Taste With Tori: Constellation Collective
COLLINGSWOOD, N.J. (CBS) -- It's a cozy little bakery that just opened in a cozy little town.
A friendly place for a visit with a friend over soup and a salad or maybe a sweet treat.
This bakery cafe started when three gals decided to strike out on their own and form a cafe they call Constellation Collective.
CBS3's Vittoria Woodill has their story.
It could have been written in the stars.
Three young women share the same dream and to their astonishment it comes true.
"It feels crazy, it's insane, it's like I can't believe that this is our life," said Valentina Fortuna.
Fortuna gets emotional talking about the bakery cafe in Collingswood that she co-owns with Lindsay Ferguson and Maura Rosato.
"It's the best thing I've ever done in my life," says Ferguson.
"It feels like a whirlwind," said Maura Rosato.
The three young women met a year ago while working at a Cherry Hill restaurant.
They partnered up and began selling their home-made foods at a co-op and a farmers market.
They crowd-sourced and raised enough money to help open their own cafe selling pies and cookies , soups and sandwiches.
What makes this trio mesh!
"It's our work ethic," said Fortuna. "We're just so much alike and we just love to produce beautiful food and we also really love to eat!"
So how did they come up with the name 'Constellation Collective' ?
"We were writing 'c' words down, culinary, cooking, creative, collective, and then we were like well it's in the stars for us to be together," Fortuna explained.
The collective part comes in gratitude to the Collingswood community.
The blackboard inside the cafe has a list of all those who contributed items.
"Like the table, the silverware, the plates, the flowers," said Rosato. "Everything has been gifted to us or you know hand-me-downed."
The cafe is open for breakfast and lunch.
Menu items written on the blackboard sound delicious and look even better.
There's orange carrot soup with herbed cream and toasted pine nuts.
"It's a work of art, it's a shame to eat it but I will," one customer said when her carrot soup came.
There's honey pie with whipped cream.
And the Five Dollar Holler sandwich made with fried chicken on buttermilk biscuits, with sriracha mayonnaise and topped with homemade pickles.
The biscuits are baked daily by the women who start at five in the morning.
This is no fast food joint.
"We make everything from the ground up," said Ferguson.
"We want to support a new business coming into town," one customer said. "We stick by these girls, we think they're wonderful people."
Each day as they take care of all their customers a list of Thanksgiving Day pie orders is growing back in the kitchen as the three get ready to celebrate their first holiday together at their own cafe.
"It's just everything was meant to be and its amazing," said Fortuna. "I'm just really thankful."
We've set up link here so you can check out Constellation Collective in Collingswood.
And you can let Vittoria know about your favorite places and why you like them at https://www.Facebook.Com/vittoriawoodill/.
