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A podcast that spotlights the women reshaping the hospitality industry, breaking barriers, and carving their paths in the ever-evolving world of restaurants, food, and community.
Sara (00:36)
Today I am talking to Nikki Toscani and Francesca Galarus These are two fabulous ladies that have businesses in the thriving and vibrant neighborhood of Fishtown in Philadelphia.
There is definitely a field trip for me in the works because I've just met so many incredible women from Philadelphia, and now I feel like I need to do a her seat at the table goes on the road segment. Nikki's business is Fishtown Pickle Project, and Francesca's is Mural City Cellars. What's so cool about them is they both do an a remarkable amount of local sourcing.
And they've also built these really incredible community initiatives directly into their business model. We get into all of that and we have a really dynamite conversation about the woven tapestry that it is to be a new mom, a new business owner, a business owner in food and beverage. They both have incredible stories, and I'm so glad they found each other because they are business besties in Philly.
I just can't shout loudly enough how crucial it is to find a business bestie if you are in any entrepreneurial venture. It just is so vital to have somebody that you can vent to who can cheer you on and who really can just understand on a cellular level what it is that you're going through. So please enjoy my conversation with Nikki Toscani and Francesca Galarus
Sara Abernethy (02:11)
Well, welcome to her seat at the table, ladies. It's so great to see your lovely faces.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (02:17)
It really is, we haven't seen you since
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (02:17)
So happy to be here.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (02:19)
January.
Sara Abernethy (02:20)
Since January and now it's April at the time of recording this. How are you?
Francesca Galarus. MCC (02:24)
Mm-hmm.
Sara Abernethy (02:25)
How are you? Is it spring there?
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (02:28)
It is, it's warm. Yes,
Francesca Galarus. MCC (02:28)
April Showers.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (02:30)
April showers. There's a little bit of whiplash, but you know, some days we get a nice 80 degrees, 70 degrees. Who knows?
Sara Abernethy (02:39)
We have had crazy whiplash here.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (02:42)
Yeah.
Sara Abernethy (02:42)
the difference in between one day and the next can be 50 degrees.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (02:49)
Yeah, wow.
Sara Abernethy (02:50)
Like it went one week from 85 to 45 and it's wreaking havoc on everybody's allergies, you know?
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (03:00)
Yeah,
yeah, well the children I know I got a talking to from our son yesterday because he was cold. He was cold yesterday.
Sara Abernethy (03:05)
did you?
Francesca Galarus. MCC (03:09)
We're a Zyrtec family
Sara Abernethy (03:09)
And that was on you.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (03:10)
and my four year old calls it Dessert Tech and we give it to her every day.
Sara Abernethy (03:14)
Is it the chewable? Little chewable?
Francesca Galarus. MCC (03:16)
No, we taught her how to swallow pills, but it's really, really small.
Sara Abernethy (03:20)
Hey, that's gonna come in handy for that kid. How'd you do that?
Francesca Galarus. MCC (03:25)
Nick, my partner is an excellent teacher. We had our mini golfing yesterday. He teaches her all kinds of things. He has the patience
Sara Abernethy (03:32)
wow, amazing.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (03:34)
for it. Yeah. I want to go back to the question about you asking us how we are April 1st or April
Sara Abernethy (03:36)
And Nikki, how old is your- Oh, yeah. Yes!
Francesca Galarus. MCC (03:41)
2nd after two food businesses and Q1 sales and tax time. So I'm not well.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (03:49)
You
Sara Abernethy (03:49)
Honestly,
thank you for saying that because from a business perspective, I too am not well. Like I always feel this way coming out of March, just like, this past winter here in Raleigh, had three Saturdays where there was inclement weather. And it just like, I don't think people understand how utterly annihilating that is when bad weather happens at all. And then when it happens on a weekend.
I know you guys are more accustomed to it in Philly. my God,
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (04:18)
when you're inside with your children.
Sara Abernethy (04:21)
but then there's also that aspect of it that is just very challenging. It's very challenging. So thank you
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (04:24)
That's a big aspect of it. That's a big aspect. Yeah. I feel you. I feel you.
Sara Abernethy (04:31)
for your honesty. Thank you for your honesty. Q1 is tough up there too, huh? No one's exempt. Whether you have...
Francesca Galarus. MCC (04:39)
Yeah.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (04:39)
Yeah, it's tough everywhere, but
you know, we're in spring, so we, you know, I think we're closing out, at least that's the hope, right? The feeling is like we've, it hurts first quarter, but now we're headed into spring and we're all like, let's get, let's do it, right? Let's
Sara Abernethy (04:57)
Let's do it.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (04:58)
do it, let's bring people back.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (05:01)
Our January sales are usually about half of what they are in December, but now we're five years old, so we are prepared for it mostly. Yeah. And on beautiful days, we do about twice to three times the revenue, which is crazy. We open our big garage door and we just see people roll in, which is awesome.
Sara Abernethy (05:19)
I bet there is none other truly than a 75 degree day at Mural City Cellars. I bet it's poppin'.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (05:27)
Pretty great.
Glass of rose, so good.
Sara Abernethy (05:31)
Oh man, I mean like I could see myself rolling down there with the stroller, you
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (05:36)
Yep.
Sara Abernethy (05:37)
know, and the diaper bag and a bunch of snacks. You guys don't have food, do you? You do? Oh cool.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (05:41)
We do. Yeah, we have a small food program. So we do a
build your own board, BYOB, build your own board of meat and cheeses. We have a meat and cheese fridge that's pre-portioned. You can choose what you want. And then you give it to our team and they plate it behind the bar with Fishtown Pickles, Jardinera, Fig Jam, and crackers.
Sara Abernethy (06:01)
I love it.
Yeah, no, that would be me if I lived in Fishtown.
That would be me. Do you guys get a lot of families?
Francesca Galarus. MCC (06:07)
yeah, we're very popular family establishment, which is great. We love having kids. We have apple juice and in the garden, the kids are always running around and enjoying the rocks and the apple juice. Yeah.
Sara Abernethy (06:18)
Of course. So dreamy.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (06:21)
We have little like bulldozers that they can play with. They collect the rocks and then they dump them out.
Sara Abernethy (06:26)
Isn't that dreamy? My kids
Francesca Galarus. MCC (06:27)
It's very sweet.
Sara Abernethy (06:28)
the other day were making magic soup for the first time in the backyard. That was really sweet. Magic
Francesca Galarus. MCC (06:33)
What was in that?
Sara Abernethy (06:34)
soup. Well, we found an empty flower pot that was about half full of potting soil. And then we added some clovers, some grass, some leaves, and some dandelions. It was the sweetest little, like purest.
outdoor play moment. just, my daughter is four too. She just turned four and I just haven't seen her, you know, do outside playtime like that yet. Just so darling. And then,
Francesca Galarus. MCC (07:01)
And I'm sure it was delicious too.
Sara Abernethy (07:04)
yeah, it was obviously delicious and it was magic, magic, right? So it has, you know, strengthening properties for beautiful hair and nails. That's what she said.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (07:13)
wonderful. Gotta love that.
