Julie Lovelass, co-owner of The Owego Kitchen at 13 Lake Street, sat down with Tom Lewis of the Food and Health Network to share a little bit about her background and decision to become a FaHN Sponsor.

On Julie’s background
 
Although The Owego Kitchen will be celebrating its one-year anniversary on November 11, 2016, Julie has a long history in the restaurant business. She initially obtained a degree from Johnson & Wales Culinary School, located in Providence, Rhode Island, and since that time has accumulated many years of experience in the restaurant business. Some of her previous roles include prior restaurant ownership experience, with the Phoenix Café in Oneonta, NY, and for a number of years as a restaurant consultant.
 
On Owego and her decision to open a restaurant there
 
Julie and her husband Ike, also a co-owner of The Owego Kitchen, first came to Owego to take part in a Christmas walking tour. The tour gave them the chance to see first hand the local spirit of Owego and observe how “everyone knew everyone else there”. The local community intimacy is a feature Julie said she “missed about living in Oneonta, which similar to Owego, has many small shops, restaurants, and cafes”. Originally, Julie and Ike intended only to look for a house in Owego, and have the chance to become part of the community, but everything fell into place when they discovered the building at their present location of 13 Lake Street.
 
The building located there was completed sometime after the year 1872 and was originally home to a few variations of saloons. Over the next century, the building would house photographers, a grocery store and a shoe store. However, it was vacant from the 2006 flood until Julie and Ike purchased it last year. After discovering and falling in love with the location, Julie decided the time was right to open and run another restaurant, something she described as, “just a few years ago not really being in their thought process”. You can read more about their building's history by going to The Owego Kitchen's website available here. 
    
On becoming a FaHN Sponsor
 
Julie said joining FaHN as a sponsor was an easy decision as she “enjoys helping with the causes that FaHN works to solve”. She spoke of the challenges she faced as a young, single mother who for many years, "depended on different organizations to help feed (her) children”. Since then, Julie has served on steering committees for charitable organizations and was an integral part of an effort that opened a homeless shelter in Oneonta.

The Food and Health Network would like to thank Julie for sharing her experience with us, for being a wonderful host of our annual Member & Sponsor Event, and for her continued support!