3 | GOSHEN GOES ORGANIC MAY 16, 2016 | VOL. 52, No. 20
19 | WOMEN’S RE-ENTRY
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PERSONAL CHEF TO BRING ‘GOOD CHOICE’ TO OSSINING BY ALEESIA FORNI
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aforni@westfairinc.com
aurie Gershgorn is opening a brickand-mortar expansion of her current personal chef offerings in downtown Ossining. The organic farm-to-table eatery, Good Choice Kitchen, is slated to open at 147 Main St. in mid-August. The restaurant will sit below four stories of apartments in a newly constructed building and will offer patrons eat-in prepared foods, juices and grab-and-go options, along with weekly customized meal plans. Ingredients will be sourced from the more than 20 local farms and food purveyors that Cortlandt resident Gershgorn has built relationships with through her personal chef business. While the Ossining location may be new for Gershgorn, she has a long history of cooking experience. “I was a latchkey kid growing up
BY BILL HELTZEL
in Brooklyn,” she said. “I was at the stove, at the oven, and my mother would tell me what to do over the phone, and I would make dinners.” Still, her decision to cook professionally did not come until later in life. Gershgorn worked as director of technical operations for MTV for more than a decade before deciding to take the offramp to care for her children, though she likens her work in television production to her current career. “Prep, scheduling, pre-planning, production and showtime,” she said. “It’s the same.” During her time as a stay-at-home mother, Gershgorn became involved with local agriculture, nutrition and the quality of school food, which led her attend culinary school and embark on a new career path. “I thought, I’m an at-home mom, so let me just create my own business,” she recalled. » CHEF, page 6
Laurie Gershgorn prepares a meal at a client’s home in Tarrytown. Photo by Aleesia Forni.
New York small-business owners see the glass as half-empty
bheltzel@westfairinc.com
SMALL BUSINESSES IN NEW YORK state say they are less likely to grow in the coming months compared to their counterparts in the rest of the country. They are less likely to hire. They are more concerned about cash flow. And they have a more negative view of the economy,
according to a survey by American Express OPEN payment card company. What looks like pessimism might actually be realism, especially from respondents in the rough-and-tumble New York City region. “New Yorkers always feel they are having a harder time,” said Alice Bredin, a small business marketing consultant who ana-
lyzed the numbers for American Express. Running a small business in the city “makes you a realist real quickly.” That’s because prices are higher, salaries are steeper and competition is more fierce. Small businesses in the metropolitan area must focus relentlessly on costs. “When I talk to New York City businesses, they are very realistic about what they’re
going to do and what they are not going to do and what’s too expensive,” she said. The flip side is that the metropolitan area has many potential customers. Businesses have easy access to travel and supplies. There is an “amazing talent pool and so much energy,” said Bredin, who once ran her company in the city and now » SURVEY, page 6
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