Bluedot Kitchen-Nantucket Food

DEAR READERS,

For 20 years, Remain has invested in people with good ideas — entrepreneurs working to build businesses that strengthen Nantucket's year-round community, celebrate local food, and create places where neighbors can gather. At the heart of that work is a simple belief: A resilient island begins with a healthy local food system.

The pages ahead tell that story. You'll meet the chefs, bakers, farmers, chocolatiers, and caterers who wake before sunrise to knead dough, temper chocolate, harvest herbs, roll dumplings, and prepare meals that nourish our community. You'll discover businesses rooted in craftsmanship and creativity, each shaped by the people behind them and the island they call home.

Many of those stories begin at The Hive at 5 Amelia Drive, a place first envisioned by Remain founder Wendy Schmidt as a shared home for Nantucket's food entrepreneurs. From the outside, The Hive is a beautiful building in the heart of Nantucket's mid-island community. Step inside, however, and you'll find something even more remarkable. Behind its doors, six shared-use commercial kitchens hum with activity from sun up until sun down. One kitchen may be filled with the aroma of fresh pasta being hand cut. Around the corner, chocolate is transformed from bean to bar. Cakes are carefully decorated, dumplings folded by hand, sauces simmered, and recipes tested for the next product destined for a local market shelf.

what a neighborhood bakery can be. You'll learn how Eat Fire Farm has expanded from the fields into its first brick-and-mortar home. You'll meet the people behind Café 22, Pip & Anchor, and many of the island's most innovative food businesses. Along the way, you'll also find recipes to bring into your own kitchen, practical ideas for reducing food waste, and stories about the farmers, fishers, and producers whose work begins long before a meal reaches the table.

Throughout this publication, you'll notice another thread connecting these stories: sustainability. Whether it's solar investments across our properties, partnerships that reduce food waste, or the relationships between local growers and food businesses, we believe caring for Nantucket's environment and supporting its economy go hand in hand. Every investment we make is guided by the idea that thriving local businesses and a healthy island are inseparable.

What makes us most optimistic, however, aren’t the buildings we've renovated or the programs we've created. It's the people you'll meet in these pages. They are neighbors raising families here, hiring locally, mentoring one another, supporting fellow small businesses and contributing to the year-round character that makes Nantucket such a special place.

We hope this issue inspires you to experience that community for yourself.

This summer, a record 20 food businesses call The Hive home. While each maker is building a unique business, they are also building something together. They share knowledge, equipment, encouragement, and often ingredients, creating an environment where collaboration is just as important as entrepreneurship. That spirit carries throughout these pages, where you'll learn how a shared kitchen has become a launchpad for locally owned businesses that are helping shape Nantucket's culinary future.

The Hive is only one chapter in a much larger story.

As you continue reading, you'll visit the cafés, bakeries, farms, shops and gathering places that make up Remain's broader food ecosystem. You'll see how Born & Bread continues to redefine

Visit The Hive. Stop into a neighborhood café. Meet the Makers at a Sunday market. Pick up a loaf of bread, a handcrafted chocolate bar or ingredients for tonight's dinner. Behind every product is a story and behind every story is someone investing their talent and heart into this island.

We are grateful to Bluedot Living for helping share these stories and we're delighted to welcome you into this vibrant community of people who are growing and imagining a more sustainable future for Nantucket; one meal, one business, and one connection at a time.

– Cecil Barron Jensen, Executive Director, Remain

NANTUCKET FOOD

THE REMAIN CREW

Executive Director Cecil Barron Jensen

Project Manager Anne Dougherty

Asset and Project Manager Tim Feeney

Assistant Managerr, The Hive Kimmy Freudenreich

Project and Grants Manager Virna Gonzalez-Garcia

Senior Manager Jenn King

Communications Manager Claire McElwain Williams

Project Coordinator Rali Mitrakieva

General Manager, The Hive Tom Pearson

Property and Project Manager Nathan Skerritt

General Assistant, The Hive William Schweigert

REMAIN

58 Main Street, Nantucket Island info@remain.org · remain.org

THE BLUEDOT CREW

Founder and Publisher Victoria Riskin

CEO Raymond Pearce

Editors Britt Bowker, Jamie Kageleiry

Osceola Fellows Robert Graves, Anna Popnikolova

Copyeditors Emily Cain, Laura Roosevelt

Creative Director Tara Kenny

Art Director/Production Manager Whitney Multari

Ad Production Gabby Gobaton

Web Producer Grace Hughes

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FOOD BRIEFS

NEWS UPDATES FROM NANTUCKET’S CULINARY COMMUNITY.

By Anna Popnikolova

Born & Bread Sets Record Sales in 2025

After they opened in 2019, Born & Bread quickly became an island staple. The sandwich shop and bakery, owned and operated by Kevin and Kim Anderson, boasts a line down Centre Street almost every day during the swing of the season, and is a beloved lunch spot for locals in the quieter months. Last year, they set records.

"Born & Bread's record-setting season is an incredible example of what is possible when talented entrepreneurs are given the opportunity to grow,” Cecil Barron Jensen, Remain’s executive director, said.

Formerly a bakery called Petticoat Row (named after the historic women’s community on the island during Nantucket’s whaling days), 35 Centre Street became Born & Bread under owner Kevin Anderson and his team.

“Their success has brought energy, activity, and economic vitality to downtown Nantucket while creating a gathering place that both residents and visitors have embraced,” Cecil said. “We are proud to support their continued growth and celebrate the impact they make on Nantucket every day.”

The bakery is an island favorite for fresh-baked artisan bread, sweets, pastries — like the beloved Born & Bread cruffin — and made-to-order hot and cold sandwiches, along with a full coffee bar, and wholesale bites like local honey and tinned fish.

In last year’s season, Born & Bread’s sales were off the charts,

BORN & BREAD

Mitchell’s Book Corner joins Born & Bread in Boasting New Solar Arrays

Solar in downtown Nantucket is no longer a pipe dream. The newest installation of solar panels by ACK Smart Solar is on the roof of Mitchell’s Book Corner on 54 Main Street, one of the buildings owned by Remain. The project — a dream since 2008 — was completed this spring and is the second building in town, after cafe Born & Bread on 35 Centre Street, that ACK Smart has switched to solar. After lengthy discussions with the Historical District Commission addressing concerns for street visibility and rooftop renovations, the project was finally approved. Remain’s Anne Dougherty attributed much of the project’s success to Tobias Glidden from ACK Smart, who brought the issue to the HDC multiple times.

Prior to the Mitchell’s project, the team worked to build two solar bus stations for The Wave transportation system. The stations, one on Pleasant Street by the mid-island Stop & Shop, and the other on Orange Street by Our Island Home, worked to capture solar while also serving as shelters for waiting passengers (and providing light at night). Later, solar panels were installed above a portion of the outdoor seating at Remain’s cafe property on 22 Federal Street, now Café 22.

“They were these awesome see-through solar panels, so you couldn’t tell they were solar panels,” Anne explained. “That was the inspiration to put them over Café 22 — it allows the light to filter through, but it also captures solar. That was the first test getting it into town.”

The panels above Born & Bread were installed in 2024. Now, the array is finally generating power for Mitchell’s.

“We hope it’s an inspiration to other landlords in town — that you can have solar in town,” Anne said.

Eat Fire Farm Opens

‘The Little Farm Store’

Eat Fire Farm has opened a new brickand-mortar storefront at 5 West Creek Road, creating a convenient mid-island destination for locally grown produce and food.

Owner Dylan Wallace describes the Little Farm Store as a place that brings together everything the farm has spent years building. Alongside Eat Fire Farm’s own products — including its solar-evaporated sea salt, herb and chile salt blends, pasture-raised pork, and frozen Nantucket bay scallops —the shop stocks a curated selection of pantry staples and goods from other makers.

“We’re hoping it can create a little hub mid-island,” Dylan said.

The store also highlights products from fellow island farms, with greens from Washashore Farm, tomatoes from Bartlett’s Farm, and sweet corn from Moors End Farm as the season progresses.