Where can I get some?
Sara Abernethy (07:18)
I know, right?
Package that up.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (07:20)
It's.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (07:20)
Yep.
Sara Abernethy (07:22)
Well, met, I feel like we met before we met. What? I feel, we met at the James Beard Foundation Financial Literacy Summit this past January, but I have seen you before, so I don't know if it was at Fab or if it was another James Beard event or if I found you on.
Instagram, but I'm just delighted to meet you and you two are clearly Philly business besties and God that's just got to be such a powerful a Powerful line to be able to call whenever you need it
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (08:00)
essential, know, whether it's for advice or guidance, whether it's for venting, you know, I feel like a lot of the time we're just really validating each other too, you know, because you're making a lot of decisions seemingly in vacuum, you know, because some of the things you're doing, it's the first time you're ever doing them. So, you know, you're hoping that they land and, you know, to have that validation of somebody else being like,
I think that sounds like the right approach, right? That's like sometimes all you need to hear and embody before embarking.
Sara Abernethy (08:34)
Well, it's not like you can all, well, first of all, it's not like you can ask your employees with every decision, you know, what do I do? Like you can ask them for feedback on a lot of things. I mean, we certainly do. I'm sure you guys do too, but, and then you can't always ask your spouse all the time. I mean, there's only so much discourse you can have with your, with your person and both of you run your businesses like me with your life partner and father of your children.
So like, that's a whole layer. I mean, you just gotta have a girl gang. You just got to have a girl game for survival,
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (09:09)
Yes. Yes. Yeah,
like, you know, when you're working with your partner, there's gonna be many times where you disagree on something. So to have that phone a friend to talk through or like quote unquote, unofficial mediator is essentially helpful. Or like even just like, hey, have you experienced this, a disagreement of this caliber or where the...
task or decision is like such a high-stake decision and we're like fundamentally disagreeing. Like how do you think we should navigate that? And, you know, again, not that either one of us know the right answer, but to do that sound check, I think is just, just get you to that next space of confidence that you need to be like, right, here's how I'm gonna approach this because, you know, I do feel like this is the right way and maybe if there's a way that we can compromise.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (10:04)
Yeah, and I was just going to say there's so many similarities because we're both in food and Bev, we're both in Philly, we're both in Fishtown, we both have children, we both run our businesses with our life partner, we share the same accountant. I mean, we have so
Sara Abernethy (10:15)
you
Francesca Galarus. MCC (10:16)
many cross-reference points that we can relate to each other on. And, you know, our businesses are distinctly different, but there's so many problems that we both have and so many successes that we both have that overlap.
Sara Abernethy (10:29)
So Nikki, is it true that part of the birth of Fishtown Pickles was that you guys made pickles as a party favor for your wedding celebration?
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (10:44)
That is absolutely
true. Yep. Yep.
Sara Abernethy (10:47)
That is
so darling!
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (10:49)
I know, I know, normally we're not that cute, but when I tell our story, we seem like it's almost ready for a rom-com, but that is exactly what happened. Mike is a chef by trade and always had a side, he worked not in restaurants, but he was basically managing food service operations. So he had been in retail before.
And then right before the pandemic, he was managing a school district's food service operation. So, you know, it's not like the work that he was doing as a chef was not the most creative. It was not the most glamorous. So he would, over the summer, know, seasonal produce was available. He was his fun time or his hobby was to make pickles and other, other foods, just like he does normally. And...
when we got married, so we had a quickie wedding at City Hall, six months later, a reception that my mother demanded. And I was like, we'll do it, but like, I want barbecue catering, like it's gonna be cash. And because we were doing it that way, it just like, I think it came to me, I think it was my idea, where I was like, why don't you make your famous pickles as wedding favors? And not only were guests, you you kind of expect it from guests, like.
where can we get more of these pickles? But like people working at a van and at the venue were like, do you guys sell these? And that was the first like customer test without even knowing. And then a couple of months later there was a pickle festival coming to Northern liberties which is the neighborhood next to Fishtown. So because we were two crazy newlyweds with this little idea, we signed up and the only reason why we LLC'd Fishtown Pickle Project was because that event required a tax ID. So we literally just.
followed this like passion project of ours until late 19, early 2020, like, and then the pandemic where really the hobby became into a lifeline.
Sara Abernethy (12:36)
So many things in common with me
We did not make pickles as a wedding party favor, but we did get married in 2018 and that was the same year that we got the keys to the building of our first place. And so I do remember that, like I have a really sweet memory of that time being like, like riding off into the sunset and the world is ahead of us and we're starting this business and it's so exciting and we don't know what's gonna happen, but gosh, we don't have anything to lose. I mean, it's just so different now.
It's just so different now and I'm so glad that you and I
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (13:04)
my gosh.
Sara Abernethy (13:07)
were both able to grasp onto that in that time because it just wouldn't have been as easy now, or at least not for me. Yeah.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (13:16)
yeah, I would agree with
that. mean, I think there's two things there. Like I think, I wouldn't necessarily say that we've had an easy journey, but I can see where, you know, how different 2026 is from 2018. And so for sure, it was easier to break out in that time. And I just think about like one example is,
you know, social media, the algorithm wasn't as controlled, right? So like you were actually able to, your content was going to your followers. Like that was a humongous benefit, even though, you know, deep down, I think we all know, at least we should know by now, it's like you can't rely on social media to be your only mode of marketing because you don't have control over it. It might be free, but you don't have control. So, you know, that's.
Sara Abernethy (14:04)
have a lot of feelings
about it. We should talk about it.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (14:06)
So many feelings. You know what? I have to say, I mean,
my TLDR is that like I've been feeling very liberated about the space being like not as, not as reliable, dependable, like more people rejecting it. I'm like, cool, this is good because, know, it does provide a lot of opportunity for startups, which is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. And once you get to a certain point for me specifically, cause I am still marketing,
It's a major distraction, major. you know, I'm, and for what, you know, like these days it's like, what is the juice worth the squeeze for me personally in our business, you know, and we are still active, but I can't say that the timing, the time that I put in is anywhere near what it used to be.
Sara Abernethy (14:52)
The does not exist
as to how much time you can put into it and money and planning and capacity. The limit does not exist and then there's no way to measure the return, truly. And
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (15:05)
Right.
Sara Abernethy (15:05)
yet it's something that you have to have. Over the weekend here, so there was this woman, there is this woman named Courtney who owns a cheese shop here called Raleigh Cheesy and she,
hot lightning in a bottle on social media over this past weekend. Her friend was on a bachelor party on a cruise with like seven men where nobody planned anything. And she just started like live posting these texts she was getting from her friend about just the sheer tomfoolery of trying to be with seven grown men with no organizer. And it like it turned into this crazy thing and now it's called Bro Cruise and you can look it up right now.
And it was her account the whole time, RaleighCheesy, and it ended up just, I mean, like the floodgates for her followers and her business this week has been insane. But again, that's
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (15:55)
Yeah.
