Small businesses lead roster of Liberty Public Market vendors

The under-construction Liberty Public Market announced its vendors on July 23rd, with an event showcasing an assortment of food purveyors specializing in foods ranging from lobster rolls to a natural meats butcher shop.

The 22,000-square-foot space is currently being outfitted to provide power, running water, drainage and gas lines to 24-30 distinct vendor spaces. The public market will operate as a collection of specialized vendor booths, much like Pike Place Market in Seattle, or the San Diego Public Market, which leveraged Kickstarter funds to build a similar model in a Barrio Logan warehouse, but closed in 2014 after two years in business.

Coronado restaurant group Blue Bridge Hospitality is behind this new project, which will be located in Liberty Station at 2816 Historic Decatur Road, right beside Stone Brewing. The ten vendors announced Thursday were mostly comprised of small local businesses. "Our first goal is to find local people," says Blue Bridge's David Spatafore, "People that are focused on one thing, and have something to sell not only for consumption on the premises — food to go — but also items that you can take home, so there's a shopping element to everything."

For many of the vendors, taking on a market space will be the closest they've yet come to having a permanent storefront. Cecilia Cortazar Peterson has been operating a catering business, and will open Cecilia's Taqueria, offering tacos made with handmade corn tortillas and locally sourced ingredients. Mastiff Sausage is currently best known as the food truck that recently beat out big guns including Cowboy Star and Nine-Ten to win this year's Sausage Fest competition.

Businesses springing out of local farmers markets have also joined the project, with Pho Realz set to offer Vietnamese favorites pho and bahn mi, while Wicked Maine Lobster was recently started by a couple of Maine transplants who craft crab and lobster rolls, bisques, and chowders.

Spatafore believes their transition to a full-time business will be made easier with the public market model. "It's the easiest opening of a food space you possibly could get," he says. "I'm in the restaurant business so I understand. I'm not doing this as a landlord, I'm doing it as a restaurant guy here in San Diego, trying to make this work for the small guy. It would be easy to get a bunch of chains to get together and get in, but that's not what we want, that wouldn't have any appeal at all."

There are some more familiar businesses on board to anchor the lineup, including Blue Bridge-owned ice cream shop MooTime Creamery. Venissimo Cheese will also be there, along with Fully Loaded Juice from Encinitas and artisan coffee roasters The West Bean.

Liberty Public Market is due to open on or before November 1, in order to ensure its array of specialty local food items are available for the holiday season.