Outside, customers will soon find a self-serve vintage flower cart stocked with cut flowers grown by Eat Fire Farm, which also supplies the Nantucket Flower Collective.

The shop reflects a longtime dream of Dylan’s wife, Caroline, and her mother. “This is a dream that her mom had — to have a little flower store,” Dylan said. “It’s important for a community to have a little beauty.”

While the storefront opened only recently, it’s the culmination of years of work. Eat Fire Farm has been producing sea salt for about a decade, raising pasture-raised pigs for years, and fishing bay scallops in the winter. The couple also

(see Bluedot’s story: bluedotliving.com/raising-farmers-onnantucket) and mentor-farmer program, and they continue to sell at the Nantucket Farmers & Artisans Market each Saturday.

The Little Farm Store also includes a newly expanded kitchen and currently hosts a grab-and-go food business through September, creating another convenient option for island residents seeking locally produced food.

“We’re hoping to create an accessible space for people to buy local food,” Dylan said. “And have it be in that convenient space where it can be easily incorporated into people’s routines.”

Sustainable Nantucket Announces New Cookbook

A new cookbook from Sustainable Nantucket will be available in spring 2027, offering readers a taste of the island's local food system through seasonal recipes and the stories of the people who grow, harvest, and prepare them.

The Sustainable Nantucket Cookbook: Recipes from the Island’s Chefs, Farmers, Fishermen & Food Artisans will feature more than 70 recipes from 23 local chefs, along with profiles of the farmers, fishermen, and food producers who help sustain Nantucket’s culinary community. Organized by season, the book highlights ingredients grown in the island’s sandy soil and harvested from surrounding waters, offering a look at the connections between local agriculture, seafood, and the kitchens that bring them together.

Written by year-round resident Shannon Ross and photographed by documentary photographer Hope Allison with a forward by Angela Raynor, the cookbook was created in collaboration with Sustainable Nantucket. Through recipes, photography, and essays, it explores the importance of seasonality, local food production, and the relationships that shape the island’s food culture.

The cookbook is part of Sustainable Nantucket’s ongoing mission to strengthen the island’s local food economy through its NantucketGrown program, which connects island farmers with chefs, markets, and consumers. Whether you’re recreating a favorite island fish or looking to learn more about Nantucket’s culinary traditions, the cookbook offers a look at the people behind our meals.

There’s a New Place in Town: Café 22

Below the sidewalk, on the island’s beloved little corner of Broad and Federal streets, a new café has opened its doors. I walk into the sound of Thee Sacred Souls’ Will I See You Again? coming through the speakers. The space is familiar, but different. Café 22 opened its doors for business earlier this winter, after the closing of the Corner Table Café (which held the space for years). The new interior is mint green, light teal, and aqua — it’s beachy, clean, and modern. The space remains nostalgic but fresh, with all new food and drink options for customers, new and returning, to try out.

Island chef Jonas Baker partnered with Michael Ferreri of ACK Coffee Roasters and Tea, and they’ve been enthusiastically bringing their vision to life. The cold case for sandwiches, salads, and drinks will be familiar — customers can grab a fish sandwich or a crisp salad prepared fresh from the kitchen, without the wait. The coffee bar keeps some classic favorites like the Vietnamese coffee, brown sugar latte, lavender and raspberry matchas, but has some new drinks using their variety of homemade syrups, including white chocolate and toasted marshmallow. Tea lovers must look no further — the café

There's something cozy about the ants-eye view from the windows.

boasts a whole new tea menu, featuring some exotic teas such as jasmine-citrus blue-sea mint, and some international options like Yunnan tea, a sweet black tea from the Yunnan province of China, and Assam TGFOP, a jammy Indian black tea. I was excited to see that the cafe had mugs so customers could get their drinks to have at the Café, in case they weren’t in a hurry.

For pastries, customers can enjoy their fresh baked donuts, muffins, and cookies by the coffee counter, and some holy grail breakfast favorites like chia pudding from the cold case.

At the counter one early spring day, I chatted with the friendly barista, and asked for a drink recommendation. He told me that 22 brews all their own chai, so I decided to give it a try — a dirty chai with oat milk, topped with some cinnamon. I found the chai to be full-bodied, unsweetened, and not overpowering. I am a fan of spicier, stronger chais, but for coffee drinkers who might not want to be punched in the face with spice first thing in the morning, this is a perfect drink.

I sat in the corner of the room between some green and teal striped pillows, and opened my laptop.The café was buzzing with people — middle school kids doing their homework over iced chais, an older gentleman reading the Globe and munching on a sandwich, some local musicians huddled together over a notebook, a woman and her daughter sharing a quiet meal, all of us sheltered from the cold and wind.

I’ve always loved this location. There is something special and intimate about the ants-eye view from the window, all the dogs nosing at the glass, the slap of Hermès sandals in the summertime, the merry clamber of children holding their parents’ hands, the thick smell of coffee in the air, the quiet music in the background.

–Anna Popnikolova

Café 22 is open daily from 7 am to 5 pm; cafe22nantucket.com

The Hive's grab-and-go refrigerators, stocked with prepared foods from island chefs.

At The Hive This Season

A look at what’s happening at the shared commercial kitchen space at 5 Amelia Drive.

By Britt Bowker Photos Courtesy of Remain

Six commercial kitchens under one roof, and 20 local food businesses buzzing among them on different schedules: Siam To Go, Noemi’s Dumplings, The Hungry Minnow, Faraway Chocolate, Bistro At Home, ACK Pastry Shack, Chef Kimmy, and Fato a Man, among others, moving in and out of prep shifts, pickup runs, and production windows.

The rhythm of the space is almost like a relay. A caterer preps in the morning and heads off to an event in the afternoon. A dumpling maker comes in midday to fold and freeze. Chocolate is tempered in one corner while a Thai takeout order is packed somewhere else in the building.

Owned and operated by Remain, The Hive opened in November 2024, with last summer marking its first full season in operation. This year, it’s running with a roster of returning Makers alongside

new businesses, while also opening itself up more to the community through Sunday Makers markets, porch events, and farm-to-table dinners in partnership with organizations like Sustainable Nantucket.

Tom Pearson, The Hive's general manager, stepped into the role in 2024 after years in Nantucket's restaurant and hospitality industry, including as executive chef at the White Elephant. His focus now is helping local food entrepreneurs move beyond making a great product and toward building a sustainable business around it.

"To give them a launchpad and really get them past being a hobby and actually being a successful business," he said. "We really want to see that happen."

For many Makers, that support goes beyond renting kitchen space. The Hive offers guidance on everything from bookkeeping and LLC formation to wholesale licensing, websites, and social

media. It also brings in outside experts and partners with organizations like SCORE and the Nantucket Chamber of Commerce to host workshops and seminars for Makers on topics ranging from accounting to artificial intelligence and other business tools.

Several businesses are now working toward wholesale licenses that could allow them to expand from direct-to-consumer sales into local stores, and eventually beyond Nantucket.

The shared kitchen model works because the businesses themselves have different needs. Private chefs and caterers often need daytime prep space before heading to off-site events, while packaged food Makers often have flexible schedules and can work evenings and nights. Siam To Go, for example, uses The Hive's pickup lockers so customers can place online dinner orders and retrieve them

after receiving a text notification.

“If it were all private chefs, we just wouldn’t have the flexibility in the schedule,” Pearson said. “We need a mix of businesses.”

The long term vision is to help businesses grow to the point where they outgrow The Hive itself. "Maybe their product grows and we can no longer accommodate their needs," Pearson said. "That would be a great scenario."

Running a food business on Nantucket comes with its own challenges, especially when so much of the year's revenue has to be earned in just a few busy months.

"That small window of summer months to really make that money — that's a challenge," Pearson said.

Even so, The Hive’s model helps. Faraway Chocolate has moved production out of a home workspace and into The Hive, while Noemi's Dumplings recently secured a wholesale license after years of working toward that goal.