Sara Abernethy (15:55)
like, you couldn't have planned that. No,
Francesca Galarus. MCC (15:55)
And absolutely nothing to do with cheese. Nothing.
Sara Abernethy (15:58)
nothing to do with cheese. You could not have planned that. And again, like it's lightning in a bottle. mean, and good for her. I texted her and I was like, I am so happy for you. Congrats. But you know, that that's not really a model that can be replicated. Anyway, I digress.
We can come back to this later. I have a lot of feelings about social.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (16:14)
Nyeh!
Sara Abernethy (16:16)
Francesca, thank you for clarifying. Okay, from what I understand about you, you came from restaurant land, and you are not from New York, but you spent some time in New York, where your partner,
Nick is a wine guy. He's a certified sommelier. He's managed many, beverage programs, also coming from the restaurant background. Is that right?
Francesca Galarus. MCC (16:40)
Yes, so we met working in restaurants, classic, maitre d' server, love story. We were working at Catch in Miami at the time, and we met and about three weeks later the restaurant closed. So he texted me on
Sara Abernethy (16:54)
Ugh.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (16:54)
a Saturday and he was like, I guess you're free tonight. Can't tell me you're not. And that was the beginning. He's five years younger than me and once I found that out, I stated that this was going absolutely nowhere.
And 12 years later, we have a business, a home, a kid. So it went somewhere.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (17:12)
You
Sara Abernethy (17:12)
I mean,
so yes, like on paper, looks like you guys have background in the area that your business is in, but I imagine it's been quite different being in a winemaking sort of production capacity as opposed to service.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (17:30)
Yeah, absolutely. Huge change. So I started working in restaurants when I was in high school because I got a measly allowance and I wanted to fund my life and it continued straight through college. And then when I graduated with a degree in corporate communications and PR, the only experience I had was in restaurants. So I continued working for restaurants and I just grew from there. I was managing front of house in New York city in Philadelphia. I was a server. And then I moved to New York city where I got my first management job.
I opened Beauty and Essex on the Lower East Side. So was a wild time in the early 2010s when there were no rules and we were working until 4 a.m. and I had a team of 10 managers all under 30. So it
Sara Abernethy (18:09)
Bye.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (18:09)
was fun. It was fun until it wasn't. And then I was on vacation in Miami and I was at a time in my life where you can do such things as decide to live in the place where you're currently on vacation. So that's what I did. And I got the job at Catch, met Nicholas.
And we just kind of lived the server restaurant life for a while. And he decided that he wanted to get more into winemaking. He was always kind of the wine guy. And I was around it and learned a little bit through osmosis, but never took a real professional interest in it. So he did his winemaking internships in Napa Valley and then in New Zealand. So in Napa, he focused on red wine making and then New Zealand white wine making.
During that time, he got the idea for what would eventually become Mural City. And we decided to move to Philadelphia together to open it. So that was in 2017. And we made our first vintage in 2019. And then we opened our doors early 2021, after a full year of staring at each other and working on our business.
Sara Abernethy (19:11)
Did you guys ever go to Brother Jimmy's? You and your restaurant crew in New York City? You did.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (19:16)
I did. You didn't,
Francesca? my gosh.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (19:19)
No, I've never even heard of it!
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (19:21)
That was like a...
Sara Abernethy (19:22)
That's where I
worked.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (19:23)
Where was it? Or where is it?
Sara Abernethy (19:26)
there, well, this
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (19:26)
right?
Sara Abernethy (19:27)
R.I.P. they're at the height of its glory. There were six locations on Manhattan. The original one was actually, no, the original one was Upper East Side. There was one on the Upper West Side. There was one in Murray Hill. There was one by Madison Square Garden and one in Union Square. my hard drive is murky of those times, but it was like diet coke.
It was like, Coyote ugly as Diet Coke. If I could say it like that.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (19:58)
don't
understand that at all. Please elaborate.
Sara Abernethy (20:00)
Did you see
the movie Coyote Ugly?
Francesca Galarus. MCC (20:03)
I remember when they spray the water. Is that what you're referring to?
Sara Abernethy (20:06)
And like the
lady, the ladies get up on the bar and like make a whole thing. So no, I was not a pole dancer and it was much, much more watered down. But yeah, I mean, there were times where they would have us get on the bar and we would be pouring shots into people's mouths. And like it was I mean, it was a southern North Carolina barbecue experience that then, you know.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (20:27)
So Sarah, there is a chance
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (20:27)
And then-
Francesca Galarus. MCC (20:29)
that you could have poured a shot into Nikki's mouth in 2011.
Sara Abernethy (20:32)
Yes, there's
a chance, yes. Because I lived there in 2011. That's when I was
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (20:34)
And I likely have no memory. Yeah.
Sara Abernethy (20:38)
there.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (20:39)
Yeah. At that slice of life, I was a frequent flyer. I wasn't living in New York anymore, but I was had keys to every friend's apartment and was a frequent flyer. And yes, that bar was barbecue food, dancing and lots of college. The college scene hit it hard. Yeah.
Sara Abernethy (20:59)
Silly, silliness, yeah. It
was a good time. I mean, paid the bills, right? You know,
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (21:01)
Yeah. Yeah.
Sara Abernethy (21:03)
I was there to do other things and I could work three days a week and make what I needed to make to support the other things and it good time. I remember that fondly. Good slice of life, good slice of life, can't you?
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (21:14)
Good slice of life.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (21:17)
Yeah, and even though it was
post 2008, like we were making bank. I just remember making so much money and then just not able to even hold onto it. Like I just be like, let's go to a 2 a.m. dinner at Blue Ribbon.
Sara Abernethy (21:29)
Seriously, I really, it was a very powerful feeling. I don't know if I felt anything quite like that, that level of physical fatigue walking out of the door with a handful of cash and feeling like I got this, I got this. I could pay my rent, I could go, I mean, I can go to dinner, I can go, it was a good time.
It was a time.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (22:00)
And
you had no real financial responsibilities. Like, yeah, we had rent, but...
Sara Abernethy (22:04)
No, no, I mean, not really, just like we're, I barely bought groceries. I didn't need them, you know, like it was just a different lifestyle.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (22:15)
Yes.
Sara Abernethy (22:16)
living on a dream and a lot of old french fries, you know. But bagels, yeah. Yes, yes, yes.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (22:21)
And bagels. Bagels and buttered rolls,
you know.
Sara Abernethy (22:26)
So Francesca, you guys moved back to Philadelphia with Mural City Sellers as a twinkle in your eye. And you knew that's
Francesca Galarus. MCC (22:33)
Yes.
Sara Abernethy (22:33)
why, why did you guys pick Philadelphia? And did you pick Fishtown specifically?
Francesca Galarus. MCC (22:39)
Yeah, we did. Both were actually very intentional. So we were living in Miami. The idea was kind of germinating. We looked at a few places there and this is pre-pandemic in Miami. So it was obtainable, but still slightly out of reach, like financially. And then also we wanted the business to connect to the local community. And in Miami, it's really hard to find that because it's so transient.
