In 2006, two vegan chefs left Long Island with the idea of bringing healthy food to a new community. Seth and Jenn Branitz created Karma Road, a vegan cafe, and this year they celebrate its tenth anniversary.
Before Karma Road, there was Jandi's, a health food store in Oceanside where Jenn and Seth worked from 1994 through 2006. Jenn was a pioneer there, playing a large role in expanding the store's small juice bar into the largest vegetarian kitchen on Long Island. The lead cook left, and Jenn became the new chef. Taking a two-thirds cut in his paycheck at a job doing kitchen prep work, Seth decided to help her out and join the team. It was there that their love of plant-based food flourished. Raw foods, wheat grass, juicing, fasting, cleansing—Jandi's provided the knowledge that Jenn and Seth yearned for during their own transition into vegetarianism.
After they had kids, Jenn and Seth decided to relocate. Their search for proximity to the greater New York area combined with a desire for beautiful natural surroundings and a community that would support their talents landed them in Woodstock, but three separate business deals fell through there. They also gave up on a plan to build a vegan bed and breakfast on the property of the Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, which was just getting started at the time. They ultimately purchased an ice cream parlor in New Paltz and converted it into Karma Road.
The current Karma Road menu features items ranging from freshly made juices and smoothies, chocolate chip blueberry muffins and thumbprint cookies, curries and stews, sandwiches, wraps, breakfast burritos, and sweet potato biscuits. To view other menu items, visit Karmaroad.net. Karma Road is located at 11 Main Street in New Paltz and is open seven days a week.
Where does the name Karma Road come from?
Seth: I'm a songwriter, and a friend and I started a small record label and called it Karma Road Records. Since nothing came of it, I ran the name by Jenn, and she liked it. When I asked my friend, he also liked the idea. We feel like it represents an understanding that our choices—food and otherwise—secure our place on a path with immediate results.
When did you open?
Seth: We moved here on December 27, 2006, got the kids set up with day care, renovated the space, hired and trained a staff, got our permits and insurance, and opened the shop on February 22, 2007. It was interesting because we had to train a staff of people who had never worked here before, and we had never worked here before. So we kind of made it all up, and everybody came in here and just winged it. Instantly, people liked it, and the neighborhood liked it.
So what is your background with food?
Seth: I started working in a Jewish bakery when I was 15, and I worked there for five years. I was a bagel baker, and then I almost bought a cheese shop on the North Shore [of Long Island]. Then I started working with Jenn to help out temporarily. That was 25 years ago. I also interned at a couple of restaurants in Manhattan, including Quintessence, which is a raw food restaurant, and also at Angelica Kitchen. It was a seminal, world-famous vegan restaurant in the East Village that was there for 40 years or so, and they just closed due to obscene rent increases. They were paying $23,000 a month, and so they closed, which is very sad—we made a lot of good friends there. Karma Road is a combination of the best of both of those experiences—Jandi's, Angelica, and more.
Jenn: After running the kitchen at Jandi's for a couple of years, I went to the Natural Gourmet Cooking Institute in Manhattan. I learned a lot there and met some wonderful chefs. That led to a position as the specials chef at Angelica Kitchen and to helping facilitate their cooking classes. I was also a private chef, a caterer, had a vegan home delivery service, and co-taught a very popular series of cooking classes.
Seth: It's kind of a dead end, if you're a chef, if you want to do anything different, you don't have a whole lot of freedom, and we figured if we were going to work that hard, then we should do it for ourselves. We didn't want to live on Long Island. We didn't want to compete with Jandi's. We couldn't consider Manhattan. We just started thinking: Where could we go that's really beautiful, where they could use us, and where we could still drive back because we've got family there? We were enchanted by Woodstock, but New Paltz really turned out to be home.
You opened the restaurant quite soon after moving to New Paltz. How long was Karma Road an idea before it became a plan, and then, eventually, an establishment?
Jenn: We'd discussed doing our own restaurant for a few years. Seth is a singer/songwriter (known as Seth Davis) and was too focused on music to make the commitment to a business. Once he committed to the idea of owning a restaurant, we began our search in earnest.
And you moved here solely to open a restaurant?
Jenn: Being vegan chefs—when that's what you do—there aren't endless options. We wanted to leave the Island and do our thing. Yes, we came to create the business, but have gotten so much more. It was definitely the right decision for our family, for our business, for us.
What was the process of putting the idea of owning and operating a vegan cafe into action? What obstacles did you come up against?
Seth: We make fresh, delicious food without animal products. It's the way we learned. We worked at some of the best restaurants in New York, and we knew that the combination of our strengths could be something valuable. The main obstacles we face are the high cost of organic ingredients and informing people that "animal-free," "organic," and "healthy" don't mean deprivation. We help people to realize that our food is for everyone, and that it's delicious and satisfying. Someone will occasionally walk in looking for "regular" food, and once we turn them on to our soup, a sandwich, or our mixed veggie slaw, they're excited. Their whole paradigm shifts. That's been our main obstacle—letting people know this is not food just for vegans: It's for them and they will love it.
Where do you source your food from?
Jenn: We love the spring because during the next half year we'll be getting more produce from local farms like Big Little Farm and Taliaferro Farm. We have been dealing with our wheatgrass supplier, Perfect Foods in Goshen, for decades. Our coffee is roasted by Catskill Mountain Organic Coffee Roasters. We have a couple of excellent organic and natural food distributors who are doing wonders to forward healthier eating trends. But one thing is for sure, organic ingredients still cost more.
What ideas do you both hold about food and how it should be made, and how did that shape Karma Road as a business?
Jenn: Preparing food should be a holistic experience. Understanding that our materials come from the Earth connects us deeply to nature. Being mindful while prepping and seasoning the food solidifies the intention of offering a good experience to whomever will consume it. It goes along with the way we like to eat—with intention, appreciation, and pleasure.
What would you say your goal with Karma Road is?
Seth: Our mission involves people enjoying the process of eating healthy and choosing their food choices with compassion. There's abundant pleasure in eating excellent, fun, plant-based foods. Anyone who cares about the creatures we share the planet with can take this to heart, reduce suffering, and enrich their own lives.
Did you both grow up being healthy eaters?
Seth: No way. Each of us grew up on different versions of the standard American diet. We became vegetarians before we started working in food. It just was a very organic (no pun intended) evolution for us.
Jenn: Jandi's was a strong influence on shifting our views on health and awareness of what you put in and how it's going to affect your body. And how you can heal your body through food, juicing, and supplements as well.
Seth: Jandi's was a really big part of our lives during the transition to vegetarianism and really has helped us here. For all these years, we've been helping people do the same thing. For some people, coming in and having a piece of vegan chocolate cake is healthy because, "It's vegan, right?" There's no butter in it; there's no refined sugar, but for other people, they're looking to really take care of themselves and so we'll steer them toward more greens and juices, and show them how to do that.
So what's next for you guys?
Jenn: Our grab-and-go line is in its infancy. We've been selling them at the Woodstock Farm Sanctuary's Visitors' Center and have a few businesses inquiring about distribution. We're also arranging to have some of it here to move things along for rushed customers on busy days.