Earlier this year, I spent some time in the kitchen with Anna Gordon of The Good Batch, who was gearing up for her first appearance at the Brooklyn Flea. Now that the outdoor season has ended and she’s put six months under her apron, I wanted to catch up and find out and what’s next!
Anna invited me into her sparkly new commercial kitchen on the waterfront in Carroll Gardens to answer a few of my questions and sample some of her newest treats. Obviously, I couldn’t pass that up!
Check out below for her thoughts about the Flea and her future plans — and the Cliffs Notes? The Flea truly is an awesome incubator for new Brooklyn businesses.
For the Love of Brooklyn: First of all, congrats to you for surviving an outdoor season at the Brooklyn Flea! What’s it like, being a part of the vendor community there? How has this vibrant market, with its reputation as an artisan incubator, impacted The Good Batch, and you personally?
Anna Gordon, The Good Batch: Being a vendor at the Flea this year has been an incredibly rewarding and unique experience. The crowd is always excited about food and eager to try out and support new food vendors. And they love sharing their stories, particularly about their first stroopwafel experience. It was fun meeting new people every week, and growing a handful of regular customers was pretty awesome. A lot of business opportunities also came from being a vendor — it seems that shops from all around come to the Flea to get ideas and recruit vendors, and we were fortunate to gain some good business from that. We are now selling our products at almost twenty retail stores, many of which originated from conversations at our booth, including the Bedford Cheese Shop, The Greene Grape Provisions, and the new W Hotel downtown.
I think my favorite part of the season was making friends with other vendors. It’s amazing how encouraging it is to be surrounded by peers who are in the same boat as you. Running a company from the ground up is incredibly challenging, so it’s comforting to be a part of a community of people who are doing the same thing. We all share stories and advice about the never-ending list of things that need to get done!
FTLOB: You’ve mentioned before that the Flea has provided a good opportunity to experiment with your craft. How has that worked out? What about challenges? What’s been the toughest part of getting The Good Batch up and running?
AG: I have never been short on taste-testers, but taking my goods to a public audience has really been eye-opening. From day one at the Flea I have received instant feedback from our customers, which has helped me craft new ideas for products and the brand. Every week or so I featured a new cookie, which was generally inspired by what I picked up at the farmer’s market. The ice cream sandwiches this summer were a huge hit – we would sell out within two hours of wheeling in the cooler. The Bonfire also became really popular, and gained a bit of a following. I love that cookie! And perhaps most exciting has been the stroopwafel itself. Over the past couple months I came up with a couple techniques and minor adjustments in the recipe that have resulted in a much thinner and chewier cookie from where it began.
A challenge has definitely been keeping up with production. We went from selling a couple hundred stroopwafels a week in April to selling thousands. I purchased an industrial stroopwafel press from Amsterdam, and I have a second one on the way. I’ve also brought on three fantastic assistants. Very exciting, but a ton of work!
FTLOB: So what’s next for you? What plans do you have for the upcoming winter?
AG: We will be starting at the indoor Flea this Saturday, December 11th, which I think will be a fun change of pace and scenery. I am also really excited about our holiday gift boxes, which are available to buy from our website. (ed. note: There’s even a gift box called The Brooklyn. Awesome!) I put a lot of thought into the treats and packaging, and I am really happy with them!
Overall I am just so happy to be running my own company, and I look forward to seeing where it goes next. I love that I use every part of my brain to keep the business going – it’s such an exciting challenge. I couldn’t imagine doing anything else!
Many congrats to Anna and all the other Flea vendors for a smashing outdoor season, and warm wishes for their continued success through this holiday season!
