Maria and John Biagini never thought they would move away from Brooklyn—but if they did, there was one place they had in mind. “We always said to ourselves, ‘If we ever leave Brooklyn, we would love for Saratoga to be a place we call home,’” Maria says.
The couple, who took advantage of Maria’s summers off as a teacher to venture upstate, fell in love with Saratoga a little more each time they visited. “Saratoga is such a beautiful town,” Maria says, “and the people are so friendly.”
After 20 years (Maria) and 40 years (John) of summering in ‘Toga, and with Maria now retired, the Biaginis pulled the trigger about a year ago and moved up to the historic racing town. All was well, except for one small detail. “When we moved here, it was a huge difference from Brooklyn, and we expected that,” says Maria. “But when it came to finding food from downstate, it was impossible.”
For a while, the couple would take frequent trips downstate to stock up on the foods they were used to and couldn’t get in the Spa City. But then John’s wheels started turning. He’s worked in the food industry for decades (in retail stores, gourmet markets, pork stores, you name it), and began to wonder if there was a way that they could be the ones to bridge the gap between the food that they wanted and the food that was currently available in Saratoga…