What to Know
- The New Originals Pop-up Contest at the Original Farmers Market
- A number of food-centered small businesses are trying for a limited-time rent-free spot at the Third & Fairfax destination; online voting is open through May 26
- Check out the finalists at a special Showcase Day on May 20
Helming a storied stall at the Original Farmers Market, one of Southern California's homespun-iest hangouts, is a huge feat for any food-centered small business.
You get to know a bevy of people over the course of any one day — locals and tourists alike — and the goodies you make often become beyond beloved, with several having entered the palate-pleasing pantheon of Incredible Los Angeles Eats.
Before you begin swooning over the toffee at Littlejohn's Candies or Bob's Donuts — all of the pastries are swoon-worthy, of course, though the fritters are peak swoon-a-tude — consider how incredibly cool it might be to take over a stall at the landmark for several reputation-building months.
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And finding the most incredible and coolest of these food-focused finalists is now the enviable task of anyone who adores the public market, a famous Third & Fairfax fixture for nearly 90 years.
For the Original Farmers Market put the call out and summoned a bevy of local eateries, grocers, and makers of specialty food products earlier in 2023, all to play a part in the New Originals Pop-up Contest.
The "brand-new incubator program" will give a small Southern California business a place in the bustling market for three months, no rent required. Further (and as fabulous)? The winner will receive $7,500, funds that will help fuel their all-important engagement at the market.
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Talk about a totally tempting, gotta-go-for-it dream-maker of an opportunity.
Over 40 entrepreneurs applied; now eight finalists are live on the market's site. Voting is open on the Original Farmers Market social media pages through May 26.
Don't yet know some of these appetizing enterprises? A Showcase Day is up on May 20, so be sure to swing by the clocktower-rocking destination and check them out.
The finalists include Caribbean Soul Kitchen LA, Daniel's Bagels, Food Mongers, Infinite Abundance Foods, Kushikatsu Koo, Moonlight Bread, My Daddy's Recipes, and Thicc Burgers.
Eager to take a peek before the showcase spectacular? Find out more on the Original Farmers Market site.
Whatever business ultimately enjoys the incubator program's biggest spotlight, we can be confident that new fans will soon queue up in the same way that regulars have fallen for the toffee, doughnuts, gyros, corned beef plates, and pizza, and all of the other timeless tasties that have become synonymous with the charming, awning-lined gem.
