Hope & Main Downtown Makers Marketplace

A New Café and Market on Westminster Street Showcases Local ‘Foodpreneurs’

This past January it was standing room only in the sun-filled atrium of 100 Westminster Street in downtown Providence, where congressional representatives, the governor, the lieutenant governor and other civic leaders gathered with supporters and staff of Hope & Main and many of its food-making members, along with their families, for the official ribbon cutting of the Hope & Main Downtown Makers Marketplace.

As Hope & Main founder, champion and tireless leader Lisa Raiola introduced the concept behind Hope & Main’s new café and market venture, she expressed the sentiment widely shared amongst the diverse crowd of Rhode Islanders assembled there: “Food is Rhode Island’s love language.”

A shared love for food and its makers was palpable that morning as each of the dozen or so speakers talked about the importance of food in Rhode Island’s local economy and the place Hope & Main holds as a driver of success for local “foodpreneurs” in the state’s small business sector.

Since its founding in 2010, the Warren food business incubator has licensed over 450 makers from its program, which provides kitchen space plus support and business training—the tools for success for people with a recipe and a dream.

Hope & Main maker member Jessica Schumann of Mariela’s Sweets bakes delicate cream-filled macarons in a rainbow of natural flavors and hues. She’s thrilled to see her products on the shelves in the new space.

“Opening a new door for daily sales after mainly selling at weekly farmers markets or custom orders is an incredible opportunity for me, and for all of us,” says Schumann. Like many Hope & Main makers, Shumann has a day job and, as a single mother, still finds time to be in the kitchen twice weekly to make and package her product.

Likewise, Schantel Neal is delighted to see the café and marketplace filled with products of her fellow Hope & Main makers. She owns Maxine Baked, a custom-order baking company specializing in cakes and cupcakes, plus she juggles motherhood and a remote full-time job.

“I’m excited to see my products here, both for cakes to take away, for home or the office, and for café customers to enjoy by the slice. My motto is … cake every day!” she says with joyful enthusiasm.

Both Shumann and Neal live in the capital city and bake in Warren but soon they may choose to bake closer to home. As part of the expansion, Hope & Main is also building out new commercial kitchen space at 945 Westminster Street, less than a mile from the café and market.

The expansion into Providence was the result of an essential partnership with developer Paolino Properties and Papitto Opportunity Connection, a nonprofit that provides support to people of color, helping them move past barriers to business success through grants, scholarships and other support. At Hope & Main, 40% of the food business start-ups are owned by people of color and 60% are woman owned.

At the Downtown Makers Marketplace, over 100 Hope & Main maker food products are on the shelves and in refrigerated cases for purchase—everything from crackers to hot sauce, empanadas to lasagnas. Breakfast and lunch items are made fresh daily from 7 am to 3 pm., along with coffees and teas. You can choose from hot breakfast sandwiches, assorted pastries and yogurt bowls for breakfast; for lunch, hot soups, sandwiches and salads. All of it showcases products of local makers, like the chocolate babka, the kimchi chicken sandwich or the H&M barbacoa melt. The space itself is inviting—sit at a long counter or tables by large south-facing windows overlooking Westminster Street and the Turk’s Head Building or at the spacious center countertop so you can eye all the sweets you’ll want for dessert.

Hope & Main Downtown Makers Marketplace
100 Westminster St. • Providence

For more information, including online ordering for breakfast and lunch, visit MakeFoodYourBusiness.org.