How Boston Public Market is Mobilizing the Community

With over 40 vendors, the market is a mecca for local food businesses, local organizations, and local technologies

BOSTON — The Boston Public Market opened July 30 at 100 Hanover Street in downtown Boston’s Market District. With over 40 vendors, the market is a mecca for local food businesses, local organizations, and local technologies, such as Toast All-in-One POS System.

“This is more than a market. This is something very, very special. And it’s something that’s going to set a trend, not only here in Boston and Massachusetts, but across the country. When you think about giving back to the community, there’s no better place than right in this very space,” said Mayor Walsh during the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Everything sold at the Boston Public Market is produced or originated in New England, per the market’s mission to “provide fresh, healthy food to consumers of all income levels and nourish our community,” according to the Boston Public Market website. According to the mayor, 92 percent of the vendors at the Boston Public Market are from Massachusetts.

To streamline processes and simplify interactions, many of these vendors at Boston Public Market are using a local point-of-sale system, Toast, which is based in Fenway and originated in Cambridge.

Owner Mark Parrish of Crescent Ridge Dairy, a Sharon-based dairy farm that offers small-batched milk pasteurized, homogenized, and bottled in glass at the farm, as well as over 40 flavors of ice cream, said that he’s excited to use Toast at the Boston Public Market.

“We really like the interactive nature and the cloud-based reporting. All of that was what kind of got us hooked,” he said.

Boston Honey Company, which produces artisanal honey by raising honeybees, extracting honey from the comb, bottling, and distributing it, also uses Toast at the Boston Public Market.

“When we heard Toast was local and in the Cambridge area - my parents actually met in Cambridge - so it only made sense to buy local. That’s what we’ve always been focused on, so we chose Toast,” said store manager Evan Reseska.

Other Toast customers are excited that the Boston Public Market gave them the opportunity to start their first retail location, such as Lilac Hedge Farm, one of the twelve farms at the market, which raises beef, pork, lamb, and poultry using sustainable natural practices.

“It’s kind of hard to believe that this is actually happening… In the past, we’ve been operating through 10 Boston-area farmers markets, so we’re really excited to position ourselves in one place for a while. We’re doing a lot of stuff that we haven’t done before, such as pasture-raised rotisserie chicken," said owner Ryan MacKay.

The Boston Public Market is bringing together local businesses, local restaurants, local startups, local technologies, and local farms all under one roof, fostering a sense of community in the Greater Boston Area.

“It’s a real opportunity for vendors to collaborate with one another. We’re selling milk to some vendors that are using it for their products, and we’re bringing in fudge and berries for other vendors to make sundaes. The opportunities are endless,” said Mark Parrish of Crescent Ridge Dairy.

The 28,000-square-foot Market is the only locally-sourced market of its kind in the United States and is open year-round. Other features include a 3,200-square-foot demonstration kitchen, hands-on cooking demos, exercise classes, and training and community events.

The Boston Public Market is open Wednesday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.