We wanted to be able to source grapes locally and in Florida there are grapes. Fun fact, there's grapes growing in all 50 states, but it just wasn't, we didn't feel that it would connect to the consumers there the way that it could in this area. So we would be buying grapes, let's say from Argentina or Chile instead, if we were in Florida. And here we had the opportunity to work with farms that are really close by that are doing things that we're excited about.
So we moved to Philly. I went to Drexel, so it was a homecoming of sorts. My family's in the suburbs. And Nicholas's family, although his parents are in Florida, his family is, the rest of his family is in New York. So it was also close to them. And we moved up here. My friend, who I was close with in college, walked us around Fishtown. And when I was in school, we did not cross Gerard. And we were walking well past Gerard, and he was showing me everything that's going on.
and we fell in love with the area and we rented for a while and then we were fortunate enough to buy a home here in 2018. And we just instantly felt connected here. just was a lot of people like us moving into the neighborhood. It's a neighborhood that is experiencing a lot of change, but one of the funny little quirks is that the gentrification is actually making the neighborhood more diverse.
So we're a mixed-race couple and there's many others in the neighborhood. And when we had Bianca, we just felt like an instant kinship. There's so many people that are walking around with strollers and have dogs and choosing, like they're choosing to raise their family here because they want their kid to have access to all these wonderful cultural experiences and the diversity in the schools. So yeah, we opened.
the first location of our winery just three blocks away from our home. And the second location is just four blocks away. So it feels sometimes like a little bit of an echo chamber just because we never leave. We never cross Gerard. We never cross Lehigh. We go to Cherry Hill to go grocery shopping, but that's like, we don't leave the neighborhood very often because we have so much here. But I really do love this.
neighborhood so much. And there's so much going on in the small business community and in food and bev. It's just encouraged us to stay.
Sara Abernethy (25:20)
Something I want to point out about Mural City Cellars is that you guys call yourselves an urban winery and you not only make wine, but you exclusively source your fruit from 300 miles around Philadelphia, which I think is so cool and so unique. How did you guys decide that, how, like what was it about domestic winemaking that was exciting to both of you?
Francesca Galarus. MCC (25:47)
Yeah, think that California blazed an amazing path for wine in the United States. But it is now experiencing a lot of challenges with the economy and with climate change and all these other external factors.
Sara Abernethy (26:01)
Water? Having no water?
Francesca Galarus. MCC (26:03)
Fires, yeah, it's not
Sara Abernethy (26:05)
Yeah.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (26:06)
great out there.
The East Coast saw an opportunity and is doing something really exciting and we're not beholden to a lot of the tradition, certainly that Europe is and also California. So we are ripe for pivoting and doing things a little bit differently. And it was always important for us to champion sustainability and make sure that we have a business that cares about our
community and our environment. So by not sourcing from far away, we are limiting everything from the amount of gas we're using to pick up our grapes, the amount of sulfur that we're using when we bottle our wine because it's not traveling a far distance, and keeping everything as close to home as possible. So we always use this example, but we have growers that live about 20 minutes away across the bridge in New Jersey.
partners and they grow grapes in their backyard. They just are passionate about it. We buy the grapes, we use our own vehicle to transport them back 20 minutes to our winery. We crush and press and bottle, age all in the winery right there and then we sell it right out the door. So that bottle of wine is not leaving like a 20 mile radius.
Sara Abernethy (27:18)
So cool, it's very, very powerful for the local economy as well. There's so many good things about that.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (27:24)
Yeah, and because we're not growing our own grapes,
we get to choose what we want to make and we're not beholden to making two varietals that grow on our property. can switch things up and give the urban community the variety that they desire, you know, so we can change what we're making all the time.
Sara Abernethy (27:43)
Do you guys go on field trips to the different vineyards and sites? that's so fun.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (27:45)
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, so the
winemaking team always works really closely with the farmers and gets to go out there and pull leaves and check on the grapes and check the sugar levels before we decide to pick them. And we really have forged some nice relationships. Like every year we have a barbecue after we pick the shambers in at our vineyard in Vineland, New Jersey. And we've been working with them now for six years. So we're buds.
Sara Abernethy (28:12)
I think that's so rad.
Sara Abernethy (28:16)
Just a quick break in today's conversation to extend an invitation to you. Your listenership and your support of the podcast truly, truly means the world to me. And it does take a significant amount of resources to produce this podcast. So if you have enjoyed these conversations,
If you want to help continue ensuring that these conversations and this visibility are available to the women in our community and the people who need it most, I invite you to join our Her Seat at the Table Patreon community. You can join for as little as $3 a month, which is basically like buying me a cup of coffee, which would be very appreciated.
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Sara Abernethy (29:24)
So tell us about Fishtown. Fishtown is a vibe. Fishtown is a vibe and I feel, well, I guess the secret is out. I guess if you live there, the secret's out. what is so special about it? Like why Fishtown? And Nikki, maybe you can speak to why you guys decided to put your facility in the neighborhood too.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (29:45)
Yeah, well, we're not quite yet in the neighborhood. We're getting there, but where our kitchen is actually about two miles away, north or northern. So two neighborhoods north from Fishtown, which has been serving us quite well because it's a little bit more convenient to the highways and there's warehouse spaces, manufacturing spaces of that way. But what I would say,
just a little bit of context, like Mike raised in Philadelphia until he was 10. I was born here. You know, I was raised in South Jersey, but then came back here, spent several years in New York, came back to Philly. So like, I feel like at this point, I'm 40 now, I've spent more years in Philadelphia than I have in another state, even though my childhood was in South Jersey. We've, so my husband and I actually met and lived in New Jersey first, but
knew we were ready to buy property and we were both, we started looking in Jersey and just because it fit where we were working and then for the heck, think my mom sent us a tax abatement property in Fishtown and we were like, just go look. And then we were like, why are we looking in New Jersey? That was essentially what happened. So we started to look.
in Fishtown and quickly we bought our house in 2017 and it checked all the boxes, right? Like we were, we wanted a neighborhood walkable and we wanted to be really rooted in community. We wanted to be where there was action. We wanted to be...
You know, we wanted a house and property that was somewhat more affordable. I think what we were looking at our budget in Jersey, it was like fixer-upper for this, right? Or you can go to Philadelphia and you can get a beautiful home, you know, like it's all done. So that was like the jump. And then once we got here, everything happened so quickly. Like we bought our house in 2017, right?
It may have been 16. I'm terrible with remembering years. The warp. Yeah. It's very true. It's
Sara Abernethy (31:43)
It's all good. The time is not real and COVID ruined it.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (31:51)
very true. So at some point we bought our house and then right after that we decided we were going to get married. And then right after that, Mike made pickles as wedding favors and then all of it happened. And what I will say, going back to your question, is
We, don't think we would have been as empowered to start a business or a passion project, or to even flex our creativity. Now keep in mind, we both were working, like we both made the most money ever at that point in time, right? Like we had graduated in the careers that we were in to a comfortable, safe space, and then moved to Philly and everything kind of got shook up, but like it sparked something in us.
