contracted with The Merrimack Valley Golf Club in Methuen to cater private events. They are planning on offering this event every Friday night throughout the summer months.Īlso, during this time, The Finicky Fork Catering Co. “My heart skipped a beat when I looked up and saw a line of cars down the street and around the corner” “Our first night as a “Drive Thru BBQ” had a tremendous response,” Aker-Ayala said. has recently partnered with Riverstyx Brewery of Fitchburg offering a “Pop Up” restaurant experience. Zanni continued: “My hope is to lift other businesses up so they can keep their employees and creating a ripple effect throughout our communities.” “We are both small businesses being as creative as possible to serve our community and our teams.” “When I heard through a mutual friend how hard Dawn’s catering business got hit with the loss of her corporate and special events, I wanted to reach out to her,” says Zanni. “Neil reached out to me about eight weeks ago, asking if there was any way he could help us out and if we would like to begin offering our products at his farm stand,” Aker-Ayala said. We certainly felt the love!”Ī shining light for Aker-Ayala during the pandemic was Neil Zanni, owner of The Gardeners’ Spot. However, the remaining staff in the building continued to support us. Our once bustling café had almost gone silent. “Seventy percent of our staff was sent to work from home or transferred to work the front lines. “We were able to remain open for take-out and curbside” Aker-Ayala said. A spread fit for a king, or queen, is what the Finicky Fork can provide to its customers The Finicky Fork Café, which opened in January 2019, has also seen challenging times throughout this pandemic. And again, we were able to offer our catering menu items to families that have never had the opportunity to experience us.” “The revenue generated those two singular days helped to keep us afloat for several weeks. “This had an overwhelming response,” she adds. was able to offer family-style dinners for Easter and Mother’s Day Brunch & Dinner. “To be able to offer high quality entrees to individuals, as in the past, these items were only offered for private events.” “This actually ended up being a great opportunity for us,” she said. “We certainly did not do this alone,” she adds, “There was a whole team of supporters behind us.”Īker-Ayala says her kitchen is designed for catering, not a full-service restaurant style service, however, she began offering a weekly special menu available for curbside pick-up and delivery to keep her business going. She credits Fitchburg officials who reached out to inform her of possible financial relief and members of the board of directors at Community Health Connections ensuring her that their café would remain open to serve members of the health care community who were facing the pandemic head on. “Everyone really rallied behind and supported us.” “They allowed us a variance on our lease to allow curbside takeout from our kitchen,” says Aker-Ayala. The board of trustees at Rollstone Church met with Aker-Ayala and reduced her rent by half. “North East Produce, Union Products, LJ Murray Bakeries, and our national supplier, Sysco.” “Our vendors, mostly small businesses like ourselves, have worked with us ensuring we would receive the product that was needed, and extending our credit limits,” she said. “Although, we were uncertain of how the next few days, weeks, months were going to play out and how the food chain was going to be affected.”Īker-Ayala says she could not have kept in business during these challenging times if it wasn’t for the help of other small businesses and the community. “After many nights of barely any sleep, playing out scenarios, as a team we decided to put our horns up and charge through,” Aker-Ayala remembers. That Friday, she remembers placing her biggest orders to date. “Things got real when the Steampunk Masquerade Ball at the Fitchburg Art Museum got canceled days before the March 8 event, followed by the state shutdown on March 18.” “We began seeing cancellations of corporate events in late April due to the international travel restrictions,” she said. Then the COVID-19 pandemic to hit the area. She is the calm to my storm.”Īker-Ayala says her business started the year incredibly strong, coming off of an amazing December of holiday events, “The momentum in January and February was very strong, usually a time when things quiet down, we had a jam-packed calendar of events,” she shares. She is a very admirable person both in and out of the kitchen. We have worked side by for weeks on end, with no days off, muscling through and can still laugh and love what we do. “We have both been in the industry for decades, but our diverse experiences have really been the recipe for a perfect team. “Cindy is the magic behind the scenes,” Aker-Ayala said.
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