East End Food, which is working to build a hub for production and distribution of local food in Riverhead, received a major boost this month, winning a game-changing $5 million state grant that will allow them to purchase the former Homeside Florist property on the corner of Route 25 and Route 105.
The grant will also enable them to build a commercial kitchen there.
The non-profit organization was founded in 2010 as the Amagansett Food Institute, later becoming the East End Food Institute and now East End Food. Through the name changes, its mission has stayed focused on connecting farmers, food producers and institutions with food service program and consumers of local food.
Its food processing operations had long been in a rented kitchen space at Stony Brook Southampton College, and in 2021 the organization leased the building at the prominent intersection in Riverhead, with the hopes of eventually building the East End Food Hub there, bringing together all of its operations on one property. It held a winter farmers market there for several seasons while finalizing its long-term redevelopment plans.
But last year, in the midst of the construction project in Riverhead, Stony Brook Southampton declined to renew their lease at the college, due to work needed at that kitchen that the college was not in a position to fund, said East End Food Executive Director Marci Moreau, who joined the team in the midst of last year’s upheaval.
“When I came on, on my first day, we found out that our lease was up and Stony Brook University was not able to give us a new lease because of the condition of the kitchen,” said Ms. Moreau in a mid-May interview with The Beacon. “It needed repairs and they weren’t in a position to do that at the time.”
“They were doing farm to school programs, education pieces and food production for local food producers and farmers, programs with the food pantries — there was a lot of production going on,” said Ms. Moreau of the kitchen. “A lot of farm producers took a hit when the kitchen closed, and it wasn’t something we were able to take lightly.”
This new funding, the New York State Regional Food Infrastructure Grant, is a “lifeline and a launchpad,” according to East End Food’s announcement of the funding. “After years of fundraising hurdles and building delays, the organization finally has the means to secure the physical space it needs to operate and grow. And with that, the region gains more than just a building — it gains a future where farms thrive, students eat well, and local food stays local.”
The five-year grant is dedicated to the infrastructure of the East End Food Hub, and it will first be used to install the kitchen, she said, followed by the eventual purchase of the property.
The East End Food Hub is designed to have a front-facing indoor space for a farmers market and educational programs, along with a food processing space to enable local farmers and food processors to make the best use of food that is grown on the East End, preventing spoilage and getting healthy local food into the hands of people who need it the most.
Ms. Moreau said the goal is to have the kitchen up and running by the end of the year, and the non-profit will seek help from Riverhead Town in the form of a temporary certificate of occupancy to allow people to visit the public-facing part of the building while construction is completed in the rear.
Key to East End Food’s efforts is providing food to local schools, which have missed this opportunity while the kitchen has been closed. This grant will enable East End Food to provide food to several public school districts, including Southampton, Westhampton Beach, Riverhead, Copaige, North Shore and Half Hollow Hills.
As a result of the kitchen closure, East End Food had to lay off the staff that worked in Southampton, though the organization is now working to “develop a really strong staffing network,” said Ms. Moreau. East End Food is running a concurrent fundraising campaign to help the non-profit meet its staffing needs for the long run.
Resiliency and equitable access to healthy food is key to East End Food’s mission, and that’s something Ms. Moreau thinks resonated with New York State.
“We’re still very focused on creating healthier and more resilient food systems,” she said. “That’s a big priority for the State of New York. This can be such a monumental, epic center for so many people.”
More information can be found at eastendfood.org.
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