And it was able to grow because I think here there's such a great appreciation for local creators, artists, makers, Philly Pride. And now you see some of that. for those who may not are listening and not familiar with the setup, like where we are in Philadelphia and Fishtown is like you can get to New Jersey, South Jersey.
quicker some areas like I Francesca said she goes shopping in Cherry
Sara Abernethy (33:06)
I always...
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (33:08)
Hill. like 15 minutes to Wegmans and Cherry Hill anywhere in Philadelphia usually takes you 20 to 30 minutes. like there's also.
Sara Abernethy (33:15)
I always forget
how close New Jersey is.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (33:18)
Yeah,
it's a little bit it's a little bit bonkers how many of us go shopping grocery shopping in New Jersey that that needs to like, you know, we
Francesca Galarus. MCC (33:26)
And to get gas because they
pump it for you.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (33:30)
Yeah,
there's that too. So there's all of that. And I will say, you know, because Jersey loves Fishtown Pickle Project. So I just want to speak to that too. It's like, it almost felt for us like we would root create here in Fishtown, but we were able to, the reach started to happen beyond Fishtown because of how many people transplant to one or the other. And I think most commonly, you know, some will start their
their lives in Philadelphia and then move to New Jersey for more space, the yard, whatever, when they're trying to settle down with family. So, you know, what we had seen for our product, which is, you know, we're about 62%, you know, in wholesale, right? So our reach goes beyond Philadelphia, but we see so much pride even in New Jersey because of that Philly pride. And I think it goes beyond Fishtown even, but.
All that to say that like, as Francesca alluded to, like the amount of chefs and creatives that are just here, I mean, the amount of meetings, I have to like check myself sometimes when I'm like literally walking to a high stakes meeting somewhere in my neighborhood. Like I just can go on foot and I'm like, this is just crazy to me, you know? It's really cool. It feels like an incubator space in some way.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (34:52)
I just want to shout out Nikki because I feel
Sara Abernethy (34:52)
feel like the Phillies spoke ahead.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (34:54)
like she has such this natural knack for connecting with people and the collaborations that you do with Fishtown Pickles and the way that you have integrated yourself into this community and beyond is really admirable. And I love the way that you approach that. And she's had some really big name, like exciting collaborations. And I just love it.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (35:20)
Thank you. And likewise, come on. Thank you. Yeah. Well, the one, was funny that you picked up
Sara Abernethy (35:23)
Tooth the horn, who are you collaborating with? That's so exciting. Let's hear it.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (35:29)
on that because that was the meeting. It was Stateside, Stateside vodka, Stateside owned Surfside, all of that. And you know, that was the one that we had been reaching out for years. You know, I plant seeds constantly and you know, I get nos constantly. And then every now and then someone gets hired and they're like,
we should work with Fishtown Pickle Projects. And that was what happened with Stateside. And, you know, I remember just being like, I'm gonna just leave my house and walk over to Stateside for this really awesome collaboration meeting. Like that just feels really cool. Or like, you know, a lot of sales meetings I can just walk to in my neighborhood. It is truly wild. And I do not take it for granted at all. I mean, even just, you know, going to...
I'm talking about like a high stakes collab meeting, but even like when I need a change of scenery to get my work done, I can go to Mural City Settlers and I can sit there on my computer and no one will bother me, you know? And I get a little bit of companionship.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (36:25)
Except me.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (36:26)
I bother you too, you know what I mean? It happens. We get companionship in those moments and then I also get work done. It's just, it's just very cool.
Sara Abernethy (36:34)
sounds so dreamy, what both of you are describing.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (36:36)
It's pretty dreamy.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (36:38)
often say
that I just feel so lucky because I'm recognizing how wonderful this is right now. Because when I'm in my 60s, I'm going to look back on this time and be like, how lucky was I? I was building my business in this neighborhood. I had not less than 10 fellow entrepreneurs who are also mothers starting their businesses in the same place or similar places that I am. I randomly run into people on the street like I'm in college. I can knock on people's doors without any advance notice.
It just feels so special. And I'm glad that I recognize that right
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (37:10)
Yeah.
Sara Abernethy (37:10)
like a village.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (37:12)
now because oftentimes those moments are like retroactive. know, you're like, I didn't know how good I had it. I know how good I have it.
Sara Abernethy (37:19)
That is a gift.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (37:19)
Likewise.
Sara Abernethy (37:20)
That is a gift. How did you two find each other?
Francesca Galarus. MCC (37:25)
Nikki stalked me. I remember. I
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (37:25)
I remember, I did, I did.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (37:28)
remember so well because she's the connector. She's the natural connector. She walked into my first location and she introduced herself. And then she came back with friends. She brought her college friends. They got drunk. And
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (37:40)
Hmm.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (37:40)
this is the rest of the story. Like we just continued to see each other at events and, you know, meet up with our kids. And she came to our first anniversary party at Mural City with her son strapped to her chest.
You know, the rest is history.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (37:56)
Yeah, and I remember
Sara Abernethy (37:57)
That's amazing.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (37:58)
when I met you, were pregnant. And I was like, think I was just, obviously our kids are, I always forget this. I think there's five to seven months apart and my son being older. And I remember Francesca was pregnant and I was just like, let's be friends. We need to carry each other through this because, know, at that point I, you know, I was still in it, in the thick of it and trying to figure my way through it. And
When you're, you know, I lately, now I would say that 2025, which was only last year, was the year that I was really able, was the first moment where I was able to like breathe and look at what happened over the last five to seven years. And, you know, one thing that I still think about at least once a week is just, you know, reflecting on all of the transformation personally, that, that, that
time has encompassed because you know, we all know like when you become a mom for the first time, it's you're facing every fear, right? You're feeling every uncomfortable feeling. You are not thriving. You are surviving. Now add starting and growing a business to that mix, which is the same. It's not the same process, but you're experiencing a lot of the same growth.
tensions, right? Frictions of like, who am I? Who do I think I am?
Francesca Galarus. MCC (39:23)
Yeah, being so unsure.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (39:26)
Am I capable of doing this? I, so like, I am grateful. You know, I can't say that none of it is ever easy and none of it is ever comfortable. But I'm grateful for it because I almost feel like I traveled time in the last five years in my growth process as a human being because
Sara Abernethy (39:47)
Like this
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (39:47)
I had no choice.
Yeah, I had no, we had no choice and it wasn't planned for us. You know, we threw ourselves into the gauntlet and we had no choice but to sink or swim. And when that happens, you have no choice but to grow. So, you know, it's really, this whole journey is just a really wild one, but I have only more recently really looked back at like how it's impacted my life.
you know, for the better, even though I'm often sleep-derived and all that other stuff. But yeah.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (40:22)
Sarah, you were
talking about those monumental years and 2022, 2021 was that for us. We started our business, we opened in January. We had been making wine for a year, but with wineries, you cannot open right away. You have to give it some time. So we opened in January of 2021. We found out we were pregnant three months later and we're like, okay, we're just doing everything this year. I was working full time still and I lost my job at the end of the year. I was working for a tech startup and they downsized.
