HVADC Client Update: Vital Eats

When Reuben Schwartz and his cousin Jude Goldman launched their Vital Eats brand of condiments at a local farmers ’market in 2013, the business looked like many early-stage food ventures: small-batch production, direct customer feedback, and long days behind a table. Demand for their plant-based sauces grew quickly. Farmers’markets led to retail opportunities, and soon, sales exceeded what the cousins could produce on their own.

To keep up, they turned to a co-packer.

“I remember joking with [the co-packer] not to outgrow us too quickly, and they did,” Schwartz said. “They were new, growing fast, and built to serve larger clients, which left smaller brands like ours without many local options.”

The experience sparked an idea that would quietly reshape the business. “That experience really stuck with me,” Schwartz recalled. “I could see a clear gap in the regional food system for small-batch, flexible production.”

HVADC Support at a Critical Moment

As Schwartz began thinking seriously about how to fill that gap, Vital Eats connected with HVADC’s Farm and Food Funding Accelerator program in 2019, just as the COVID-19 pandemic began to upend the food system.

“Having HVADC’s guidance and support, and a steady presence during that period, helped us navigate uncertainty and make informed decisions at a time when everything was changing,” Schwartz said. “Honestly, I don’t think we would have survived that period without their involvement and the relationships they helped us build.”

“Vital Eats shows what’s possible when an entrepreneur has the right support at the right time,” said HVADC Deputy Director Mary Ann Johnson. “Reuben was willing to adapt, learn, and lean into what the business and the regional food system actually needed. Watching that evolution has been incredibly rewarding.”

Around the same time Vital Eats entered the Accelerator, Goldman remarried and moved away, leaving Schwartz to lead the business. He focused on what he knew best: hands-on problem solving. Schwartz grew up in a family of auto mechanics, worked on farms before he was old enough to have a formal job, and learned to cook early.

“I’ve been cooking almost as long as I’ve been eating,” he said. “My mom wouldn’t let me use the stove when she wasn’t home, so I’d put a frying pan on the wood stove and cook whatever I wanted. It didn’t stop me from starting a few fires, but it made me comfortable figuring things out hands-on.”

With that mindset, and a bold new look, Schwartz pivoted Vital Eats toward production — not just co-packing, but actively helping other brands develop, produce, and scale their products.

HVADC continued to support that evolution through one-on-one Business Technical Assistance and later through access to capital. Beyond technical guidance and financing, Schwartz credits HVADC with opening doors to industry relationships that proved essential.

“The networking and connections were just as impactful,” he said. “They introduced us to people who became key players in our growth and long-term success.”

Scaling with Intention

That preparation positioned Vital Eats to capitalize on new opportunities. Most recently, Schwartz received a Business Builder grant through the NASDA Foundation, administered in New York by HVADC affiliate organization the Farm and Food Growth Fund. This investment is allowing Vital Eats to move from a patchwork of used, mechanized equipment to what Schwartz describes as the region’s premier bottling and packing facility. To help Vital Eats make the down payment for the equipment they will be purchasing under the grant’s project, the HVADC Agribusiness Loan Fund is assisting by providing a bridge loan.

“Receiving the Business Builder grant allowed us to move from a setup I had pieced together into building something intentional,” he said. “That transition has been incredibly hard work, but it’s also been energizing.”

Producing for the Region and Beyond

Today, based in Albany’s South End, Vital Eats operates as a co-packaging and production partner for approximately 44 brands — 24 local and 20 from elsewhere — producing everything from hot sauces to pasta sauces to dry spice blends. Working alongside production manager Karen Bauer and occasional part-time help, including his college-age son Elan, Schwartz has built a reputation for quality and reliability.

Clients include Hot Crispy Oil, which is sold in 5,000 stores from Alaska to Australia; Dominick’s brand sauces from the Slingerlands restaurant; Simply Garlic products from Washington County; and Chef Ric Orlando, who produces his entire 10-item Best line through Vital Eats.

“What motivates us most is the trust other businesses place in us to make their products and the role we play in helping them grow,” Schwartz said. “Being part of that process, and part of the local food community more broadly, is something I’m deeply grateful for.”

From a farmers ’market table to shared regional food infrastructure, Vital Eats ’evolution reflects both entrepreneurial grit and the impact of sustained, mission-driven support, an approach HVADC has championed for decades.

From small family farms to large horticultural enterprises HVADC supports scaling producers such as Vital Eats through Business Technical assistance, loans, grants and marketing opportunities. Learn more at https://www.hvadc.org/agribusiness-growth.