Birdie’s Batch started in June 2020; mom and I always floated the idea of starting some kind of food business, but never had the time to put together all the pieces of running a small business. When COVID hit New York and decimated the restaurant scene, I was laid off from my job as food director for a restaurant group in Manhattan. My dream job was to start a community farm; but after reading 25 books on regenerative farming and growing a garden of mostly weeds, I decided to put that idea on the back burner. In one of the farming books, there was a blurb about cottage food laws and farmer’s markets. It suddenly made sense. I could start small as a home processor, and market my mom’s seasonal jams and our baked goods.
Fast forward to New Year’s Eve 2021, and we made good on our promise of starting this small bakeshop and jam company. We’ve grown a community of carb lovers thanks to all the markets that have accepted us over the past year and a half: Hastings, Chappaqua, Irvington, Bronxville, and Tarrytown. In 2021, we expanded into new territory, selling at the friendly Piermont Farmers Market, and we increased our local footprint with a retail line at the historic Van Houten Farms market in Orangeburg. Our new beginnings were highlighted in The Rockland Journal News and The Westchester Magazine.
Looking ahead at 2022, we’re streamlining our operations with a new kitchen in my garage (follow us @birdiesbatch to see this transformation) and a reorganized website (more on that to come). We’re going to be slimming down our menu, so let us know which items you can’t live without. Looking at the year-end sales report, we know our mega chocolate chip cookie is our number one seller followed by a dark horse: the double cheddar cornbread. As for jams, strawberry was the clear winner. Thanks to Conklin Orchards in Pomona and Hellers Farm in Germantown for supplying us with super ripe berries this year!
From our family to yours, have a happy and healthy New Year. To everyone who has subscribed to the “Birdie Bod” and indulged in our classic baked goods and jams, we thank you. Now please ignore your New Year’s Resolution to lose weight, and keep buying from us.