We're like, okay, I'm getting kicked into this. I guess I'll just like start taking a paycheck from Mural City and see what happens. And then January 1st, 2022, we had Bianca. It was crazy.
Sara Abernethy (41:02)
That is almost identical to my story, almost.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (41:05)
Really?
Sara Abernethy (41:07)
So I was working full time the first three years we were in business because you have to eat, you like you need income. And lot of people,
Francesca Galarus. MCC (41:15)
Health insurance is good.
Sara Abernethy (41:16)
health insurance
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (41:16)
Hmm.
Sara Abernethy (41:16)
is great. A lot of people don't know that actually. I think when you are...
If your boots, well, people don't know you're bootstrapping. think if you don't have experience, like ground up experience within the industry, which we did not, people assume you're independently wealthy, which nothing wrong with that would be great. But that was also not the case. I decided, all right, I'm going to jump in. Or I really was like, let me just start taking a paycheck and let me see what happens in 2021. And three months later, I was pregnant. And then like, oh, my God, oh, my God, oh, God, oh, my God.
And it wasn't planned.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (41:51)
That paycheck needs to get a little bigger.
Sara Abernethy (41:53)
It's like it wasn't not not planned, but it wasn't. It wasn't planned in that way. It was nuts. It was nuts. And I do feel like I got shot out of a cannon in terms of. Grow like what you're talking about change and growth and development and even Nikki just thinking about when you said, I've been able to take a second and breathe and take a look at what we've done.
I actually can, same, same in this moment. And I am feeling like I also am taking a beat this year to just reintroduce myself to myself, allow myself to introduce myself. Like who
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (42:34)
Yeah.
Sara Abernethy (42:34)
am I now? And who is she? She is so different from that sweet precious angel baby who opened.
the business in 2018 or who took the keys to the building in 2018. And it's definitely disarming. I just, I'm gonna take, I mean, and there's so often no time to stop and reflect and think about that. But I'm trying to make a conscientious effort now to take a beat.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (43:06)
Yeah, that's important, right? Like it's, and I think that's the integration time, right? It's like all this stuff happened. Now let's like take a beat, reflect on what happened and reflect on where we wanna take the next five to seven. Now that we know what we are capable of, where we wanna go, but like all of it, I mean, all of it changed when you're growing as a human being.
You're a better leader, you're a better parent, you're all of these things. as you're changing, your style changes. And then, you know, as it's all tied into the business, to the parenting journey, because then you're looking at it you're like, okay, this leader started in this year looking like, but how does this leader communicate now? How does this leader operate now? And those checkpoints have to happen.
And you always have to start somewhere, right?
Sara Abernethy (44:02)
Do you think becoming a mom changed your approach to leading?
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (44:09)
Do want me to take that one?
Sara Abernethy (44:11)
either one.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (44:12)
Go
ahead, Nikki, I think I need a few minutes to think about that.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (44:14)
Okay.
Yeah, well, I would say the most gosh. Yeah, and and similar to you both, like, thrusted into motherhood, it was it was we wanted to have kids struggled had to get support, finally got pregnant. And it was like right when the business was growing right when COVID happened. At the same time, we were caregiving to my father who had
terminal illness. And so a lot of it was survival, plainly put, especially from the start. But over time, it, it became like, you know, clear to me what I didn't want. Right? Like, because when you're in those survival moments, you, you can't really change too much, but you sort of learn, okay, here's what
I don't want to happen here are my non-negotiables right and for us also I will say you know my husband and I you know have gone through our own individual and together transformations on being more direct leaders like he and I are like very strong-minded opinionated no
for the most part, how we want things done, struggled to like really commune, or initially had struggled to really communicate it and then come up with the action plan and be methodical about it. And I think that like, you know, whether you're, you're parenting a kid or running your operation, you need to learn how to be direct. You need to learn how to have, you know, quote unquote progress reports. How are we doing with this? Like.
this thing that we implemented, whether it's a screen time boundary for my kid or this new project, this new protocol at work, how are we doing with that? And then how am I checking in? And what is my capacity here? And what do I need to outsource? Which of course that comes with time as well, because I'll tell you what, on day one, it was like, have a newborn, I can only afford care on one day. You know what I mean? So again, you start with like,
this kind of this mess and a dream and then you sort of kind of weave your way out of that mess and then the weaving becomes the creation of what's happening next, right? And it's more intentional.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (46:39)
That was beautiful answer, Nikki. And I,
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (46:42)
Thank you.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (46:43)
when you first asked this question, Sarah, I really wanted to say like, oh, it's made me more compassionate. It has opened me up. I look at my employees like my children now, but that's just not the case. It's making me, it's, it has made me more scatterbrained, more divided, more busy, more things on my brain. And...
I have not had the opportunity to like, I started the business and had the baby. So I was not a leader pre Bianca. I managed other businesses, but it's not the same thing. So I think it's made it a lot harder and a lot more necessary to build up my leadership team and help me and support me with this stuff because managing people takes a lot of time, a lot of energy. And I want
them to be able to have that person to connect with at the business, to unload on, to bring their growth opportunities to, to, you know, share all those things. But I can't be that person. So, yeah,
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (47:46)
Yeah, it's hard.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (47:48)
and I've, you know, I'm going to go with a continue on this no bullshit answer. But I had coffee with another female mother entrepreneur. And she asked me
Kind of conspiratorially, like, and you know, a little bit quietly, but she was like, don't you ever think about how much better your business would be doing if you didn't have a kid? And I was like, yeah, I can't not think that. And you know, being an entrepreneur is hard and I have empathy for every single one of them, but I gotta say, I'm like, the ones without kids, they're out all the time, they're networking, they can go to every event, you know, they can put in the work when they need to. They don't have to walk away from their email.
when school pickup time comes. So, yeah, that's where I'm at.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (48:32)
And I would echo all
Sara Abernethy (48:33)
Ali.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (48:34)
of that because it is absolutely really hard. And the one thing I will say, despite how hard it was, I think I again hindsight now our son goes to school till four thirty, which is a different story when he was a little bit younger. But even in those tricky moments, the forced break for me as.
as unnerving, as uncomfortable, and even still today when, like Francesca said, when you can't finish that email or you're like 10 tabs open, you're like, no matter what, I gotta go. You know, it's uncomfortable, but I think I have learned because I would, I would just work all the time. Like that, if it were up to me and there was no, you know, well, there, I had just my world here, I would just keep on going. And that's another part of my personal
growth journey that I had to figure out was how to have boundaries, how to protect my capacity, my peace. And I do think in hindsight that my son has helped me figure that out because he forced me to stop and he forced me.
to learn that, as Francesca said, that I needed to rely on other people. I needed to delegate and I needed to, because in the very beginning, you do do everything yourself. And as I said, there's like that unraveling process that eventually has to happen. But truth be told, I don't know if it would have happened so quickly, you know, if I didn't have a kid, I would probably, it would have probably taken a different trajectory or whatever to get there.
