Courtesy of Krupana
In the last decade, pop-ups have become a proving ground for emerging chefs. Don’t have the funds for a restaurant? Need proof of concept? Working on your side hustle? Launch a pop-up. With so many pop-ups of different genres in differing parts of the city, it can be hard to keep track of them all. Enter Punk Foodie, a foodie content platform and events agency that builds community for both industry insiders and those who love to eat. But Punk Foodie founder Sam Flemming wanted to do more to help his audience. His network connected him to Jamestown, developer of Ponce City Market, where a food stall had recently become available.
Come October, Punk Foodie is taking over the former Nani’s Piri Piri Chicken space near Umbrella Bar. Named Punk Foodie @ Ponce, it will offer one-to-two-month chef residences and weekend brunch pop-ups, allowing pop-up and food truck chefs to practice running their own brick-and-mortar restaurant. “This is an accelerator not an incubator,” Flemming says. “It’s for adolescent concepts on the edge of being able to open their own.”
Punk Foodie maintains a database of 1,000 chefs—half have built-out profiles in the app. Flemming will check activity level and use his knowledge of the industry to select rotating chefs for the food stall. “I want to make it representative of the diverse pop-up scene,” he says.
Courtesy of Mighty Hans
Courtesy of Jimmie’s Jerk Chicken
The Punk Foodie stall will have a neon sign, murals, and “punk industrial vibes.” Punk Foodie will provide all the equipment, as well as handle maintenance, beverages, and marketing of the stall. In turn, residing chefs will share a portion of their proceeds with Punk Foodie.
Jess Kim and Jun Park of Ganji will be the first residing chefs. They’ll serve Ganji’s American fare…
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