Marisa Blackwell flourishes with a little help from her friends

Marisa Blackwell founded Cravings from her home in 2008, now operating from a modest space on Halsey Street.

At first she used her home and “borrowed” commercial kitchens as she gained her earliest clients, including Rutgers. For nearly six years, she has catered for Rutgers Business School’s Executive MBA program under a weekly, 150-person assignment that spans about nine months annually.

Cravings has operated at Halsey and Linden streets since 2010, thanks largely to some help from real estate investor and philanthropist Paul Profeta. With a zero-interest loan from the Profeta Urban Investment Foundation and guidance from Rutgers Business School, Blackwell was able to renovate the space and set up shop in one of the city’s main corridors alongside Broad Street.

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