Sara Abernethy (50:12)
Something inside of me unclenched when you just said your friend asked that question. Because
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (50:17)
Yeah.
Sara Abernethy (50:19)
I guess I too have thought that. I've just never said it out loud or dared to utter anything that sounded like it. Yeah, I think that a lot how much better I would be if I.
didn't have the constraints that I currently have, how much more successful the business would be. I do think that. And at the same time, and I'm sure you both can agree, would I trade where we're at? No, I'm so glad we're at where we are. And I'm so, so thrilled that these two little people are here and that they're healthy. And I know that I'm, I really do look at them as an investment in
my future and in their future and in the business' future quite frankly because I think they will play a vital role whether they want to or not. Whether they
Francesca Galarus. MCC (51:14)
See ya.
Sara Abernethy (51:15)
want to or not. Not that I'm gonna force them to wash dishes even though I think that would be great parenting strategy. You know, they'll be impacted by it. They will be impacted by the business. The business will be impacted by them. No matter what.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (51:28)
Well, and what a
Francesca Galarus. MCC (51:28)
Absolutely.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (51:29)
better time, what a better time, think. Raising a human has always been an incredibly important job, right? But look at the world that we're in right now. Look at how much change is happening. I mean, I don't know about you all, but it has only made me feel like it's even more important of a job to show our children
what it's like to work hard, what it's like to create your own, to some degree create your own future, to be a well-rounded human being. And like everything, there's two sides of the coin because there's definitely times like this week where school's closed for the whole week and my son was so excited for spring break, but he doesn't get a real spring break. We had to send him to.
a camp for three days and then to the grandparents for two days. And he straight up looked at me. He's like, I thought I was getting a break, you know? I, so like, there's these moments where you're like, today's world is really hard and you know, we're all doing our best. And I do feel really pleased with the experience that he's getting despite how tricky it can be sometimes to create presence.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (52:39)
And we're having
these conversations because we are high achievers and we have incredibly high standards for ourselves. We're thinking about raising our kids responsibly and making them contributing members of society. And we're thinking about growing a sustainable business that cares for its community. These are two very difficult things and they are not always in line with one another. So it's because of our
high standards and because we want to do the best that we can that these conversations are coming up.
Sara Abernethy (53:12)
also not in line with traditional business approaches or even approaches in food and beverage or CPG. That's not, you know, a typical path. But speaking of community involvement, can we touch on how both of you have made that a priority on your journey as business owners? How have you two, Nikki, maybe we can start with you. Because I, sorry, let me finish my question.
How have you two incorporated giving back to the community?
Fishtown Pickle
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (53:43)
All right, I'm.
Sara Abernethy (53:44)
Project. I know that there is a cause that you are very heavily invested in because of your dad. Can you tell us about
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (53:48)
Yes. Yes.
Sara Abernethy (53:51)
that?
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (53:52)
Yes. So we, and I'll start where I was a little bit too. So in 2020, everybody, there was a lifeline that everybody was looking for in that moment, right? Like how can we help? And at that moment, you know, we were growing our business. We were really trying to connect with the community, at least with our pickles and saying, look,
I know you all are, you're going to the grocery store. Let me tell you about like what our mission is. And we're there, you know? So if you want to give back to the local economy in this time, if you want to support a local growing business in this time, choose Fishtown Pickle Project. And that worked, right? And then kind of piggybacking off of that, yes, there was a personal...
situation that I was in where my father, you he was diagnosed with a disease called frontal temporal degeneration. It's a rare form of young onset dementia, which now more people are familiar with because it's the same dementia that Bruce Willis was diagnosed with. And it's a very tricky one because it affects younger people usually in the prime of their life. And it also is very progressive. So the lifespan is usually seven to 10 years. So my dad was diagnosed
and it was either 2015 or 2016. And as the business was growing, as I got pregnant, obviously his disease was becoming more severe. And I learned in that time about the Association for Frontal Temporal Degeneration, which actually does global work for FTD, that form of dementia supporting research advocacy.
It's global, but their headquarters is in King of Prussia, which is about a 45 minute drive from where we are in Philadelphia. So I was connected with the support group first and then actually a girlfriend of mine who also lives in Fishtown and works in senior care centers was like, I would love to help you. If you want to do this, I know you're busy. If you want to raise money for the AFTD, I will help you. And so she did. She actually went into Canva and like created a lot of designs for me. And that was like
year one and it was beautiful because I was actually able, I'll never forget that first kickoff event we had like an Instagram live during the campaign and I had a musician, a local musician in South Jersey who was a super fan of Fishtown Pickles say, why don't we kick it off? I'm gonna play live and again, we're still sort of shut down at this time. I'm gonna play all of your dad's favorite songs from like Bob Seeger to Tom Petty. We're gonna have some discussions about FTD.
and pickles and like it just was such, we raised so much money and it was so fun and easy and then with time it was just like we're just gonna do this every year and it got a little bit different where we were able to say okay you know what if you buy pickles in between this time and this time a portion of every single sale is going to go to this organization and that was what really kicked it off like I was able to see our impact.
see the community we were building just there. And I was like, we can actually choose to scale this, especially in this way. If, know, obviously business, have to make sure there's enough margin. But if we're able to do it in this way where we can say from this time to this time, or, you know, now we have one pickle skew that all the time has a donation element to fill abundance, a local food bank in Philadelphia. So, you know,
That was the start of it. And now I can gratefully say the last two years we've given 5 % of our net profits to, bless you, to local nonprofits that are working in hunger relief, mental health, brain health, wellness, education, and equity.
Sara Abernethy (57:30)
Amazing. That's very inspiring. And
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (57:34)
Thank you.
Sara Abernethy (57:36)
Francesca, guys have a community support component woven into your business model, right? How does that work?
Francesca Galarus. MCC (57:45)
Yeah, exactly.
From the very beginning, it was really important for us to have social impact built in. So we worked that into our business plan early, early on, and that is through our house wine program. So we have three different lines of wine that we make. Our house wines, white, rosé, red, and bubbles are kind of entry level wines. They're 20 and $25 off the shelf. So they're meant to be really accessible. And a dollar for every bottle sold goes back to our community.
And over the last five years, we've donated more than $50,000. And a lot of that has gone right to Fishtown, which is so cool. So yeah, thank you for that reaction. We have helped raise, yeah, we've done like some really hyper local
Sara Abernethy (58:27)
That's insane. That's insane.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (58:30)
It is so amazing.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (58:32)
neighborhood beautification. So we've helped put park benches in.
gathering spaces, we've helped raise the tree canopy in a local park nearby. We've given to organizations like Treehouse Books, which is in North Philly and offers a walk-in space for anybody to just come in and take books. It's like a library, but you get to keep them. They also have afterschool programs and summer programs for kids. So we're focused on helping BIPOC individuals enter the wine industry. We're focused on hyper-local.
