NYC's Mercantile Mayhem: Immigrant Awards, CrunchGate, Jane's Walk and The Pros Talk About Food Writing
A newsletter about the survival of independent businesses in New York City, with a special focus on immigrant-owned, storefront retail and CPG enterprises.
Greetings! It’s been a nutty week. Why? I’ll get to that further in the newsletter because first and foremost I need to tell you about Accompany Capital Immigrant Heritage Week Awards.
Accompany Capital Immigrant Heritage Week Awards.
This award ceremony taking place tomorrow, details below, perfectly illustrates how Accompany Capital, my first sponsor (thaaaaaank you!) works within the immigrant, refugee, first gen and female entrepreneurial ecosystems to support small businesses. Accompany Capital, a CDFI, gives small business loans to entrepreneurs who might be considered too risky for conglomerate banks, as many immigrants and refugees often do not have a history of credit in the US. Accompany Capital also gives free workshops, sponsor startup pitch contests and administer refugee IDA savings programs.
I’ve attended several Immigrant Heritage Week Awards ceremonies in the past, the center image above is Aline Sara, co-founder of the language platform NaTakallam, at a 2018 ceremony. On a side note, I would be writing about the Immigrant Heritage Week Awards even if Accompany Capital was not a newsletter sponsor, I’ve been a huge fan for years.
This year will be the 12th annual Immigrant Heritage Awards and Pooja Bavishi is the winner of the 2024 Accompany Capital Made in New York Award. Bavishi is the founder of Malai Ice Cream, specializing in outstanding South Asian flavors, I’m talking Cardamom Pistachio Crumble, Fig on Fig, Coconut Tahini with Date Caramel and the scrumptious list goes on. (Ice cream happens to be one of my favorite food groups.)
I remember Bavishi scooping her ice cream at a street fair on Crosby Street many years ago. Today she has a shop in Brooklyn, soon in Washington DC, a seasonal location on The Highline and Malai pints also sell at Whole Foods, Sahadi's and Kalustyan’s, among other shops in the Tristate area. I took this photo last July when Malai collaborated with spice company Burlap & Barrel to make a special Jaggery soft serve using Burlap & Barrel’s single-origin Jaggery cane sugar.
The three other awardees include Hekmatullah Hamid, who won the Accompany Capital New Beginnings Award. Hamid is an evacuee from Afghanistan where he worked in IT, he now drives for Uber, using an energy efficient Tesla.
Chef Khalilur Rahman, owner of Khalil’s Food won the Accompany Capital Job Creator Award. Chef Rahman is active in the Bangladeshi community and has created 100+ jobs since he opened his first business.
Sulman Usman, founder of Adaptive Green, won the Accompany Capital Sustainable Business Award. Adaptive Green focuses on various types of green infrastructure, from green roofs and walls, to bioretention basins. Usman is currently working on the restoration of Harlem Meer in Central Park.
The event will take place tomorrow, April 16 at 7pm. It’s free, this year it’s online, but you need to RSVP here to get the Zoom link. Congratulations to all the awardees!
CrunchGate
I mentioned in my last newsletter that I wrote a story for the Guardian about Momofuku/David Chang trademarking the terms “chili crunch” and owning “chile crunch”. The story went viral. I’m glad I got the word out, but it was really the AAPI food community who came out on social media in full force to support the small businesses like Homiah that made the story go viral. Best visual goes to the New York Post’s Twitter image.
Nearly all articles were excellent, they included intricate aspects of trademark law that I couldn’t fit into my story, especially the complicated trademark history of the Denver, Colorado company in relation to Momofuku and Trader Joe’s. But there were also shoddy pieces that cobbled together bits and bobs from my story and social media posts, it was interesting to see what facts they got wrong.
David Chang has since issued an apology on his podcast. He stated they will not enforce trademarks “chili crunch” and “chile crunch” but they made no mention of withdrawing the “chili crunch” application. This AP story by Mae Anderson is a concise recap of the saga as of Saturday April 13. We shall see what happens.
I have since turned into a trademark freakazoid, looking up all sorts of foreign food names and terms on the USPTO website (zaatar, booza, shito, fonio, jollof, lahmajoun/lahmajun, amaranth) it’s quite fascinating. I plan to write more stories about trademarks and how the USPTO’s decisions impact small food businesses with foreign roots.
Jane’s Walk 2024: May 3 - 5
I hope everyone in New York City is taking advantage of Jane’s Walk, named after urbanist Jane Jacobs. Over three days, May 3 to 5, volunteers will lead nearly 200 tours across the five boroughs in celebration of Jane Jacobs’s advocacy for livable neighborhoods, which includes independent small businesses, green spaces and other elements that contribute to a thriving city. I can thank her for my neighborhood, she stopped what would have been the “Lower Manhattan Expressway” planned to cut through Little Italy, Soho and Chinatown.
I have given two Jane’s Walks in the past. Hidden Gems aka immigrant-owned small businesses of the Lower East Side and last year’s walk was about The Black Hand (precursor to the mafia), Lt. Joe Petrosino and immigrant owned businesses. But I could not get it together this year in time for the deadline and I’m having tour-giving FOMO!
Organized by The Municipal Art Society of New York, all walks are free unusually run an hour or two. A few samples of how your horizons might be expanded if you partake in Jane’s Walk: Remembering Little Syria: The First Arab Americans, Smelling Bushwick, of course I signed up for Witness the Living History of Finntown in Sunset Park, I’m also going on Malcolm X’s Harlem: Walking the Autobiography, Brutal New York: a brutalist architecture walking tour and Gowanus Soundwalk, among many other walks spanning art, urbanism, architecture, social and political issues, food, nature and history.
Mulberry Street Library: A Panel Discussion About Food Writing Across Cultures
On April 23 at 6pm a group of chefs, entrepreneurs, writers and journalists (these professions can end up melding together sometimes) will talk about food writing across cultures at at the Mulberry Street Library. If the event is sold out, there is a Zoom option.
Panelists include Chef Nasim Alikhani, owner of the renowned Iranian restaurant Sofrah, award-winning journalist Kayla Stewart and Abi Balingit, pictured below, author of the Filipino sweets cookbook Mayumu. Moderated by Mayukh Sen who wrote Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America.
This newsletter is sponsored by Accompany Capital, an organization that has been investing in New York City’s immigrant and refugee businesses since 1997.
Opportunities
Time is running out! Applications are open for the Whole Foods Local and Emerging Accelerator Program (LEAP) for emerging brands. The application deadline is April 19, those accepted into LEAP will be announced in July.
The Biomimicry Institute’s Ray of Hope Accelerator program focuses on nature-inspired startups. The six month program is geared to help startups with solutions for environmental and social challenges. Applications are open until May 3.
Food and agriculture startups anywhere in the world can compete in the Grown-NY startup competition. Three million dollars in prize money is awarded to seven winners, the first winner is awarded $1 million of it. Applications close May 15, 2024. There are restrictions and winners will have to have its primary headquarters in the Grow-NY Region, which is Central New York, Finger Lakes and Southern Tier.
Dragon Fest is accepting vendor applications for street fairs from April through October.
Sponsorship
I plan on keeping this newsletter free by getting additional sponsorship from organizations, I will keep you posted. Some of you have paid for subscriptions, thaaaaaaank you so much! (If you are interested in being a sponsor, please contact me: ninarobertsnyc@gmail.com). Please feel free to forward to others.
you make me miss NYC soooooo much!!!! We need a Mercantile Mayhem L.A. edition!!
I’d love to go on that Finntown walk!