Three years and $250,000 in renovations later, the much-anticipated one-stop-shop, Urban Food Brood of Springfield, has finally added the last piece of its indoor market puzzle.
While opening a second location for Nosh Restaurant and Café in Gasoline Alley was always part of the plan, it wasn’t until earlier this year that the café would soft-launch at the Urban Food Brood — a collection of local shops featuring a butchery, coffee and espresso bar, and café.
The 250 Albany Street location currently offers five core sandwich options and a rotating list of select pastries. Nosh owner Teri Skinner said she plans to gradually expand the Urban Food Brood to include a full bakery.
“We’ll be doing breakfast and lunch,” Skinner said. “It won’t be exactly what we’re doing downtown, but it will have a similar eclectic feel. Just good food.”
Nosh offers fresh-baked bread, daily.
In addition to expanding its pastry offerings, Nosh at the Urban Food Brood will soon feature “some interesting combinations like yogurt bowls.”
Gasoline Alley guests can currently order breakfast sandwiches like a classic egg and cheese on homemade bread, or signature Nosh items like the Southwest Sammy — featuring avocado, jalapeño, onion, chipotle sauce, and cheese.
Tessa Lombardi-Williams, Urban Food Brood Nosh employee, said the Southwest Sammy is among two of the café’s most popular sandwiches, with the Maple Craze being the other.
The Maple Craze features fresh butchered bacon from Urban Food Brood’s Corsello Butcheria, eggs, cheese, homemade maple butter, all piled on Nosh’s homemade bread.
Urban Food Brood offers locals a place to hang out with a cup of locally roasted coffee, homemade bread from Nosh and an opportunity to explore local artisan products.Dallas Gagnon, MassLive
Nosh’s baking operations have been based in the Urban Food Brood kitchen since mid-February, supplying bread for its flagship location at 1341 Main Street.
“The bakery is treating Nosh downtown as a client – I wanted that piece to be secured,” Skinner said. “We are just waiting on a few final things before we open fully. I want to make sure it’s all dialed in before we do a hard-launch.”
While Nosh has always had “a pastry program,” Skinner said it hasn’t had a chance to expand until now as the downtown location doesn’t have “a sophisticated display case,” the way Urban Food Brood does.
Guests have the option of sitting at a large dining table for socializing with others or using the space to sprawl out their work.Dallas Gagnon, MassLive
A long time coming
The Urban Food Brood first debuted in 2023 as the brainchild of local business owners: Skinner, of Nosh, Tim Monson of Monsoon Roastery and of Jack Wysocki Urban Artisan Farm.
At that point, Nosh’s had been established for seven years, making its own debut in downtown Springfield back in 2016.
“It’s definitely been about three years,” said Skinner on bringing Nosh to the Urban Food Brood. “I think we started coming up with this idea at the end of the pandemic.”
For those ordering caffeine, visitors have the option of grabbing a mug for dine-in or ordering a cup to-go.Dallas Gagnon, MassLive
While other businesses opened their doors in August 2023, Skinner said Nosh opened later as it “ran into some logistical issues,” and had to build out an entire kitchen for the new space.
Monson of Monsoon Roastery describes the Urban Food Brood location a “bohemian, industrial, oasis,” adding that he fell in love with Gasoline Alley in 2018, prompting him to open Monsoon Roastery in another section of the alley shortly after.
“There is so much art and creative space in this industrial place in the city,” Monson said. ”It’s the perfect place for us to call home.”
He said guests can expect to find a café with the best parts of a local market.
“The space itself is full of beautiful colors, art, local gifts and artisan goods,” Monson said. “We tried to create a space you can come by yourself to get some work done, or sit down at a communal table and maybe meet somebody new.”
Nosh’s jalapeño-cheddar rolls in the making.Dallas Gagnon, MassLive
Nosh baker and long-time employee, Amanda Krzynowek, described the Urban Food Brood location as a “very laid back environment,” and “a nice place to hang out to do your homework or work.”
Skinner said the businesses involved tried to create an atmosphere where “if you sit down in the dining room and look around,” the businesses look like storefronts, and the dining area is a town center or common area.
Monson said Skinner took “a leap of faith,” when he asked her to join the business endeavor at the Urban Food Brood.
“She added her own space and we wanted to do that here… Nosh has a full service bakery here and will facilitate breakfast and lunch,” he said. “We created a space with other businesses with a magnitude greater than we could have ever achieved as just coffee roasters.”
Monson said Nosh cares “just as much about their food as we do about our coffee – and that translates to the other businesses as well.”
“What we have is a space where people are producing the very best of what they do. Nothing about the Urban Food Brood is subpar.”
For updates on progress and new menu offering for Nosh at the Urban Food Brood, follow Nosh on Instagram.
If you go:
Nosh, 250 Albany Street location
Tuesday through Friday, 7 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Saturday, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Nosh, 1341 Main Street location
Tuesday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Saturday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Urban Food Brood businesses
Nosh Café and Restaurant, café and bakery
Monsoon Roastery, coffee and espresso bar
Costello Butcheria, butcher
Wicked Whisk , plant based pastry shop
Happy Man Freeze Dried, all things freeze dried
Rocka Docka, pastry shop offering vegan and gluten free options
Urban Artisan Farm – hydroponic food production
