Local private chef, Joy Haskins (pictured), better known as Chef Joy, is on a mission to bring a marketplace and community garden to Tampa. On June 28, the chef created a GoFundMe page looking to raise $10,000 to launch Thyme + Bloom Market.
“My mission as a chef and a Black woman is to help heal and support my people by strengthening the relationship between food and community. It is critical for us to be knowledgeable of and provide ourselves with nutritional options, form healthy habits and maintain sustainable lifestyles,” the fundraising page reads.
Chef Joy is the founder of EatsandSuch, a multi-specialty food service company offering food preparation services from onsite private meal preparation to charcuterie displays and hands-on cooking lessons, and nutritional services for expecting and postpartum families. You can also snag homemade spice blends, sauces, syrups and butters.
Chef Joy is still hunting for the parcel that’ll be home for her first brick-and-mortar, but when it opens she hopes to bring healthy and affordable food to Tampa with a fresh food eatery and a community garden.
“My vision is a nourishing, easily sustainable version of the corner stores I grew up frequenting in Baltimore City, MD,” the GoFundMe says. “I want the eatery to be community based with a focus on accessibility, viability and elevating our diets by offering prepared meals, market items on an affordable budget and teaching sustainable lifestyle habits.”
That means a rotating menu based on seasonal produce, well-sourced proteins and ingredients. Community members and visitors alike will be able to purchase farmers market fresh produce, and other pantry staples including organic meats, grains and EatsandSuch Marketplace’s signature line items.
According to the GoFundMe, the community garden will be open to the community for locals to learn gardening skills in order to start herb and produce plots at home.
Speaking of linking up with the community, Thyme + Bloom is set to offer shelf space for local and non-local small businesses to sell and host monthly pop-ups with a focus on Black and women-owned shops. Chef Joy also plans on offering group nutrition and cooking classes at little to no cost.
To spread her knowledge and passion for being a self-described culinary doula, Chef Joy is expanding her pregnancy and postpartum nutrition program to offer education and hands-on paid work experience to low income expecting and new parents.
“My goal is not just to advise, but show how we can make changes to heal the years of damage done to our bodies, households and families by living unhealthy lifestyles. The causes (miseducation, Western diets and food deserts) have ravaged our communities, rooted in systematic racism, poverty and inaccessibility,” Chef Joy wrote in the campaign description.
In just 29 days after launching the fundraising campaign, the chef reached her goal from nearly 200 donors. The donations as of July 31, sits at $10,440 with a new goal of $15,000.
On July 27 the chef posted to the GoFundMe page, “People have asked me to keep the gofundme open so they can continue to contribute and boost. I wasn’t sure before we met the goal but now I’ve raised it to $15k. Thank you for all of the support, whether word of mouth or monetary. I can’t wait to show you what I’m working on.”
To help Haskins reach her new goal of $15k, and make her dream of opening Thyme + Bloom Market become a reality, you can donate to the GoFundMe page or shop on the private chef’s online marketplace EatsandSuch.com.
Chef Joy is currently working with a broker to secure a location, but nothing is set in stone just yet.
More details to come as fundraising continues and a projected opening date is announced.
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This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 6, 2020.
