Catherine Schimenti has learned a few things after five years as the owner of Baked by the Ocean, a pastry shop in Long Beach.
“No one tells you this in school, but equipment breaks down,” said Schimenti, who started cooking and baking with her parents when she was 3. Those things, like ovens, for example, must be replaced, and that costs.
Cory Mahony also learned a thing in two in the decade he had been tending bar. “I needed to do something else than serve drinks,” he said. Mahony is the owner of Urban Fields Agriculture in Patchogue and he wants to expand his company, which grows leafy greens and microgreens.
Schimenti and Mahony are among 50 Long Island business owners who are to each receive $5,000 in L.O.C.A.L. grants from Optimum Business and the LIA Foundation, the charitable arm of the Long Island Association, the region’s largest business and civic organization. In all, the LIA Foundation and Optimum Business are granting $250,000 to the small businesses.
“Empowering small businesses with grant support is more than just financial assistance,” Matt Cohen, president and CEO of the Long Island Association, said in a statement. “It is an investment in the backbone of our economy. We aim to foster their potential, fuel their dreams, and ultimately, drive lasting, positive change within the Long Island business community.”
Baked by the Ocean has become a must-stop for surfers and beachgoers in what’s known as the City by the Sea. Schimenti opened for business six years ago, after working on a team that opened Thomas Keller’s Per Se, which won four stars from The New York Times. She was also chief pastry chef at Craftsteak New York and later moved to California to take the same position at Craft Los Angeles.
But she learned that replacing equipment takes bread, or money. Now, Schimenti said, she will be able to use the grant money to buy ovens and other items.
“I’m investing the money back into the business,” she told the Press.
Mahony, too, is looking to expand. “I’m quadrupling in size,” he told the Press. He opened his business in 2019, after deciding he needed to switch careers from the hospitality industry.
“The market was there,” he said of growing greens.
The winners, who were hosted in June at the Optimum offices in Bethpage, included bookstores, pizza shops, cafes, restaurants, dance studios, printshops, social and mental health organizations, sporting goods stores, a distillery, and a wine shop.
Sir Shave Barber Parlor in Wyandanch got $5,000 to add more chairs and help pay for interns who may want to become barbers, Keith Banks, the owner, told the Press.
Banks, a banker by trade, was urged by officials of Wyandanch Rising, a program aimed at upgrading the area’s downtown, to open the shop. He was approached seven years ago, and has never looked back after opening in the new Wyandanch Village Plaza. His place describes itself as “made for a man,” with overstuffed black leather barber chairs and a giant 4K TV screen tuned to ESPN or CNBC.
The Bernzweig family owns A&S Sports in Westbury, and it received an award to modernize its brick-and-mortar storefront, the family told the Press. It will be purchasing new glass showcases, and plans on commissioning a new outdoor LED sign, which it hopes will encourage more foot traffic. Additionally, the family said, the money will be used to promote partnerships with local Little League team and fire departments.
Lighthouse Mental Health Counseling Service in Valley Stream will use its money to expand its after-school program, owner Lynda Simon-Taylor told the Press. The program runs in the fall and spring and is for children 9 to 14 years old who come for an hour of help with homework and an hour of counseling for six weeks.
The service would also like to use some of the funding to pay its interns, Simon-Taylor said.
The grants are made possible in partnership with the Long Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce.