We have a couple of core tenants that we support and that's hyper local neighborhood beautification. It's helping BIPOC individuals enter the wine industry, which has historically excluded them. It's supporting urban agriculture and public education. Another partnership that we're really proud of is we've worked with the Philadelphia, sorry, we worked with Mural Arts Philadelphia.
who is a very well established, incredible nonprofit that's been around for 40 years, I believe, in Philadelphia. And we're known as the City of Murals where we actually named our business after them. So now we've done a collaborative wine with them three years in a row. So we work with them to choose an artist from their vast, vast category or excuse me, catalog of artists.
we donate 15 % of that wine's bottle sales back to the organization to help support the creation of local art and art education. And then another partnership I'm very excited about, which is pretty new, is with the Verasion Project. So the Verasion Project is an organization, they're based in California, but they also have a presence on the East Coast that helps black and brown individuals work in the wine industry.
The primary way that they do this is through an apprenticeship. So we are super, super excited to be working with them to take on an apprentice for a full year. So it's a paid position, it's full time, they get benefits and they have four rotations. So they'll work with the winemaking team, the marketing team, the bar team, and then directly with myself. So that's over a year. So those applications are open now.
might not be open at the time of this recording, but we're very excited to meet these candidates and interview them and hire our first apprentice this year.
Sara Abernethy (1:00:59)
Holy shit. That is so inspiring. That is so inspiring. I think there is something very special about our generation of entrepreneurs in really prioritizing this community involvement, because we rely on it. So why wouldn't you tend the soil that you're in?
You know, our businesses are pillars of the community that we're in. We really owe it to ourselves to put back into it, don't you think? But I'm just so, I'm so inspired by how other people are doing this. This is giving me so many light bulbs in my own brain of how I can steal your ideas and implement them here in Raleigh.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (1:01:49)
It's
sharing it's called sharing and absolutely,
Sara Abernethy (1:01:52)
caring.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (1:01:52)
you know, I mean I think the thing is like what you know I if you can put yourself in your your past life right where for me it was you know, either working for as a dietitian in hospitals or In retail for corporation whatever, you know, there really wasn't too much or at all of any, know impact other than of course like as in my job as a dietitian I was advising on
nutrition. So there's an impact there. But I mean, there wasn't like, you didn't actually feel or see or witness this like give back and receive and give back that whole connection. But when you have a local business and you see the support from your community giving to you and then you have this platform where you can give back, it almost feels like, you know, to have the business is like the vehicle, right? Like you can
do more when you have that platform. And it does feel very reciprocal in that way. And it's a beautiful thing. And it's something that people connect to. And again, just given the fact that our business has started in a time where so many people were in need of support, it just made all the sense. And of course, the important thing to mention, I know this isn't like a business podcast, but you do have to factor in. can't...
You can't just give back if you don't have money coming in, you're not able to do it. And you can work it in like the two models that we had shared in our own businesses. There are ways to do it that like you're still making money and you're also giving back.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (1:03:29)
Yeah, I think that being solely profit driven is like no longer an option. think that this is the exciting thing about our generation. As you said, Sarah, I think it's, we just care so much. We've seen this profit over everything model and we know that it doesn't work for us. So we always like to say that the people that come into Mural City, they're giving us their dollars, but they know that it's going back to make their community hopefully a better place.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (1:03:57)
And I can say one more thing, so this is timely. I just read an article this week about how, I'm trying to remember if it was Ink Mag or somewhere, but Gen Z currently reports to be very, you know, they want to be involved in giving back and they're performing, but they're not actually doing. They're not actually participating in the same way that like say the Millennial Group is participating. And now we can talk.
about the reasons for that, right? Because we know that there's reasons for that. But what a great thing to be millennial business entrepreneurs and hopefully hiring Gen Z and showing them that you can do this, right? Like, again, while the business and personal, they do have to be separate at times. I think that there's times where there is marriage over the higher goal, like even motherhood, like motherhood in business.
My high goal, the highest level goal is to leave the world a better place, right? And whether that's I'm doing that with my child or I'm doing that with my business or I'm doing that by making sure that even when my team members leave me, they've received some learning so that they can go to the next place and plant seeds elsewhere. So I just, for me, that's so important and that's like the most important part. But of course you cannot, again, can't do any of that without.
strong business.
Sara Abernethy (1:05:23)
Fair. I am so delighted to know you both. Thank you so much for carving the time out to do this, truly. It's just been lovely getting to know you and being inspired by both of you. And I cannot wait. You were the original inspiration for like, maybe I should do like a travel series. Like maybe her seat at the table needs to do like a supper club and then we're gonna go up
Francesca Galarus. MCC (1:05:47)
Get on the road.
Sara Abernethy (1:05:48)
and down.
up and down the East Coast and so whatever. I'm coming to Fishtown either in some capacity in the next couple of years and maybe I'll just, I will,
Francesca Galarus. MCC (1:05:58)
Bring your kid, we've got resources, or kids.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (1:05:58)
Love it.
Sara Abernethy (1:06:01)
it'll be so much easier if I do bring my, well easier, easier in some ways to bring my kids. But perhaps I just post up at Mural City, you know, and do a little Philly supper club. It could
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (1:06:10)
Yep, okay, there. I love.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (1:06:10)
Please do.
Sara Abernethy (1:06:14)
be fun.
Francesca Galarus. MCC (1:06:16)
Sarah, thank you so
much. This has been so lovely. I really enjoyed this.
Sara Abernethy (1:06:20)
I'm so delighted.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (1:06:20)
Yes.
Sara Abernethy (1:06:22)
I'm so glad. Thank you. Thank you for saying that and thank you for making the time. Where can we find your products? Let's start
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (1:06:29)
So.
Sara Abernethy (1:06:29)
with Francesca. Where can we find Mural City Cellars Wine? Or how can we support you?
Francesca Galarus. MCC (1:06:35)
Yeah,
this is great, but you have to come to Fishtown. We sell almost all of our wine right out the front door. So please come visit us and taste the local wine that you cannot have anywhere else but right here in Fishtown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
Sara Abernethy (1:06:51)
Boom, boom. Nikki, where can we buy those pickles?
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (1:06:54)
Yeah, so we self-manufacture and self-distribute our small batch pickles throughout Pennsylvania, Jersey, Delaware. We're located in 170 retailers, including Wegmans and ShopRite stores. And then you can go visit us at fishtownpickles.com. We have a store locator there, and then we also ship our pickles nationwide from our e-comm store.
Sara Abernethy (1:07:17)
Awesome. You guys are amazing. Thank you so much.
Niki (Fishtown Pickles) (1:07:20)
You're amazing, Sarah. Thank you for this gathering. Thank you for facilitating. Thanks for bringing us out of the business a little bit too. Talk about what it's like to be a human, a mom, all the things. Thank you.