When Valley Shepherd Creamery's owner, Eran Wajswol, went to government agencies seeking permits for his forthcoming store and cheese-making operation at the Reading Terminal Market, he discovered a zoning variance was required to permit food manufacturing.
It wasn't only a surprise to Wajswol. It seems that any number of vendors were manufacturing food at the market in violation of the zoning regulations. (Among them: Miller's Twist, Old City Coffee, Sweet as Fudge Candy Shoppe, Famous Fourth Street Cookie, Mueller's Chocolates, Beiler's Bakery, Flying Monkey, Martin's Quality Meats, Giunta's Prime Shop, Pennsylvania General Store, and Herschel's East Side Deli.)
To solve the problem, the market applied for a single zoning variance to cover the entire premises. That variance is now in hand, legalizing all the food-manufacturing operations, which are distinct from restaurant operations.
Valley Shepherd still has to obtain other approvals from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and the city's Board of Health, but it has its building permit. This week the large tank which will contain the milk which will become cheese was delivered to the market. It will be installed in the basement and the liquid will be pumped to the cheese-making room within the shop.
Valley Shepherd hopes to be open for business sometime in September.
Other new vendors also are making progress on their stalls.
The first to open likely will be the Head Nut, which this week is receiving deliveries of stock. They plan to be open sometime next week.
The Tubby Olive plans an Aug. 24 opening for the sale of bulk olive oils and vinegars.
Wursthaus Schmitz begins construction next Monday of its space behind Flying Monkey; the contractor says it will take a month.
Showing posts with label tubby olive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tubby olive. Show all posts
Thursday, August 09, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Reading Terminal Market Nears Avenue D Finish Line
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| The new, improved Avenue D looking south toward Filbert Street (Harry Ochs Way) |
The $3.4 million program not only eliminated the zig-zag of the market's Avenue D corridor and replaced it with a straight-line vista (see photo at left), but created additional leaseable space for new merchants, and a new multi-purpose room which, when not used for general seating, can handle special programs and group meetings. The market's infrastructure was improved with the addition of a second freight elevator to the basement, where new dry, refrigerated and freezer storage was created.
The ceremonies kick off Monday, June 18, with Mayor Michael Nutter snipping the official opening ribbon at 10 a.m. That ceremony will also dedicate the multi-purpose room named after Rick Nichols, food columnist emeritus for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the market history exhibit which adorns the room's walls. Nichols helped prepare the exhibit with the Philadelphia History Museum at the Atwater Kent.
Foodie programs will be held at 12 noon and 5 p.m. each day through Friday, with another noontime program on Saturday. On Wednesday at 5 p.m. a panel chaired by Michael Klein of the Inquirer and philly.com will feature local food bloggers: Claire Batten of phillyfoodlovers.com, Kaitlin Lunny of icancookthat.org, and yours truly. The full schedule of programs follows at the end of this blog entry.
Although next week marks the official dedication, none of the four new vendors announced so far will be open for business. The first to open is expected to be The Head Nut, in space formerly used as refrigerated storage under the market's mezzanine-level office. The purveyor of nuts, candy, general bulk dry goods, coffee and tea could be open as early as the end of June. Valley Shepherd Creamery and Wursthaus Schmitz are working on their zoning and building permits and their Health Department plan review process. The Tubby Olive is finalizing its store design.
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| The Head Nut under construction |
The addition of The Head Nut has already trimmed a temporary surge in the market's seating capacity. When construction starts on Wursthaus Schmitz seating will shrink even more. Because of the earlier move of Flying Monkey and creation of the Rick Nichols Room, however, the market will have more seating than before the Avenue D project began. Still, it will be musical chairs for peak lunch hour seats.
Avenue D Dedication Week Programs
Monday, June 18:
12 noon -- Pennsylvania is for Chocolate Lovers, Michael Holahan of Pennsylvania General Store; Philly Meets the Bayou with Bill Beck of Beck’s Cajun Café.Tuesday, June 19:
5 p.m., At Home with Steve Poses
12 noon -- Cooking with Sal, Sal Vetri and Brad Spence of Amis RestaurantWednesday, June 20:
5 p.m. -- How the Local Food Movement Got its Start, with Ann Karlen of Fair Food, Bob Pierson of Farm to City, Nicky Uy of The Food Trust, and Judy Wicks of the White Dog Foundation.
