai’i.
His new customers include Gabriel Legos, who first came right when the cafe opened. “It’s pretty courageous to open up in a pandemic, so I came in and asked what the best sandwich was,” Legos said. “[Bateman] couldn’t give one answer, but I liked what I got! I’ve been back about six or eight times.”
Hudson inside her new storefront.
The second ribbon-cutting took place at 129 Court St., where Vegan Ahava and Edible Couture have jointly moved their businesses.
Poreyah Benton is the owner of Vegan Ahava; Trisha Hudson owns Edible Couture. They met when Benton posted about co-owning a cafe space on Facebook.
The two women clicked, opening up a joint storefront together two months ago. “We’re like family now,” said Hudson.
Hudson, of Edible Couture, always knew she “wanted to be an entrepreneur and open up her own bakery.” She loves making desserts; her favorite recipe is her banana pudding cupcake.
Fourteen years ago, she began a catering business out of her home, eventually expanding into a food truck in the last three years. Hudson’s business is truly a family affair: “My mother helps with the dishes, my son runs the register, and her husband drives the truck and runs errands,” Hudson said.
The move from truck to storefront was not Hudson’s idea. “I was content with a truck,” she said, “but my customer base wanted more.”
Benton, of Vegan Ahava, also initially had a food truck. (“Ahava” is Hebrew for “love.”)
She opened her truck last November, often parked at the corner of College and Elm Streets. (Read a previous story about that here.) Its convenient location near parks and the Green allowed people to sit and meet for meals. “People, especially vegans, have so few places to go,” Benton said. “Often I’ll see families bring blankets and have a whole picnic on the Green. I love that.”
Benton decided to open up a storefront when “things slowed down around Covid,” since she had always needed a space to work and store food. “I’m trying to let my customers know that we’ve also got this space,” she said, “because so many people still just come to the truck.” Popular dishes include the “Jackson Five” (sweet potatoes, kale, collards, macaroni and cheese, and bbq “drummies,” with cornbread on the side) and lasagne.
“It’s been a struggle to get our businesses reopened during the pandemic,” and unemployment hit 10,000 over the summer, noted city economic development chief Michael Piscitelli. Business restrictions and closures have impacted the local economy, leading to a peak unemployment circulation of 10,000 in July, hitting restaurants particularly hard: the city found that the accommodations and food service industry accounted for the largest share of unemployment, or about 17 percent.
Benton outside her storefront.
And now restaurants have helped steer the economy back, Piscitelli said: “Thanks to careful reopenings and new businesses, the unemployment circulation is now down to 8,200 as of August.”
Bysiewicz cited the “leap of faith and optimism” that each restaurant owner has had to open up during a pandemic. “It’s a testament to their creativity and New Haven as a restaurant mecca,” she said.
Mayor Elicker congratulated the business owners, although he warned that there “is a slight uptick of [Covid-19] cases in Connecticut, so we all need to be extra diligent.”
“We’ve started doing business surveys in each neighborhood,” said city economic development officer Dean Mac. “There are a surprising number of restaurants opening up, especially over the last month.” He, along with colleague Steve Fontana, noted that for every restaurant closed, another has opened.
Local programs also help with small businesses. “Collab, for example, helps pre development for small businesses before our staff come in,” said Steve Fontata, Deputy Economic Development Director. “In fact, they helped Vegan Ahava.”