Golden Valley Coffee Roasters<\/h4>\n
In 1986 former Wawa marketing director, John Sacharok, started Golden Valley Coffee Roasters<\/a>. The company boasts an impressive list of credentials, including two organic certifications plus Fair Trade, bird-friendly and shade-grown labels for their coffee. Sacharok, his sister and business partner, Maryann Baldassarre and her eldest son, Frank Baldassarre, Jr. (also the company\u2019s master roaster) roast all of their coffee beans themselves among a rising tide of boutique roasters. Golden Valley Coffee Roasters have always considered coffee-making to be an art form. They tasked themselves with continuing to create delicious, high-end coffee, while also leaving a positive social and environmental mark on the coffee industry.<\/p>\n Eventually with corporations and offices switching to one-cup coffeemakers, Sacharok\u2019s coffee company found itself with a warehouse that didn\u2019t match current warehousing trends and exceeded the size they needed to operate. Amidst an unfavorable real estate climate, the team\u2014which now included Frank Baldassarre, Sr. and Joe Stratton (director of equipment services and farmer)\u2014began looking into different ways to use their warehouse space.\n[awesome-gallery id=3887]<\/p>\n In 2011, the company came across a survey by the National Grocers Association, which reported that 86-percent of local foods consumers were asking, \u201cWhat are the small-scale food manufacturers doing for space?\u201d In 2012, with space to fill and a surplus of passionate artisan creators looking for inexpensive spaces, the former Golden Valley Coffee Roasters warehouse became a home for budding culinary entrepreneurs aptly named \u201cthe Artisan Exchange<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The model for Artisan Exchange members allows creators to rent individual spaces within the warehouse, which function as the home-base for their small culinary businesses. From this launch pad, these passionate foodies are able to regularly sell to local specialty shops, grocery chains and via the Internet .<\/p>\n A special plus for the artisans is a built-in \u201ctown square\u201d of sorts. Every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Artisan Exchange warehouse\u2014located at 208 Carter Drive in West Chester, PA\u2014hosts the Artisan Foods & Farmers Market where companies sell their goods in one single, collaborative space.<\/p>\n Though these companies work independently and create an array of products, the Artisan Exchange operates under a single mission statement. According to Frank Baldassarre: \u201c[We aim] to provide an affordable environment that supports entrepreneurs committed to producing hand-crafted, sustainable foods while sharing sound business practices that have a positive social impact.\u201d<\/p>\n There is a special atmosphere and small town feel at the Artisan Exchange. Everyone there within the Artisan Exchange is rooting for each other to succeed. They recognize that they are stronger as a collective than as individuals when pitted against large-scale grocery store chains.<\/p>\n Like Golden Valley Coffee Roasters, the other artisans take enormous pride in their products and often feel their goods are even an art form, one that they take pride in, are passionate about and from which they derive renewed happiness. Each and every one of these culinary-related companies operates on a modus operandi unique to themselves and aside from financial gain. Their art is fueled by a number of factors including heritage, family, independence, community and following their one true passion in life\u2014food.<\/p>\n The differences between the products sold at the Artisan Exchange and those sold at chain grocery stores is immediately evident by the amount of heart that goes into everything sold at this culinary commune.<\/p>\n Michael\u2019s other passion is family, having started his business under the philosophy, \u201cthat the family unit is one of the most important parts of life.\u201d The Van Houtens believe in infusing their sauce with as much love and devotion as they would for their own family. Their bottled sauce eliminates the prep work needed for families to create a sauce of the same caliber, so they regain that lost time and use it instead to spend more time together.\n[awesome-gallery id=3893]\nFamily is an important part of Deborah Streeter-Davitt\u2019s business too. Not only does she run her business alongside her parents, but the recipes she creates at MacDougall\u2019s Irish Victory Cakes<\/a> have a rich family history. \u201cOur products are from my great granddad\u2019s (dad\u2019s granddad), James McDowell\u2019s, recipe! He was a champion baker in Ireland and renown throughout all the British Isles. He won gold medal after gold medal for his amazing talents during the late 1880s and early 1900s before he brought our family to America. It\u2019s his lovely rich butter pound cake, to which we added a wee bit of whiskey to share with you\u2014our wonderful customer.\u201d<\/p>\n Customer satisfaction interwoven with family is another passion of Streeter-Davvit. \u201dMacDougall\u2019s Cakes makes me feel like I\u2019m doing something good for my family while hopefully making my customers feel a wee bit happier by enjoying our cake and story while, maybe, recalling their own beloved family history.\u201d<\/p>\nCultivating a Culinary Commune<\/h4>\n
Pride and Passions<\/h4>\n
![\"Bottled](\"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Bottled-Thyme-TABLE-SET-UP.700w.jpg\")
One of these mini-food companies is Bottled Thyme<\/a>, owned and operated by husband and wife team, Michael and Heather Van Houten. Regarding the sauces they produce, Michael is obviously passionate about his sauce creations, \u201cOur products are upscale dining quality, made with passion by hand and feature unique flavors. These products have bold, specialized flavors, which are not commonly found in larger, more commercialized grocery chain stores. We take the time bringing that slow simmered taste, so that you can have a delicious and quick meal.\u201d<\/p>\nThe Start of Something New<\/h4>\n