A Flipped Model and Much Needed Break

Christina and I have no business experience whatsoever. None. And, it worked to our advantage.  

Prior to the Modern Stone Age Kitchen, neither Christina nor I ever owned a business. We never even took a business class in college! If we had, the Modern Stone Age Kitchen probably wouldn’t exist. On the surface, the way we run this business doesn’t make sense. It is the complete opposite model from a traditional restaurant. Instead of spending a massive amount of money on food and ingredients that have been processed, prepared, and in some cases even cooked somewhere else, we put the majority of our money into people.  

we do it all

To truly achieve the goals of our mission and stay on message we need to control every single part of the production process. This is exactly why we make everything 100% from scratch. For example, we make our cheese, butcher our meats, make all of our breads and pastries using a traditional sourdough approach, soak our grains, nuts, seeds and legumes, and nixtamalize and stone grind our maize. This approach offers a ton of advantages:

1. We can incorporate our archaeological and anthropological research into our cooking and transfer the health benefits to our customers through truly nourishing food.
2. We can ensure that we are using the absolute best, time tested approaches to food to make everything we create as safe, nutrient dense and bioavailable as possible.
3. We support small farmers and producers by purchasing the most basic of ingredients directly from them.
4. By using hyperlocal wild bacteria and yeast to transform our food into its safest and most nourishing form we also celebrate the local terroir through unique flavor and aroma nuances.

flipped model

As you can imagine, all of this translates into massive labor needs!

Somebody needs to turn all of the milk we take in from Nice Family Farms each week into fresh mozzarella, pizza cheese, sandwich cheese, cream cheese, and yogurt.

Someone needs to turn the Langenfelder pork we bring in each week into ham, bacon, a variety of sausages, liverwurst, scrapple, pork rinds and lard. Someone needs to transform our flour into sourdough bread, croissants, cookies, pasta and crackers.

Someone needs to turn gallons worth of avocado oil into the mayonnaise we use in everything from chicken salad to coleslaw to dressings.

And, all of this needs to happen before we even begin to assemble a sandwich or cook a pizza!

It takes people who understand the traditional processes and care enough to implement them properly, day after day, to make the food that fits our approach. And, we have created an absolutely incredible team to make that happen! In three short years we have grown from literally a small family business with no employees outside of our immediate family to a team of over 25 people! 

Other duties as assigned.

Despite a large and growing team, everyone on our MSAK team wears a lot of hats. From the general manager who also makes cheese, to the butcher who also helps our dishwasher finish for the day to get out on time, to the dishwasher who is learning to mix and shape bread – there are so many moving parts and always something to be done.

On top of all of these responsibilities, at our core we consider ourselves a teaching kitchen. From interns to apprentices to customers who want to learn more about their food, every team member has strict instructions to be fully transparent and share everything about our approach to food with anyone who wants to know.

Our team is absolutely incredible!

We closed early last Monday to celebrate our team and provide them with a much needed break. After gathering for a quick meeting we took the whole team on the Packet for an evening cruise on the Chester River. Occasions Catering kept us well fed and despite the heat of the past few weeks, the weather that evening was absolutely perfect! We are back to the daily routine, but better off for the opportunity to slow down, gather together, and enjoy the evening together. 

Next time you are in please take a moment to watch them work their magic. It is their hard work and dedication that transforms raw ingredients into the delicious, beautiful and nourishing food that you all enjoy!