The building is designed to lower the barriers to entry. Five of its six commercial kitchens are shared-use, while one is dedicated to Faraway Chocolate because of owner Andre Marrero's specialized equipment. Shared ovens, mixers, food processors, cookware, and other equipment mean businesses don't have to make those investments themselves. One of The Hive's biggest kitchen assets, Pearson said, is its Combi Oven, which can handle everything from roasting and steaming to grilling and can be pre-programmed to produce consistent

product over the winter that could then be sold at the farmers market during the summer,” Pearson said.

Eat Fire Farm also operates within The Hive and now uses the space to package scallops for commercial sale.

“They have a wholesale license for commercial-based scallops that they can package here once they’ve been processed and taken out of the shell,” Pearson said.

“So they can commercially sell those scallops rather than having to go through one of only a couple vendors on the island that were previously offering that.”

The public is welcome to stop by 5 Amelia Drive during regular business

“Before I had my own compliant setup, getting wholesale approval was nearly impossible. Once I started cooking at the Hive, I could apply for the wholesale license because the kitchen itself was already approved for commercial production.”

– Noemi Zhong, owner of Noemi’s Dumplings

results from batch to batch.

"They don’t have to purchase any of that themselves. It's all right here,” Pearson said.

The Hive is also looking beyond the kitchen itself. Nearly all of its kitchens are electric and use induction cooking, with plans to convert the remaining kitchen over the next few years. Solar is also planned for the facility, which will likely be led by Anne Dougherty, who works for Remain. Makers can also purchase compostable packaging through The Hive at cost rather than buying expensive bulk quantities. Conversations are also underway about future collaborations between local farms and Hive businesses.

"We are in [very early] stages of talks with a couple farmers, one farmer in particular about potentially pairing that farmer with one of our businesses to do a

hours, and the Sunday Makers markets offer another opportunity to meet the people behind the products. Graband-go refrigerators and pickup lockers are also available, including for weekly subscriptions from Sarah Todd's Tenzo Kitchen.

“It’s not about just offering a kitchen space,” Pearson added. “It’s about offering support that perhaps they haven’t had to encounter, like setting up an LLC, or finding an accountant, or figuring out social media — all the tools you need to run a business on top of producing a great product or offering a great service.”

Keep reading for a closer look at some of the Makers.

To learn more about The Hive or to apply for kitchen space, visit the newly revamped website at hivenantucket.com.

Meet The Hive Makers

Community, collaboration, and extremely good local food, all in one place.

Noemi’s Dumplings

Who? Noemi Zhong Capizzo

What? Handmade dumplings, sauces, and prepared foods inspired by traditional Chinese recipes and family cooking. How to get them: Pick up at The Hive or online: noemidumplings.com Instgram: @noemidumplings

What’s it like, working at The Hive?

The Hive provided me with a licensed commercial kitchen space that met all local health and safety regulations. Once I started cooking at The Hive, I could apply for the wholesale license because the kitchen itself was already approved for commercial production. The Hive’s manager, Tom, helped and guided me through the paperwork and connected me with the right health inspectors. Beyond the wholesale license, The Hive has helped me in several ways:

• Lower startup costs: I didn’t have to build or rent my own expensive commercial kitchen.

• Networking: I met other local food entrepreneurs, which led to shared supply orders and word‑of‑mouth referrals.

Noemi and her dumplings.

• Business support: They offered advice on pricing, labeling, and selling to local stores and restaurants.

Ellie O’s

Who? Ellie Olsen

What? Ice cream sandwiches

How to get them: I collaborate with lots of local private chefs, providing ice cream sandwiches for their catered dinners. My ice cream sandwiches are available June through September. You can find them at my new food truck, located at Cisco Beach every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, or at Cisco Brewers Sunday through Tuesday. You can also buy them at The Hive.

Online: ellieosnantucket.com ellieoicecream@gmail.com

Instgram: @ellieosnantucket 508 314 2132

The Backstory

I grew up spending time on the island in the summer at my grandmother's house. It was always my favorite part of the

• F lexible hours: I can cook when I need to, which is essential for wholesale deadlines.

summer. In May of 2020, I moved out to Nantucket, where I planned to spend a few weeks to "wait out" the pandemic. Six years later and I am still here!

Before starting Ellie O's, I worked for Something Natural, where we often brought home the cookie dough and ate ice cream with fresh, warm cookies. That reignited my love for my favorite childhood treat.

Tip: My kitchen advice is to go nice and slow — rushing leads to mistakes, dropped items, spills, and waste! Enjoy the process; it can be very therapeutic.

My Perfect Day Off: I love spending time at the beach, running the trails in the moors (my favorite are the snake hills), and eating at Straight Wharf Fish Market.

Faraway Chocolate

Who? Andre Marrero

What? Bean-to-bar chocolate

How to get it? At The Hive or Shanty #16 on Old South Wharf, at farawaychocolate.com, and we ship across the country. Because chocolate is heat sensitive, we ship in the cooler months by default, with special arrangements available the rest of the year. We are also especially proud of our corporate gift program. online: farawaychocolate.com Instgram: @farawaychocolate andre@farawaychocolate.com

The Backstory

Everything begins with the raw cacao bean. We roast, crack, winnow, grind, and

places joined in a single bar. In 2014 we moved from New York to the island; in 2020, after rebuilding the culinary program at Great Harbor from the ground up while the world stood still, it felt like the right moment to take personal inventory and ask what came next. Between the family history in chocolate, two decades in restaurants, and the simple fact that Nantucket did not yet have a chocolate shop of its own, Nantucket Faraway Chocolate was the natural next step.

What are the biggest challenges of running a small food business on Nantucket?

Everything that makes the island special also makes it difficult. Freight and ferry schedules shape how and when ingredients arrive. Space is scarce and costly. The population swings hard between summer and winter, so a business has to earn most of its year in a handful of months. Chocolate is also heat sensitive, which makes summer storage and shipping their own puzzle. The work is to build something steady against a calendar that is anything but.

The Hive does several jobs for us. Our kitchen there is The Chocolate Lab, where every bar is made from the bean up.

There is real energy in a building full of people who care about what they make, and it carries you through the long production days.

The Hive also keeps a small retail shelf that we stock with Faraway, and it is one of the two places we run our chocolatemaking classes. The kitchen also gives us room to experiment. A licensed commercial kitchen is a serious cost for a small maker to build alone. The Hive let us start without that burden.

Collaboration at The Hive

The chocolate kitchen itself has its own specific equipment and tight temperature requirements, so it stays a dedicated space rather than a shared one, but a question asked outloud in a place full of other Makers usually finds someone who has thought it through. It’s nice to be simply not working alone. There is real energy in a building full of people who care about what they make, and it carries you through the long production days. You trade nods and notes with neighbors more often than you might think.

Where do you source ingredients?

Cacao only grows in a narrow band, twenty degrees north and twenty degrees south of the equator, so the source of every bar travels well before it ever reaches Nantucket. We focus on beans graded fine cacao, mostly from Central and South America. This season we are working with origins from Colombia, Belize, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Peru, and Venezuela. Wherever possible we source through direct trade, buying straight from farmers and cooperatives we know. What is local is the craft.

Are there Nantucket farmers or producers you collaborate with? Yes, and the list is growing. We will be dehydrating fruits and berries from local farms, like Fog Town Farm to use as inclusions. We are also looking to collaborate with Dylan Wallace at Eat Fire Farm, a fellow Hive maker, for peppers, and with Nantucket Sea Salt.

Are there any sustainability principles that guide how you produce your food?

Direct trade is the principle we hold to most firmly. We buy straight from the people who grow our cacao, pay above the commodity price, and build relationships that last. We work in small batches, to demand, which keeps waste low, and we choose packaging that can return to the Earth rather than sit in it.

We chose packaging that protects the chocolate and respects the island it ships from. Orders travel cushioned in compostable, plant-based insulation rather than plastic, so the part of the box meant to be thrown away can simply break down. Our guiding idea is restraint: enough to keep the bar safe and beautiful, and nothing that outlives its purpose.

