Hallie Meyer ‘15
Major: English
Hometown: New York
College: Silliman
Favorite Menu Item: Potato Leek Croquettes
Emma Schmidt ‘15
Major: Classics (also Pre-med!)
Hometown: Philadelphia
College: Branford 2015
Favorite Menu Item: TNG’s Trademark Seasonal Tartlets
It all began at a master’s tea…or two.
Hallie Meyer and Emma Schmidt, sophomores with a passion for all things delicious, had repeated chance meetings at food-related events on campus. After acknowledging their mutual adoration for the world of gastronomy, the pair realized their friendship had the potential to do more than simply consume…they could create. Each had professional experience working in a kitchen and they sought to utilize their knowledge in a fruitful manner (Emma hoped to employ the skills she acquired in the pastry kitchen at Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia and Hallie hoped her experience as garde manger at the restaurant Community Table would be useful). With help from fellow Yalie Aily Zhang, the duo spread the word and created a logo for their budding creation. This so-termed “creation” is now known across campus as a catering company called The Northern Greening.
Perhaps it would be wise to start from the beginning—The Northern Greening, or rather TNG as the pair called it throughout our interview, was born out of a dinner party that Emma and Hallie threw for friends. It began as a fun though minor side project in which the pair could explore their love of food – a difficult undertaking in college dorms where ovens are hard to come by and food suppliers do not swarm about on the hunt for potential buyers. Consequently, the duo initially worked on a small scale, baking birthday cakes, assembling appetizers, and etcetera. They cooked exclusively with produce from Hallie’s garden in Washington, CT. As they shared with Her Campus, “farm to table cooking is what drives us,” and the origins of TNG certainly corroborates this declaration.
Of course, as one might expect of two hardworking Yalies, Hallie and Emma gravitated towards the Yale entrepreneurial mindset. They committed to expanding and nurturing the product of their friendship and as a result sought out advice from Chairigami’s founder Zach Rotholz (Morse College, class of 2011). Zach began his start-up company soon after graduation and Hallie and Emma found their interests closely aligned with Zach’s accomplishments. Thanks to these ongoing discussions, the pair opted to have pop-up sales to promote their business. Thus, they commissioned a pop-up stand from Zach. Somewhat like a bake sale, these “pop-ups” allowed TNG to hand out business cards and chose a few staple menu items to sell piece by piece. These sales were wildly successful and solicited a number of job opportunities.
Among the job opportunities stemming from their “pop-ups” was the opportunity presented to pair when Trumbull commissioned them to cater the event “Rumble in Trumbull,” which served as quite a learning experience for the dynamic duo. On the day of the affair, Emma and Hallie began cooking at 8:00 am. After producing 500 pieces of food during a 6-hour period, there were hardly words to articulate their exhaustion. From the experience the founders of TNG learned that events of that magnitude require preparation and a plan.
As the company expanded, TNG’s supplier—namely the Meyer’s garden—no longer produced enough goods to meet the company’s building demand. Thus, they began using the farmers market in New Haven as an additional source of produce. During our interview, Hallie very intentionally mentioned this wonderful resource. She said, “it’s just funny how few people know there’s a farmer’s market in New Haven…actually, can you put that in the article? Maybe now people will know about it at least.” Unfortunately, as the jobs offers continued to appear, Hallie and Emma realized once again that this supplemental outlet was not enough. Out of this predicament came a partnership with the Yale sustainable food project. Today, much like many professional catering companies, the girls have foods delivered to them—a much easier shopping process considering the quantity they purchase!
Sure, Emma and Hallie’s list of accomplishments are quite impressive. They cook for events almost weekly ranging from baking birthday cakes for 10 people to hors d’oeuvres for 150 people. They are driven by their incredibly strong passion for their business and for the cooking that comes along with it. However these were not the qualities I personally found to be the most impressive aspect of their relationship. Rather, it was the jovial nature of their friendship that I found most entrancing. The challenges they have endured as friends and the time they spend, and have spent, together nurturing their business would be enough to frustrate any sane individual. Yet instead of tearing the two apart, these obstacles have created an incredibly strong bond. Although they have their silly moments—apparently while cooking they often reveal their stress by speaking only in Russian (and occasionally British) accents? —it seems that this endeavor has created quite a camaraderie in which they know when to laugh, when to be serious, and even how to finish each other’s sentences. They are business partners who utilize their work as an instrument for fun.
But, there is one thing they can’t do; or rather won’t do. They will never reveal the significance of their namesake. Evidently it’s a secret…even I couldn’t extract that precious information from them.
You can contact The Northern Greening at the following addresses:
email: thenorthnerngreening@gmail.com
facebook.com/thenortherngreening
(^^like them on Facebook!!)