Page 20 - BusinessWest May 27, 2024

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Good Vibrations
The Urban Food Brood Thrives with a Unique Model
BY JOSEPH BEDNAR
[email protected]
Almost a decade ago, Tim and Andrea Monson started a small business roast- ing and selling coffee, which grew to the point where they opened a retail and operating space on Albany Street in Springfield in 2019.
Not long after, the owners of Monsoon Roastery began talking to the owners of two other small busi- nesses — Nosh, a downtown Springfield eatery, and Urban Artisan Farm, which specializes in hydroponic food production — about a concept that has now become one of the city’s most unique food-centric success stories.
“It started after COVID when small businesses were struggling to survive,” Andrea said. “We already did business with Nosh — we would carry her food products, and then they would carry our coffee. So that kind of social capital started very early on. We actually did that with a lot of small businesses. So we started to think ... what if we were a small busi- ness corporation — a bunch of us kind of fighting together?”
“We started to think ... what if we were a small business corporation — a bunch of us kind of fighting together?”
That’s how the Monsons, Nosh owner Teri Skin- ner, and Urban Artisan Farm owner Jack Wysocki launched their concept, envisioning a place where small businesses could support each other in a shared space with a common kitchen and other ame- nities, and people could come stop by for lunch or a coffee and bring home some fresh produce, meat, or other items.
“It took us three years to get financing and to get organized,” Monson explained. “This was an office building. So we had to transform it into food-manu- facturing collaborative, which cost a lot of money. In the middle of COVID, there were a lot of shortages, a lot of delays. But we kept fighting for this dream and investing our own funds and sacrificing a lot of time and a lot of sweat equity, and it finally came together
20 MAY 27, 2024
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Andrea and Tim Monson, owners of Monsoon Roastery, are two of the original partners who brought the Urban Food Brood to life.