RECIPE:

FARAWAY DRINKING CHOCOLATE FOR TWO

A proper cup of drinking chocolate, the kind we hope to pour year round one day.

1. Warm 8 ounces of whole milk in a small pot until it just steams, never letting it boil.

2. Take it off the heat and whisk in 2 ounces of finely chopped Faraway dark chocolate, around 70 percent, until smooth and glossy.

3. Finish with a small pinch of flaky sea salt and pour into two small cups. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Stuart behind the portable mahogany bar.

Nantucket Cocktail Catering

Who? Stuart Boissonnault

What? Launched in 2024, Nantucket Cocktail provides catering services for cocktail parties from Memorial Day to Columbus Day, Thanksgiving and Stroll. We have an oyster bar, a walk-up bar for drinks, along with tapas and tins. Oysters are fresh-shucked, cocktails are handmade, and we source high-quality ingredients.

How: Call or write to book: Stu.bois@gmail.com, 206-390-0307

Online: ackcocktail.com

Instgram: @nantucketcocktail

Food waste tips: I would rather order smaller quantities that cost a bit more than order in bulk and not use it all. Saving veggie cuttings for stocks.

Perfect day off: The beach, with some good food and drink.

RECIPE: APPLE-JALAPEÑO MIGNONETTE

Our clients love this recipe. It’s a nice contrast to a classic mignonette.

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup Green apple, cored and diced

1/4 cup Jalapeno, deseeded and diced

2 tbsps Shallot, peeled and diced

1 1/4 cup White wine or Champagne vinegar

Mix all ingredients together. Served chilled with oysters on the half shell.

Fato a Man

Who: Chef: Davide Fabbian/ Business Manager: Kate Sulzer What: Pasta made by hand. Fato a Man (means “handmade” in Venetian dialect) creates fresh pasta, ravioli, lasagna, sauces, and other Italian specialties rooted in traditional family recipes. How to order: Hive Grab & Go; order pickup via email ackfatoaman@gmail.com Online: fatoaman.com, or DM them on Instagram ackfatoaman@ gmail.com. Davide is also available for private events and community offerings for local non-profits: anyone can reach out for custom menus: 415-513-7448.

The Backstory

Opened: March 2025. Kate: What began as a longstanding joke about opening a pasta shop on the island has joyfully materialized into a reality. I was born and raised on Nantucket and lived here two years post-college before moving to San Francisco in 2010. I always intended to return and moved back to the island in January 2024.

people around when you are cooking for eight hours at a time on your own. If an issue does come up, I have been able to talk it through with other Makers there. Tom and Kimmy, who make up the management team, have an incredible depth of culinary knowledge and expertise — from helping me problem solve, to testing new recipes and helping me refine them.

I try to get cheese made within the United States as much as possible. During the fall, spring and summer, I am able to access more regional produce. For any seafood, I buy from Glidden’s Island Seafood.

It's great to have other people around when you are cooking for eight hours at a time on your own. Everyone is really supportive of each other.

Davide: I moved to the island because of Kate. Originally from the Venice region of Italy, I lived in London, New York City, and San Francisco before

meeting Kate in 2015. We had our wedding ceremony and celebration in the backyard of her family’s home on Nantucket in 2017, so it is a really special place for us to live.

The biggest challenges of running Fato a Man are the fluctuations in seasonal changes: adapting to a very busy summer and then finding rhythm in a slower winter season. Our business would not be possible without the partnership of The Hive and Remain. Having access to a physical location and a commercial kitchen, combined with the guidance of such a supportive management team, has been essential to our operations.

It's great to have other

Health and Sustainability

Buying local as much as possible. I only purchase flour that does not have extra ingredients or enrichment. I try to limit packaging as much as possible; no extra bagging. No plastic; I use aluminum containers instead.

I share large orders with other Makers so that nothing goes to waste.

Gathering

The Hive has a beautiful space for people to gather, and with the support of its management team, we hosted these events for community gatherings. It’s rare to have a communal meal where people can gather for a single seating, at communal tables. During the “off-season” on-island, it is an opportunity for community members to connect and get out for a night while most businesses are closed.

The Perfect Day Off?

Cooking at home for my family. There’s nothing better than sharing a meal with my in-laws, Barbara and Jim, and my wife, Kate. My favorite places to go are The Creeks and Galley Beach, especially in the off-season.

RECIPE: HOMEMADE PASTA FOR FOUR INGREDIENTS

4 eggs

200 grams 00 flour (ultra fine Italian wheat flour)

200 grams semolina flour

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Mix all of the ingredients by hand with a fork.

2. Use a scraper to form it into a small ball. Flatten it with your hand into a round/oval shape, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest for 45 minutes in the refrigerator.

3. Then, stretch it and cut. (For more information on cooking the pasta and mixing with a sauce, visit fatoaman.com/ cooking-information).

Nantucket Pickle Girl

Who? Sarah Maneikis

What? Small-batch, handcrafted pickles, fermented foods

How to order: Hive Grab & Go, and soon, online.

sarah.maneikis@icloud.com

Instagram: @ackpickle

508-982-8808

The Backstory

“Came for tennis, stayed for real estate, now known as the pickle girl.”

I travel extensively along the East Coast, sourcing only the highest-quality cucumbers, dill, garlic, and specialty ingredients to develop a bold, crave-worthy pickle. Every jar starts with fresh, locally sourced ingredients (I coordinate with Moors End Farm). My secret spice blend is entirely my own — developed, tested, and perfected until it was exactly right.

Some people are lucky enough to have someone in their corner who sees what they're capable of before they see it themselves. I had my mother.

She didn't hand me a recipe. She gave us something better — the belief that my talents were worth pursuing, and the courage to actually go after them.

My mother always said to bet on yourself. Best advice I ever got.

Sustainability

All of my pickles are jarred in classic glass mason jars, which are 100% reusable and endlessly refillable.

Bespoke Chef Services

Who? Chef Joseph Ranstatler

What? Personal chef offering bespoke meals in the comfort of your home; meal delivery services ready to eat or easily reheatable. Concierge services including shopping, home stocking and meal prepping. How to get in touch: bespokechefservices.com, jranstatler2@gmail.com

Instagram: @chefjoe_ 508-901-1831

The Backstory

I started in 2025; I’ve been a chef on Nantucket for more than 20 years at many restaurants including Dune and Corazon del Mar.

The name Bespoke came from the concept of custom creating memorable

food experiences in the comfort of your home or rental.

I work with all/most local farmers including Washashore farms, Fogtown Farm, Moors End, Bartlett's Farm, also Pip & Anchor.

Tenzo Kitchen

Who? Sarah Todd

What? Founded in 2021, Tenzo Kitchen creates healthy and sustainably sourced meals and private events

How to Get It: Pick up at The Hive, or order online: tenzokitchen.com sarah.todd9@gmail.com Instagram: @tenzo_kitchen 615-202-5868

The Backstory

A Tenzo is the monk in a Buddhist monastery who cooks for all the other monks. It's a revered position because the quality of the food impacts the monks' ability to achieve enlightenment.

Working at The Hive

The flexibility of booking and the high quality equipment certainly makes running my business a little smoother. It feels supportive to be working solo alongside other folks working solo. I don't think I've ever been in the space completely alone. It's nice to have access to a lot of people to problem solve in the moment.

Some of Tenzo Kitchen's delectable offerings available at The Hive.

Health and Sustainability

I utilize larger purveyors like Sid Wainer for basic ingredients, but I like to feature local and regional products whenever I can. I order organic ingredients whenever I can. It's easier when catering for private parties to utilize the best of what is local when folks are less concerned about cost. I tend to cook with seasonality and

the human body in mind. I believe our personal ecosystem is a reflection of the external ecosystem.

Food Waste Tip

Freezer-friendly food is great stored in batches. You wind up with a great little stash of things to enjoy on the fly rather than throwing away old food. Don't buy too much and have a plan when you go shopping. Whatever you buy, use all of it before buying more stuff.

