Startups Look To Family For Food Inspiration

by Laura Glesby

Margo Jones pitches Assiah Tea and Wellness.

Memories of two grandmothers made their way to CitySeed’s James Street headquarters on Monday night, in the form of dried rose hips and Albanian Sheqerpare cookies.

The grandmothers were honored by two different up-and-coming local entrepreneurs at a celebratory showcase by the Food Business Incubator program, a joint effort by the nonprofits CitySeed and reSET to support the growth of early-stage food enterprises.

Over 50 people came to hear grant and investment pitches from 15 burgeoning food businesses located across Connecticut, specializing in everything from sourdough to cold-pressed juice to Caribbean cuisine.

Each of the entrepreneurs had received 12 weekly sessions of business training, focused on skills ranging from appropriate pricing to food safety licensing to scaling up operations.

CitySeed Director of Food Businesses Sasha Fay said that one goal of the program is to help local entrepreneurs find opportunities to connect their products to customers, anywhere from “Big Y” to “Atticus”.

The Incubator program grew out of a years-long collaboration between CitySeed and the local entrepreneurial training organization Collab. This year marked the first iteration of the program since the Hartford-based reSET absorbed Collab in 2025.

“We are here to support Connecticut’s culinary industry!” said Katrice Claudio, reSET’s food program manager and the evening’s emcee.

Florina Gosturani pitches Ina Sweet Bakery and Coffee.

Florina Gosturani’s grandmother is present in the very name of her home-based Albanian bakery: Ina Sweet Bakery and Coffee, after the nickname given to Gosturani by her grandmother.

Gosturani’s grandmother, Hatixhe, “taught me how to cook,” she said, tearing up at the memory. “She did everything with love.” She taught her to “pay attention to the quality of every ingredient.”

Like many other businesses in the incubator program, the idea for Ina Sweet came from the Covid-19 pandemic. For Gosturani in particular, the idea came from longing. Unable to travel due to Covid, she found herself missing the Albanian desserts that she grew up with. And she realized that other Albanian community members shared the same desire for a local bakery rooted in their cuisine.

So for two years, Gosturani used social media to sell desserts baked in her kitchen — from crunchy baklava to sweet Trileçe cakes to syrupy Sheqerpare cookies. Business grew so quickly that she couldn’t keep up. She said that her customers, from both within and outside the Albanian community, purchased enough to generate a $6,000 monthly profit. She entered the Food Business Incubator program to help her determine how to scale up to a brick-and-mortar bakery and coffee shop. On Monday, she pitched a $50,000 investment ask to make the dream a reality.

“The impact is bigger than profits,” she told the room. Her business is a way to “preserve culture” and “create jobs.”

Hibiscus and Rose Hip “Balance” Honors Lillie

Margo Jones.

Margo Jones’ first exposure to tea was from her grandmother, Lillie Stephens. When Jones was a child growing up in Ohio, Stephens would make her cold hibiscus tea (technically an herbal “tisane”) in the summer. She’d brew rose hips when her grandkids were sick and chamomile when they needed to calm down before bed.

Many years later, Jones, who works at the state’s Department of Revenue Services, found herself exhausted and burned out from work. She took a trip to Thailand in 2023, in search of restoration — and gained insight into the global roots of the tradition she shared with her grandmother.

Since then, while continuing to work at the office by day, Jones has poured her spare energy into her tea business: Assiah Tea and Wellness, based out of Hamden.

Through Assiah, Jones sells original herbal blends along with individual herbs and teas. She offers a “Revive” blend geared toward burnout, containing ashwaganda, and a “Harmony” blend with red clover and dong quai focused on menopause and PCOS.

One of her blends, “Balance,” puts her own twist on the same herbs her grandmother would brew: bringing together elderberry, echinacea, hibiscus, rose hips, and lemon balm.

Her grandmother taught her that “Tea is not just a drink,” said Jones. A cup of tea can contain family memories and health remedies. It’s the product of intercultural traditions and intensive labor.

According to Jones, her herbal ingredients are all sourced from local Connecticut farms when possible. The herbs that are grown out of state come from farmer’s collectives, she said. And she sources her black, green, and oolong teas directly from “fourth generation tea farmers in Nepal.”

Jones’ original tea blends.

“Plucking tea is hard work,” said Jones, who finds value in “understanding where your herbs come from.” She noted that a majority of tea pluckers are women. “We have to appreciate them,” she said.

This year, Jones has begun selling at CitySeed’s Edgewood Park Farmers Market. She envisions one day offering wellness and tea etiquette classes.

“Being an entrepreneur is like jumping in the middle of the ocean and learning how to swim,” she said. With help from the Food Business Incubator program, she said she found “a community really willing to support me” in growing her business.

A Food Truck Love Story

Lauren Barnes and Javier Diaz Mosquea of Pika Food Truck, the Audience Choice winner.

Other participants included early-stage businesses still obtaining their licenses and permits, home-based businesses eyeing commercial expansions, and at least one food truck envisioning a brick-and-mortar operation down the road.

That food truck, Pika, belongs to Lauren Barnes and Javier Diaz Mosquea, who specialize in a mix of Dominican, Spanish, and American cuisines. At Monday’s event, they offered samples of roasted chicken with sweet yuca and pickled onions.

Barnes and Diaz Mosquea are not only business partners but life partners. They met while working at a golf course together. When their jobs paused during the Covid-19 pandemic, the pair decided to pivot and start their own food truck. Diaz Mosquea is the chef, while Barnes handles the customers.

“We only have one life,” said Barnes. “We opened the truck so we could spend as much time as possible together.”

Now, Barnes and Diaz Mosquea have five kids together. The food truck, Pika, has been operating for about six years.

Diaz Mosquea said he hopes that the business will one day inhabit a storefront. He wants a consistent spot where customers will know they can find him and Barnes.

Pika Food Truck received the “Audience Choice” award on Monday night. Meanwhile, a panel of three judges selected two pitch winners of the evening: Soledad Kristan’s bakery Downright Breads and Mariah Boria’s sourdough business Mariah Bakes.

The Hispanic Federation, the state Department of Community and Economic Development, and the federal Local Food Promotion Program funded grants of up to $1,000 for all participating businesses as well as an additional $1,000 for Monday night’s winners.