Kari Morris, 31, wears a hairnet and clogs while at work making small batches of syrup in her 500 square foot commercial space in Williamsburg.
But lately, with help from the city, the owner of food startup Morris Kitchen, has reasons to think big.
Morris Kitchen was one of four local food companies to win a contest last summer to attend the Summer Fancy Food Show in Washington D.C., a mecca for food buyers from around the world.
Since then, Morris has added 15 new store accounts and two distributors, expanding Morris Kitchen’s reach to Japan, Australia and the U.K. Upscale British retailer Harvey Nichols just featured Morris Kitchen’s signature Ginger Syrup on its web site.
Company sales, which hit $140,000 in 2012, are expected to double this year.
The show “kicked us into second gear,” Morris said.
The contest is just one program the city is pushing in an effort to boost local food companies, one of the bright spots in an otherwise declining manufacturing sector.
At a recent New York City Food Manufacturers Business Expo attended by 200 local food companies, the New York City Economic Development Corp. (NYCEDC) and Goldman Sachs announced a $10 million food manufacturers fund.
Loans ranging from $50,000 to $750,000 will be doled out to local food companies who are unable to tap traditional modes of financing.
Another Fancy Food Contest is also underway. Winners will get free marketing and technical assistance to help snare new accounts.
Two city-funded incubators provide low-cost commercial kitchen space and mentoring: The Entrepreneur Space in Long Island City and Hot Bread Kitchen at La Marqueta in Harlem. In the last two years, they’ve spawned 17 graduates, including Moroccan cookie company Black + Blanco and Bobby Tomatoes, a maker of sundried tomato spreads.
“Most people say manufacturing is dying,” said Miquela Craytor, director of the Industrial Initiatives for the Center for Economic Transformation Team at NYCEDC. “That is not correct when it comes to food manufacturing.”
New York’s food businesses, many of which are clustered in North Brooklyn, Long Island City and Upper Manhattan, churned out $2.9 billion in sales in 2011.
Fueled by a growing appetite for locally produced eats, over the last six years, the number of city food companies has grown from 872 to 1,024, employing 14,000 workers.
Morris, an art school grad, is excited about where Morris Kitchen is headed.
“We’re already expanding our product line and building a team,” she said. “The next step is getting distribution on the West Coast and growing the markets we are in.”
pfurman@nydailynews.com
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