74 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • APRIL 2019
CALVERTON INCUBATOR
COOKING UP CREATIVITY
and quiche to creative
ideas like garlic jam and a snail farm
that delivers fresh escargot.
“A lot of people that come in don’t
understand all it entails ... to
bring a product to market,” says
Yvonne Schultz, a food-industry
veteran who’s the incubator’s new
building manager. “I just enjoy
helping companies getting to the
next level.”
The incubator has four certified
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After brewing up a refreshing,
one-of-a-kind spicy organic iced tea
company, entrepreneurs Michael
Circosta and Michael Romano turned
to Stony Brook University’s Business
Incubator at Calverton for help percolating
From humble beginnings working the
Long Island farmers market circuit in
2017, PeKANT Tea Company — a play on
picante, Spanish for spicy — is finalizing
a distribution deal that will increase
their reach 10-fold this year, making
the company one of the latest success
stories to come out of the incubator.
“The incubator is really helping
us operate in this scale that we’re
in,” says Circosta, noting that the
lessened start-up costs are priceless.
“It allows us to grow and to really
experiment.”
PeKANT is one of 38 companies
in various stages of
growth at the Calverton incubator,
one of a handful of
industrial-grade kitchens
on LI dedicated to nurturing
culinary innovators,
such as the Amagansett
Food Institute in Southampton.
Since its founding
in 2005, the incubator has
grown from 8,400 to 11,000
square feet.
Fresh dishes cooked up in
Calverton range from new
takes on traditional favorites
such as baked clams
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MAIN DISH
By TIMOTHY BOLGER
into the market.
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kitchens and gives start-ups the
tools needed to run a business, from
getting licensed and insured, to
teaching packaging and labeling. It
also has storage space for inventory
and dedicated rooms for companies
in the final phase before graduating.
Its leaders are now developing
incentives for companies to mature
and leave the incubator.
‘“Here’s a kitchen, come use it,’
is how it started,” says Matthew
Stadler, director of incubation at
SBU. “Now, it’s, ‘how can we deliver
what these companies need at these
different stages of growth so they
can be sustainable companies out
on their own?’
For habanero-infused beverage
originators PeKANT, concocting the
most unique drink since the region
first mixed the Long Island Iced Tea
certainly helps.
Michael Circosta and Michael Romano of
PeKANT Tea Co. launched their company at a
Calverton business incubator.
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