RECIPE: 3-2-1 PICKLE

INGREDIENTS

3 parts vinegar (any wine, apple cider, or rice vinegar), 2 parts water, 1 part sugar (can reduce if desired), Salt to taste

Aromatics (whole spices, herbs, lemon slice, etc.)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Clean and cut your vegetable into your desired pickle shape.

2. Combine the above and bring to a boil. Pour it over to cover.

3. Allow to cool, then enjoy. Store in the fridge.

Chef Kimmy

Who? Kimmy Freudenreich

What? Private Chef

How to get in touch: chefkimmy.com chefkimmy2023@gmail.com

Instagram: @chefkimmy74 850-890-8441

The Backstory

[I had an] externship at the Harbor House (now White Elephant) in 1996. I stayed for 10 years, working my way up, then left to work on yachts full time.

The Hive

Until The Hive came along, I had to prepare all of the food at a client's house. After The Hive, I had access to consistent space, storage and state of the art equipment that I would otherwise not have access to. I try to use the Makers at The Hive to help promote their businesses. This year The Hive is more alive than ever! Everyone helps each other. You need some micro basil, a pound of shrimp and a baguette — no problem! Ask another maker and they are quick to help out.

We are all there with the same goal and everyone wants to see you succeed. In a sense it's like an extended family.

Buy Local

My brother-in-law, Keith Day, has been a scalloper for years and I see the amount of dedication he puts into his daily routine all winter long … snow, ice, wind — he is out there! It is that way for most people who have a business here. When you see people working so hard, it is an

Chef Kimmy says The Hive is more alive than ever this year.

easy choice to buy local. It may be more expensive, but you get what you pay for.

Favorite day-off: I go to Moors End farm to buy flowers, go to the sustainable farmers market and spend an hour looking at produce, buying the most amazing fish and then bringing it all together in a perfect symphony on a gorgeous Nantucket night.

RECIPE: KIMMY’S SCRAMBLED EGGS

I was once told that my scrambled eggs are “ambrosia from the gods.”

INGREDIENTS

Eggs

Heavy Cream or Sour Cream

Coarse salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Blend well to incorporate air.

2. Scramble in a hot sauté pan with butter and olive oil and top with finely cut chives.

Chef Chris Morris provides extra hands for your event.

8 Arms Chef Services

Who? Chris Morris

What? 8 Arms Chef Services provides private chef experiences, catering, and prepared meals centered around seasonal ingredients and gathering around the table. How do you get it? Private catering available, and also at The Hive freezer (order ahead). ackeightarms.com ackeightarms@gmail.com Instagram: @ackeightarms 774-236-0984

Meat & Greet

Who? Dimitar Dimitrov

What? Meat & Greet crafts authentic Balkan pastries, breads, and meats inspired by traditional recipes and generations of culinary heritage. How to get: To go at The Hive, or book him as a caterer. Get in touch: meatandgreetACK@ gmail.com, 508-901-1317, instagram. com/meat_and_greet_ack/, meatandgreetack.com/

The Backstory

Inspired by the eight arms of the octopus, Chef Chris Morris created 8 Arms Chef Services with one mission: to give you the extra hands you need to fully enjoy your time on Nantucket. Sourcing from the island’s bounty and organically growing what he can, Chris crafts meals that are rooted in place and made with intention.

The Backstory

Hailing from Bulgaria, Dimitar has been handcrafting sausages since childhood, a family tradition he shares with Nantucket. With a devoted following of customers who pop in just to snag a sausage when they hear he’s there, Dimitar’s creations bring a true taste of Bulgarian heritage to the island.

Caroline and Dylan have a lot going on.

Eat Fire Farm

Who? Dylan and Caroline Wallace

What? Herbs, perennials, and blackberries, jams, vinegars, honey, and solar sea salt

How do you get it? The Hive

Grab & Go, and freezer; farmstand at Sustainable Nantucket, 168 Hummock Pond Road. Store at 5 West Creek Road

How to get in touch: eatfire.farm, dylan@eatfire.farm

caroline@eatfire.farm

Instagram: @eatfirefarm 508-332-2121

The Backstory

Island native Dylan Wallace has farmed on Nantucket for more than two decades. Dylan, an artist who’s been gardening since high school, met Caroline, a ceramicist who’s been coming to Nantucket since she was an infant, met at the Community Farm Institute. Now married with a daughter, they have expanded Eat Fire Farm to include five additional acres. “This is our life’s work: to be stewards of the land, to grow beautiful flowers, and to make beautiful food.”

ACK Pastry Shack

Who? Maja Mlinar

What? Maja brings her Serbian family traditions to Nantucket with a modern twist: no-bake cheesecakes, brunch platters and pastries, charcuterie boards; catering

How to Get: Orders can be placed online or on Instagram: ackpastryshack.com

Instagram: @ackpastryshack.

I also sell products at the Farmers Market on Saturdays and The Hive market on Sundays. Daily products can be found at The Hive. It is year round.

The Backstory

“I launched my business in December 2024. Friends and family inspired me to start because I love to bake and cook, and since they all enjoy my food, they encouraged me to start a business so others could enjoy it, too.”

Grey Lady Raw Provisions

Who? Terrence Ruggiero

What? Raw bars, cocktails, and coastal hospitality. How to get in touch: greyladyrawbar.com events@greyladyrawbar.com Instagram: @glrpco 508-375-1069

The Backstory

Terrence Ruggiero is the founder of Grey Lady Raw Provisions Co. With a background spanning more than two decades in New York's craft cocktail scene, and commercial fishing and oyster farming, he specializes in raw bars, cocktails, and coastal hospitality. At The Hive, he teaches hands-on classes focused on cocktail techniques, the art of shucking, and New England entertaining.

Hungry Minnow

Who? Rebecca Chapa

What? Homemade cookies, salsa, and snacks

How to get: Hive Grab & Go, departures tent at Nantucket Airport Get in touch: thehungryminnow@gmail.com Instagram: @thehungryminnow 415-378-1674

Terrence teaches hands-on classes at The Hive.

The Backstory

Growing up, Rebecca Chapa worked at her father's New York restaurant, Pancho Villa's, and attended Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. Her career has included wine school coordinator for Kevin Zraly's Windows on the World Wine School, and restaurant management roles at Drew Nieporent's Myriad Restaurant Group restaurants Montrachet, Tribeca Grill, Nobu, Reebok Sports Club and Rubicon in San Francisco. She launched her cookies at the Sustainable Nantucket Farmers Market in 2014 and they were a feature at The Hungry Minnow at Children's Beach between 2017 and 2021.

Siam To Go

Who? Bo Sasomsin

What? Siam To Go prepares fresh Thai meals that balance bold flavors, quality ingredients, and everyday convenience. How to get: Order to go, pick up at The Hive: siamtogonantucket.com siamtogo@gmail.com Instagram: @siamtogonantucket 508-332-9223

The Backstory

Inspired by her northern Thai roots, Bo Sasomsin and her husband Piya Phatthanaphuti created Siam To Go in 2009 to bring authentic Thai food to Nantucket. Today, they’re serving the authentic Thai dishes Nantucket knows and loves, now exclusively out of The Hive.

Extra: Thai teas and drinks from Bubble Boya (Boya is Sasomsin and Piya’s daughter) is available via online order at siamtogo.com/index.html, and also at Sustainable Nantucket’s Saturday market in town.

Raynor & Raynor Live Fire BBQ

Who? Seth and Nathaniel Raynor What? Smoked barbecue. catering How to get in touch: nathaniel@raynorlivefirebbq.com Instagram: @raynor.live.fire.bbq 508-332-9506

The Backstory

Nathaniel: When Covid hit, I was up in Boston. I had started playing around with smoking meat in my backyard because I had a patio, and that was the only place we could all get together. Everyone would come over, and that was our monthly social gathering.