12 noon -- Dipping into Philly’s Ice Cream Roots, Bassetts Ice Cream and the Berley Brothers of Franklin Fountain.Thursday, June 21:
5 p.m. -- Food Bloggers panel.
12 noon -- What a Friend We Have in Cheeses, with Eran Wajswol, Valley Shepherd Creamery.Friday, June 22:
5 p.m. -- Making Serious Dough, with Wendy Born and James Barrett of Metropolitan Bakery
12 noon -- Seafood Made Easy, with Ellen Yin and Terence Feury of Fork Restaurant.Saturday, June 23:
5 p.m. -- Made in Germany, with Doug Hager and Jeremy Nolen of Wursthaus Schmitz
12 Noon -- From the Market Aisles to Your Plate with cookbook author Aliza Green La Cuchina at the Market's Anna Florio.
Saturday, April 07, 2012
The Tubby Olive Signs On at RTM
The Tubby Olive, a Newtown, Bucks County, purveyor of on-tap vinegars and olive oils, has signed on to occupy one of the new spaces at the Reading Terminal Market made available through the Avenue D expansion project. The shop will be located along the market's Avenue D wall across from Molly Molloy's.
The Tubby Olive's web site lists three dozen varieties of traditional, organic and flavor-infused olive oils and a similar number and variety of vinegars. Most are priced at $29 for 750 ml (25.4 ounces) and $15.95 for 375 ml (12.7 ounces), with organic oils going for $2 and $1 additional. (Regarding the vinegars, although most are listed as "balsamic", at those prices they won't be the finest, the kind where just a few drops can raise simple foods like ice creams or strawberries to whole new level. Classic balsamic vinegars like these would retail for about four times the price of the Tubby Olive's. What the shop sells, however, appears, to be perfectly fine vinegars for a wide variety of uses, though from the flavor list on the web site there are few I'd purchase. Does anyone really need or Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar?)
Tubby Olive is the fourth new merchant to sign up for space made available by the market's Avenue D project, joining Wursthaus Schmitz, the Head Nut and Valley Shepherd Creamery. RTM General Manager has a few other new spaces still to fill, as well as the recently vacated Coastal Cave stll along Avenue C. In addition, he's still waiting to hear from the bankruptcy trustee for Delilah's to see what we become of that space; when Delilah's was shut in mid-March, the trustee told the market they expected to reopen in just a few weeks.
The entire imrovement project is running along at top speed, with Flying Monkey Bakery now relocated and the new merchants expected to open in phases between May April and early summer. L. Halteman Family Country Food to shift to their new footprint by the end of the month.
Steinke said the new multi-purpose room, named in honor of former Philadelphia Inquirer food columnist Rick Nichols, should be finished in the next few weeks. By next weekend, all the chairs and tables in center court and the piano court, which have been showing signs of wear, will be replaced to match what will be going into the Nichols Room.
The Tubby Olive's web site lists three dozen varieties of traditional, organic and flavor-infused olive oils and a similar number and variety of vinegars. Most are priced at $29 for 750 ml (25.4 ounces) and $15.95 for 375 ml (12.7 ounces), with organic oils going for $2 and $1 additional. (Regarding the vinegars, although most are listed as "balsamic", at those prices they won't be the finest, the kind where just a few drops can raise simple foods like ice creams or strawberries to whole new level. Classic balsamic vinegars like these would retail for about four times the price of the Tubby Olive's. What the shop sells, however, appears, to be perfectly fine vinegars for a wide variety of uses, though from the flavor list on the web site there are few I'd purchase. Does anyone really need or Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar?)
Tubby Olive is the fourth new merchant to sign up for space made available by the market's Avenue D project, joining Wursthaus Schmitz, the Head Nut and Valley Shepherd Creamery. RTM General Manager has a few other new spaces still to fill, as well as the recently vacated Coastal Cave stll along Avenue C. In addition, he's still waiting to hear from the bankruptcy trustee for Delilah's to see what we become of that space; when Delilah's was shut in mid-March, the trustee told the market they expected to reopen in just a few weeks.
The entire imrovement project is running along at top speed, with Flying Monkey Bakery now relocated and the new merchants expected to open in phases between May April and early summer. L. Halteman Family Country Food to shift to their new footprint by the end of the month.
Steinke said the new multi-purpose room, named in honor of former Philadelphia Inquirer food columnist Rick Nichols, should be finished in the next few weeks. By next weekend, all the chairs and tables in center court and the piano court, which have been showing signs of wear, will be replaced to match what will be going into the Nichols Room.
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