Like so many small farms across America, Sweet Amalia Oyster Farm shifted coarse as the pandemic fractured food supply systems. Looking to build a more sustainable future for the farm, co-owners Lisa Calvo and Ed Pappas sought to develop direct to consumer sales. Working with other local farms, delivering oyster direct to door, and popping up on Philly streets helped keep farm sales going as restaurant doors were shuttered.

Meanwhile, after helping former colleagues open a restaurant in San Francisco in the spring of 2020, Chef Melissa McGrath returned to the East coast hoping to take a break from restaurant work. After sourcing Sweet Amalia oysters in Philadelphia restaurants for years prior, she decided to work a few days on the oyster farm during the summer and fall of 2020. Over the next year, with some elbow grease and a lot of sunflower yellow paint, the three of us would transform Sweet Amalia's distribution hub into a retail market and fully operating kitchen. 

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Sweet Amalia Market & Kitchen opened in April 2021 with the common goal of supporting and highlighting  the local food ways of Southern New Jersey. Our mission in both market and kitchen is to build community surrounding our food systems by showcasing the many ingredients that surrounding farmlands have to offer.