As these things start, they get bigger, and then you start wanting to do more, and then over the past couple years, I spoke to my dad. [Seth ran restaurants on Nantucket for decades, including the Pearl] and I said, "Hey, I've got an idea of something we can do here on Nantucket.” … He was on board with it. We started doing trips down to Austin, eating our way through about 20 of the top 50 Texas BBQ places.

Now, we are reimagining some of the dishes that we may have done at the restaurants, and saying, "Oh, we're going to put an Asian twist on this.” Or my dad was really known for the lobster dish at the Pearl, and say, "Oh, well, what if we took some of the elements of this lobster and interpreted it through the lens of Live Fire.”

We mentioned that 70% of our business will be private dinners we're doing. Clients will have an intimate experience where we can walk through everything the guest is eating on their plate: This is where the wood came from, and why we're using it. If we're doing Wagyu, this is where in America this meat is coming from. This is why we're using this cut. We will partner with local farms and our friends that we've had over the years and create kind of this experience where it's a mixture of enjoyment and education.

Nantucket Nosh

Who? Courtney Gehring

What? Nantucket Nosh creates sauces, dips, and baked goods using locally sourced ingredients whenever possible, made to be enjoyed from the beach and boat to the dinner table.

How do you get it?

Hive Grab & Go

Get in touch: nantucketnosh.com courtney.a.gehring@gmail.com Instagram: @nantucket_nosh 503-317-7578

Seth: We're gonna do Hive dinners, too. Either do a ticketed pop-up event or someone could have their own party there. We will also occasionally pre-order takeouts of barbecue boxes. Someone could take it to the beach, take it home, but they would pick it up at The Hive. Nathaniel: The guy who's getting us the oak we’re using is up in New Hampshire. We have to get it shipped over here by a different company. Then it arrives, and you have to figure out how to deal with it. We have some Nantucket roots going way back, and you think about the efforts people on the island to get provisions here during the whaling days. I was thinking about it on the way into work the other day: As much as this is a pain point of trying to figure out how to get this here or that here, it kind of made me feel like I was in touch with my history in a way that I hadn't in a long time.

Nantucket Island Creations

Who? Jermaine Scarlett

What? Catering and private dining inspired by fresh ingredients, global flavors (Caribbean with American influences), and island hospitality. How to get: Get in touch: nantucketislandcreations.com scarlettjermaine73@gmail.com Instagram: @nantucketislandcreations 508-221-3260

The Backstory

In June 2000, Jermaine moved to Nantucket and quickly fell in love with the island and the rhythm of restaurant life, spending nearly a decade at Arno’s before launching his own venture.

10 STEPS TO AVOID Food Waste

By Emily Cain and Lily Olsen

A1

Being a resourceful shopper and keeping your groceries fresh has a significant effect not just on your wallet, but also on the planet.

bout 40% of all food produced in the United States goes unsold or uneaten, and food waste accounts for about 10% of global carbon emissions. While the biggest food waste concerns are at the institutional level — farms, grocery stores, distribution networks — you can still make a difference in your own home. Here are 10 steps to get started.

Plan ahead: Keep a list of what you have in your fridge so that you don’t buy more than you need, and have a menu in mind before going shopping so you only buy what you will definitely use.

2

Put scraps to use: Collect onion and garlic peels, carrot tops, celery ends, and leftover veggies and put them in a bag in the freezer. When the bag gets full, put its contents into a soup pot, cover with water, season to taste with herbs, salt and pepper, and boil to make a delicious homemade broth.

3 Keep track of leftovers: Put leftovers in clear glass containers with the date written on them. Being able to see into the container and knowing when you put them in the fridge will make it more likely you’ll eat them before they go bad.

4 Learn what to keep separate: Certain types of produce are not compatible when it comes to longevity. The key is storing ethyleneproducing foods (like bananas, tomatoes, and apples) and ethylene-sensitive items (like broccoli and carrots) separately.

5

Store certain produce in water: Herbs, asparagus, and green onions should be treated like a bouquet of flowers: Remove rubber bands and place the stalks in a cup of water (about one inch deep) before placing them in the refrigerator (change the water regularly). Carrots and celery keep best submerged in

10 Food Donations!

NANTUCKET FOOD PANTRY

19 Boynton Lane

Open Tuesday–Thursday

Accepts food donations. Nonperishable items may be left at the donation bin in front of the Sparks Avenue Stop & Shop. assistnantucket.org, 508-228-7438; food@assistnantucket.org

SEND IT BOX

Support Pip & Anchor’s Send It Box program, which helps improve food access on Nantucket, by making a monetary donation. bit.ly/send-it-donation

COMPOSTING FOOD WASTE

Compost your food scraps at Nantucket’s Solid Waste Facility, 188 Madaket Road. Residents and visitors may drop off compostable food waste, including meat, dairy, bones, fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, and eggshells, free of charge.

water in a sealed container: Cut the tops off of whole carrots before putting them in water, and compost the tops or use in pesto.

6

Know what to store in the fridge versus the countertop: Some items, such as onions, potatoes, and bananas, are best stored on countertops. Citrus fruit keep better in the fridge, as it starts decomposing if it sits out.

7

Wash and dry some produce before refrigeration: Berries should be washed in a 1:5 mixture of vinegar and water to kill bacteria and prevent mold; make sure they are thoroughly dry before putting them in a towel-lined container in the fridge. To prevent leafy greens from wilting too quickly, rinse and dry them completely, then roll them in a towel and put them in the fridge.

8

Use the freezer: Get in the habit of putting food that’s about to go bad in the freezer. You can use it later for smoothies and soups.

9

Listen to your senses more than best by dates: Food is not always bad if it’s past the best by date. If it looks, smells, and feels edible, try a bite.

Our Island Farmers

A photographic tour of the people, places, and hard work

behind

Nantucket's local food system.

Photos by Sheny Leon

On a bright June day, we spent time at a few local farms to capture a snapshot of a day in the life of Nantucket’s food community. From the first turn of the soil to the peak of the growing season, this is a look at the farmers who sustain us — and the quiet, demanding, and rewarding work of feeding our island.

Moors End Farm

The family-run farm at 40 Polpis Road has been part of Nantucket’s agricultural landscape since 1975, when it was founded by the Slosek family.

From kale and zucchini to a wide range of summer staples, Moors End produces tomatoes, corn, peppers, lettuce, arugula, eggplant, asparagus, fennel, okra, and more.

Owner Sam Slosek in the greenhouse. Moors End Farm grows and harvests more than 40 varieties of fruits and vegetables on its 25 acres throughout the year.

Moors End Farm staffers Kip Buccino and William Rowe (right) in the fields and farmstand, where much of the island’s seasonal produce is sold directly to the community.

My Grandfather’s Farm

Run by Tom Larrabee Jr. and his son, Nick Larrabee , My Grandfather’s Farm spans 15 acres at 101 Hummock Pond Road.

A flock of chickens keeps the farm stocked with fresh eggs all summer long. The farm truck is filled Wednesday through Saturday and set out at 9 each morning, then brought back in once the eggs sell out — which often happens quickly. If you're hoping to grab a dozen (or two), arrive early.

The land has been in the Larrabee family for five generations, with each generation building on the legacy of those who came before.

In addition to chickens, vegetables, and flowers, My Grandfather's Farm is also home to several goats. The message on their T-shirts says it all: “It’s not work if you love what you’re doing.”

Washashore Farm

Founded by Dan Southey (above) in 2016, Washashore Farm is a regenerative farm dedicated to organic methods. Find fresh vegetables, honey, and fresh duck eggs at the farmstand every day.

Sustainable Nantucket

Several farms operate as independent businesses at Sustainable Nantucket's Community Farm at 168 Hummock Pond Road. Located on Land Bank–owned Mt. Vernon Farm, the site is also home to Sustainable Nantucket's honor-system farmstand, where visitors can purchase produce from each farm.

Fog Town Farm

Aidan and Natasha Feeney run Fog Town Farm (founded in 2019), which specializes in growing salad crop, root vegetables, tomatoes, and numerous other seasonal vegetables.

