A homegrown business that has been a staple of The Heights for two years will be heading back to the neighborhood where they got their start, albeit in larger digs this time.
Busy Bee Organics was founded in 2014 out of 189 Brunswick Street in Downtown Jersey City by Michelle Berckes. A graduate of The Natural Gourmet Institute in New York City, Berckes and her staff of nutrition professionals and natural food chefs design prepared meals for customers to pick up or have delivered.
The business specializes in organic, gluten-free, and plant-forward cuisine that utilizes many plant-based ingredients. They opened their first brick and mortar at 451 Palisade Avenue in 2019, which allowed them to continue their meal delivery service and open a cafe at the property that also hosts cooking classes and other events.
Busy Bee Organics will soon be setting up shop at a lobby space inside DVORA at 175 2nd Street, a recently competed rental building in the Powerhouse Arts District. The development announced on their Instagram that the café space, which will be open to both residents of the building and the general public, is set to launch later this week.
“It’s an honor to partner with one of Jersey City’s established, small business eateries,” the post wrote. “We look forward to serving our community friends & residents a health focused, plant forward menu.”
Breakfast options at Busy Bee Organics include banana pancakes with house-made granola or breakfast tacos with black beans, pasture-raised eggs, avocado, and house-made salsa. The lunch menu features customizable gluten-free sandwiches like a mushroom slider with miso barbeque sauce or a black bean burger with spiced tahini.
Some grab-and-go fare like a chia parfait or overnight oats with house-made non-dairy milk will be available, as will a variety of healthy spins on cookies, breads, coffee, latte, and smoothie drinks. The company recently announced they are looking to hire a Kitchen Assistant for the new location and should have their Downtown post up and running any minute now.