Eat Fire Farm

At Eat Fire Farm, Dylan (pictured here) and Caroline Wallace cultivate fresh herbs, perennials, and specialty crops. They also produce solar evaporated sea salt, and local pastureraised meat. Dylan Wallace is one of Sustainable Nantucket’s mentor farmers who helps train other growers on the community farm.

In Situ Native Plant Nursery

The newest addition to Sustainable Nantucket's Community Farm is Leah Mojer's In Situ Native Plant Nursery. Native plants provide habitat for pollinators and other beneficial insects, improve soil health, and help build resilient ecosystems that support local agriculture.

Bartlett’s Farm

Established in 1843, Bartlett's Farm is one of Nantucket's oldest and largest family-owned farms. Now in its seventh generation, the farm cultivates more than 125 acres.

Located at 33 Bartlett Farm Road, Bartlett's Farm is home to the island's only certified organic fields and is working to transition the rest of its farmland to organic certification.

Best known for its abundant outdoor harvests — especially sweet corn and tomatoes — Bartlett's Farm also operates 30-plus greenhouses that produce ornamental plants, organic greens, and experimental crops year-round.

Pip & Anchor

The Cafe and Market Everyone Told Me To Visit

How Chris Sleeper and Mayumi Hattori are expanding what “local” food means on Nantucket.

By Britt Bowker, with additional reporting by Robert Graves

On Nantucket for a couple days to do some reporting, I kept hearing the same recommendation from different people: Stop at Pip & Anchor for lunch.

“You’re vegetarian? Even better,” they’d say. “You have to try the asparagus sandwich.”

One quiet afternoon, I finally went, walking into a space that felt like a hybrid of cafe, market, and community kitchen. People sat around a communal table eating lunch, chatting across a few empty chairs. Others browsed shelves lined with pantry goods or refrigerators stocked with local produce. The space felt rustic but intentional: exposed beams, warm lighting, neatly arranged displays. In typical small-island fashion, nearly everyone seemed to know one another.

Behind the counter, co-owner Chris Sleeper was ringing up customers. When he learned I was a reporter, he stepped away for a moment to chat. Pip & Anchor hadn’t been part of my original reporting plan, but I could tell that it was a place with a

story that one day, I’d revisit.

Two years later, I finally sat down with Chris and co-owner Mayumi Hattori to hear how the business came to be. What began as a pandemic-era experiment grew into a cafe, retail shop, food distribution network, and community gathering space centered on reconnecting people to food and to their neighbors near and far.

Any single item that you pick up from the shelves — Grey Lady Apiary honey, Sacred Cow granola, Vault 5 cheddar — has been tried and vetted by Chris and Mayumi. Everything in the store meets their standards for ethical sourcing, high quality, and a production radius within 350 miles of the island. The pair developed those standards over years spent working in the restaurant industry and at Straight Wharf Restaurant, where Chris ran the front of the house and Mayumi ran the kitchen. In 2020, while working at The Club Car, Mayumi was nominated for a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast.

It was that same year, during the early days of the pandemic, that the idea for Pip & Anchor began to take shape. Rita Higgins was running a small island project called Hundred Mile Makers, which organized pop-ups and events highlighting local farmers and food producers. When Covid shut down restaurants, those same producers suddenly had nowhere to sell their wares.

Higgins pivoted quickly, turning her existing email list into a lifeline between farms and households. “Hey farmers, what are you harvesting?” she would ask, then match available produce with island residents trying to source food locally. At first, people placed their orders using a Google form; over time, that form evolved into an online storefront.

M ayumi stepped in to help bring structure to the system. Drawing on tools like Farm Fresh Rhode Island’s (FFRI) aggregation network, the pair began coordinating directly with farms and consolidating weekly orders, expanding from a buyer base of roughly 20 households to more than 100 in a matter of weeks.

Bring a reusable cup and receive a $1 discount on beverages.

Send It!

Chris and Mayumi believe that access to nutritious food — especially local farm produce, which often comes at a higher price — should be a right, not a privilege.

As demand grew, the operation developed a more stable online market, still built on the same idea: connecting local farms and makers directly with island residents at a time when traditional supply chains had broken down. That evolving system eventually became the foundation for Pip & Anchor.

“ There was no place on the island, no one place that we knew of, that you could go to and get all local goods and support our local economy,” Mayumi said. In 2021, Pip & Anchor secured its permanent brick-and-mortar storefront by partnering with Remain. In 2022, Pip & Anchor opened its doors.

Four years later, the operation has evolved far beyond its pandemic origins. When customers walk into Pip & Anchor today, they’re introduced to producers they might not have encountered otherwise, finding shelves stocked with wines, pantry staples, locally grown produce, and specialty foods such as sauces, spices, and preserves, all sourced from small makers across New England.

“ We try to be selective about who we highlight — making sure they align with our ethics and values,” Mayumi said.

That philosophy shapes every corner of the store. Refrigerators hold local produce and regional cheeses. Baked goods, seasonal sandwiches, and salads made by Mayumi and her team fill the display cases. Customers can settle into one of several seating areas, linger over coffee, and get a discount for bringing a reusable cup.

As owners, Chris and Mayumi wear multiple hats. Chris oversees the retail operation, wine program, and customer experience, while Mayumi manages kitchen production, sourcing, and the flow of food through the business.

“So we want to make that available to our customers who are food insecure,” Mayumi said.

That mindset became the foundation of Pip & Anchor’s “Send It” Box Program, which distributes boxes of fresh produce to food insecure individuals and families on Nantucket. The program now provides roughly 80 boxes each week, enough food to feed about 300 people, and they hope to expand it by about 50%.

Working with farmers to stock the store also means coordinating produce for the food security program. Because many of the farms are small, planning requires constant communication and a close understanding of what crops are available at any given time.

It’s not a gleaning program, because the food isn’t donated. Pip & Anchor pays farmers their full market rate. When growers find themselves with surplus crops — extra salad greens, an abundance of eggplants, or produce that has matured faster than restaurants can purchase it — Mayumi helps redirect that food into the Send It program.

“ We move that food through the Send It Program so that it doesn’t get tilled under.” she said. By paying farmers for excess crops that would have been composted, Pip & Anchor has created a food security initiative that also supports the local agricultural economy. Farmers have told Chris and Mayumi that the program has helped extend their growing seasons and provided a more reliable source of income during slower months.

“ They’re now growing specifically for our program,” Mayumi said. “They know that we’re going to allot them [a certain amount of] money every single week.”

And the effects extend beyond the individual farms. With

more consistent demand, growers can hire and pay more workers and continue producing food later into the year.

"Now the growing season is extended, where they have food almost year-round, which is amazing," Mayumi said. "It may not be a lot in the wintertime, but that's a long way from when there was zero food coming from the island during the winter months.”

Two of Pip & Anchor’s largest farm partners are Fog Town Farm and Washashore Farm, both located on Sustainable Nantucket’s community farm plots. But the business also works with other growers across the island.

"The farmers as a whole have really trusted us to be the people to call to find an outlet," Chris said. If a farm suddenly has excess produce, Pip & Anchor can purchase it for the Send It program, use it in the café, or bring it to the Food Pantry.

"So there really is a nice outlet for all the farmers, and they can grow more comfortably and confidently, which in turn allows them to grow their farms," Chris said. "We've not only watched all the farms grow in size, but we've also watched all their teams grow, and now we're watching all of their families grow."

Neighbors, near and far

warehouse like a normal distributor.”

Pip & Anchor also works with Myers Produce, a younger regional distributor based in western Massachusetts and Vermont that sources from small, often organic farms across New England and delivers into Boston, New York, and the Cape and Islands.

Together, these systems have helped expand what “local” can mean on Nantucket.

Chris noted that the Send It program — particularly its steady winter demand — has played a role in making that regional distribution possible year-round. “That weekly guaranteed 80-plus pounds of individual SKUs from farms is a huge reason why both Myers and FFRI are able to deliver to Nantucket all year round,” he said. In the food industry, an SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) refers to a specific product variety — meaning the trucks that come to Nantucket are packed with a wide range of goods from various regional growers.

Beyond Nantucket, Pip & Anchor taps into a wide network of regional growers across New England.

“ We have a friend we work with who has helped us quite a bit in terms of technology,” Mayumi said. The food security program, she added, requires significant “backend tech, support tech,” and ongoing work to build systems that can handle ordering and coordination at scale.

For now, much of the day-to-day communication still happens the old-fashioned way. “It’s all via text messages,” she said. “And it’s not even a group text. Everybody gets an individual text that’s copy-pasted: ‘Hey chef, I have this available.’ It’s just not the most efficient way of communication. We’re trying to figure out something better so farmers can streamline ordering.”

To help bridge that gap, Pip & Anchor also works with Farm Fresh Rhode Island (FFRI), a regional food hub that aggregates products from farms across the region. Through its Market Mobile platform, each farm maintains its own listing of available products, quantities, and pricing within a shared system. Buyers place orders online, allowing FFRI to consolidate deliveries and distribute food efficiently across the region.

“It’s basically an aggregator,” Mayumi said. “You’re doing everything based off pre-orders, not off things sitting in a

“ They didn’t deliver to Nantucket at all before Pip & Anchor existed,” he added. “And now they deliver not only here, but also to the [rest of the] Cape and Islands. So Pip & Anchor and the Send It program opened the channels for all these other small farms from southeast Massachusetts, Rhode Island, western Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, eastern New York — to get to the Cape and Islands.”

W ithin the Send It program itself, the balance between island-grown and regional food shifts with the seasons. In winter months, boxes are more heavily supplemented by regional produce. In summer, when Nantucket farms are at peak production, the focus shifts back to island-grown food with regional items filling the gaps.

“ We try to keep the boxes as diverse as possible,” Mayumi said. “Fruit especially — we include it whenever it’s in season. It tends to be more of a luxury item, and it’s heavily requested.”

“ We don’t take any profit from [the Send It program],” Chris added. “Neither of us take a salary. We pay everyone who helps, and it’s covered through community grants, private donations, and donations made at the checkout counter.”

For both founders, the structure reflects a larger shift in how they wanted to work after years in restaurants.

“ We both wanted a better quality of life and a little bit more life balance,” Mayumi said. “I got into restaurants because I love to feed people and I love to nurture and take care, and this way I feel like I’m actually doing that more so than in a restaurant.”

The shop itself has become something of a community

anchor. “We know our customers’ stories,” she said. “We are their third place. If they go on vacation or have a health scare, we hear about it. They bring their kids here after school.”

“It’s cookie hour right now,” Chris said. “They’re all upstairs getting cookies.”

For him, the work is about the scale of impact. “In restaurants, especially high-end restaurants on Nantucket, you’re serving a very small part of the one percent,” he said. “It’s gratifying, but this allows us to serve multiple levels of the community. It really feels like we’re making a difference.”

And one more thing: “We have really good coffee,” Chris said. “We’re both coffee obsessed, so we had to make sure that it was as good as we could get.”

Even the milk in their coffee is sourced from a local farm. “We take every step that way,” Mayumi said.

Mayumi and Chris hope to deepen their work with the island’s school lunch program and host farm dinners where regional makers can showcase their products in a more experiential way.

“For example,” Mayumi said, “For years I've been talking with Moromi, which is a soy sauce producer in Mystic, [Connecticut]. He and his chef partner make all these kinds of funky soy sauces out of sugar kelp or different mushrooms they forage. Most people think of soy sauce as something like La Choy on the shelf, but how cool would it be to have a dinner where they get to talk about why they make all these different soy sauces, how the process works, and then you actually taste how they’re meant to be used? Those multilayered experiences — that stuff makes us really excited.”

“There was no place on the island, no one place that we knew of, that you could go to and get all local goods and support our local economy.”

– Mayumi Hattori

That same attention extends across the shop.

“Every single thing that we give to someone here, we know where it comes from,” Chris said, gesturing toward the store’s pantry shelves. “We’ve tried everything. If somebody walks in and asks, ‘Do you like it?’ it’s like — yeah, of course we like it. We don’t bring it in if we don’t.”

“ When we travel around New England, we’re always kind of looking for things,” Mayumi said. “Friends will send us photos from Maine like, ‘You have to try this.’ And more often than not, we can work it out.”

The result is a constantly evolving roster of producers — small-batch food makers, farmers, and artisans across the region whose work might otherwise never make it to an island shelf.

Even the infrastructure behind that network, they said, often feeds back into those relationships. Farm Fresh Rhode Island and similar regional distributors don’t just move product — they make it easier for small farms to exist at scale, and for places like Pip & Anchor to connect to them.

Looking ahead, beyond expanding the Send It program,

Chris added that they’re also working with Mass General Hospital and its network on the idea of prescribing food through their food security program — treating food as medicine rather than medication.

“ There are a couple of doctors that have expressed great interest,” he said. “But there’s a lot of red tape in the hospital system, insurance, all of that. We’ve made progress, though.”

On an island where “local” is often defined within a narrow radius, Pip & Anchor is actively stretching that definition.

“ We were one of the first businesses here to really think about local as beyond Nantucket,” Chris said. “It used to be a self-sustained island; we’re not that far from that history. But our population has grown so much that we need to think about local as utilizing our neighbors.”

At Pip & Anchor, that definition shows up everywhere — in the shelves, the farm lists, the text messages, the boxes on the counter, and the people upstairs eating Malted Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies to break up another island day.

Pip & Anchor is located at 14 Amelia Drive. To view their cafe menu, learn more about their wine club, or check for upcoming events, visit pipandanchor.com or follow them on Instagram @pipandanchor.

Herbs, perennials, berries, jams, vinegars, honey and solar sea salt at farmstand

Website: eatfire.farm Instagram: @eatfirefarm

Catering and private dining experiences; Caribbean with American in uences.

IG: @nantucketislandcreations | scarlettjermaine73@gmail.com 508-221-3260 | nantucketislandcreations.com

Nantucket Pickle Girl

Desserts, Cakes, Charcuterie Boards, Pastries, Catering

Order online or on Instagram; pick up at Farmers Market or Hive market on Sundays. Instagram: @ackpastryshack ackpastryshack.com

Refreshing boba drinks and crave-worthy eats like burgers, hot dogs, fries, mozz sticks, corn dogs & more!

BUBBLEBOYATEA@GMAIL.COM

Bean-to-bar chocolate to pick up at the Hive, or

and go snacks at Nantucket Airport and Hive

Personal chef offering meals in your home, shopping, and ready-to-eat/reheat delivery services. 508-901-1831 | bespokechefservices.com jranstatler2@gmail.com | IG: @chefjoe

Sauces, dips, and baked goods for picnics and dinner tables.

courtney.a.gehring@gmail.com · nantucketnosh.com · instagram: @nantucket_nosh

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Private chef experiences, catering, and prepared meals IG: @ackeightarms | 774-236-0984 ackeightarms@gmail.com ackeightarms.com

Experience more of what makes Nantucket special. Leave the car behind and explore the island with convenient transportation options that let you soak in every moment.

There’s a reason Nantucket boasts a high Walk Score® - the island is best explored on foot. Stroll through historic streets, immerse yourself in the Cultural District and uncover world-class shops and restaurants

See Nantucket up close and at your own pace. You’ll discover more than 35 miles of dedicated bike paths, flat terrain perfect for riding and plenty of bike rental options -- including e-bikes for longer journeys.

Leave the driving to us and enjoy a relaxing ride. Hop on the free WAVE bus, with routes covering the island from end to end and departures at every half hour. Or, choose a courtesy shuttle or an educational tour.

Ready to explore Nantucket car-free? Visit MoreNantucket.com for free apps, helpful tips, and resources to make getting around easy and enjoyable.