Homespun Foods is a staple in Beacon. It always has one of the longest lunch lines, is one of the most trusted menus for ready-to-go dishes or desserts to quickly pick up and bring to a party, and is one of those eateries in Beacon that is built into the experience of living here. A few years ago, they opened a café down at Dia:Beacon, and do Dia’s catering for in-house events. At the original Main Street location, you step in through the well-worn heavy door, onto the warm, hardwood floor that has absorbed the aromas of the soup-making and pastry-baking over the years, and you feel at home.

When the building that houses Homespun was up for sale, the natural question became: “Will Homespun stay?” And it did, confirmed founder and former owner Jessica Reisman in an article we ran about it. But then something else happened: Jessica sold Homespun to a new owner. The food seemed to stay the same, the website got updated, a kid drawing showed up in the Instagram feed, so we wondered… Who is this new owner? What will Homespun become now? Will we still have access to the baked french toast, the Mediterranean plate, and the carrot cake log?! Turns out, the answers are yes to all…

About The New Owner

Meet Joe Robitaille, the new owner who moved his family (including his wife and three young children) from Brooklyn to Beacon - but that path is not as straightforward as it seems. It never is when telling the business story of businesses in Beacon. Joe grew up in Hamburg, NY, just outside of Buffalo. He fled south to attend and graduate from the College of Charleston (me too!) where there is lots of good food (especially Mediterranean), and then moved to Brooklyn to earn a MFA in Poetry at Brooklyn College.

To support himself through school, he worked at a wine store in Brooklyn Heights. “That led to me becoming a sommelier in the city,” Joe explains, “working at il Buco for six years as head sommelier, and two years as chef-sommelier for Daniel Boulud’s Bar Boulud and Boulud Sud.” And so began Joe’s career in wine, which he is bringing to Beacon.

Working At A Wine Store Means More Love For Wine … And Food

Joe with Homespun’s sommelier-in-training. The staff will learn more about wines from Joe and importers he works with.

Being a sommelier means that you are an expert in pairing food with wine. People who love food often love good wine. Just ask Tim and Mei, founders of Artisan Wine Shop just down the road, who built a kitchen in the back of their wine shop just to host wine tastings with unusual food they like to cook (catch this food pairing almost every Second Saturday).

Being in New York, Joe tells me, has its advantages. “We are pretty spoiled in New York because a lot of the great wine arrives here first and sits in warehouses until it gets funneled through different shipping channels,” he explains. “I got to source wine through purveyors in South Carolina at Butcher & Bee, which gave me a glimpse at how wine travels through national channels, and got to pair wine with their menu which was really, really fun because their food is this brackish zone between Israeli mezze and Lowcountry.”

Joe with one of his wine importers for German white wine. Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin — Joe with one of his wine importers for German white wine.
*Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin*

Being a sommelier also means you are working directly with people. Some of those people are wine importers. You need a wine importer to bring the wine to your restaurant. Because some of the greatest wine arrives in New York first, extra fees on shipping it across state lines can be avoided. Joe aims to use that, and his current relationships with wine importers (one of whom is a German wine importer who stopped into Homespun to convey season’s greetings the day of our interview, pictured here) to keep the tightly curated selection on his wine list more affordable to patrons.

Wine will be available shortly, just as soon as the license gets approved.

Was Homespun Looking To Sell? How Did That Happen?

As we were researching this story, a reader asked this question, so we asked Joe: “How did you find out about Homespun?” While we love Beacon’s existing businesses and buildings, sometimes their owners are ready for something new, and they put an ad out to sell the business. And that’s how Joe and Jessica’s relationship began. Jessica put an ad out, and Joe found it. “Jessica and I both really like and respect each other a lot, and we stuck to the plan through all the bumps. I count Jessica among the mentors I have had in my career. She did an amazing job for the community, and set me up for success.”

Is the staff staying? “Yes, all of them really!” says Joe. “ It has been a remarkable transition. I learn so much from our staff everyday.” The menu is also remaining the same, with breakfast available every day, and new specials appearing in the menu. Dinner is coming, but Joe is waiting for his new chef to start, who can incorporate a special menu just for dinner.

The New Business Journey - Finding Homespun

For those who like a good business startup story, here is Joe’s in his own words. With a young family of three boys, working in the restaurant industry can be tough with its long hours. Now, at Homespun, he is minutes away from school (just wait until he experiences the tug of snow delays!), and can break up his day between work life and personal life.

“I had been wanting to open my own restaurant for a long time. I had done trips up here and started to really home in on the Hudson Valley/Catskills as the place to do it. Brooklyn wasn't going to be possible, and definitely wouldn’t be possible without a multitude of investors, so I was looking up here.

“Initially we were looking at the area around Phoenicia, but decided we ultimately wanted to be closer to the train. I liked Beacon a lot from visiting with my wife, Kate, a few years earlier, just knowing Dia was here, and I remembered a nice record store on Main Street. The town seemed pretty lively on the weekend we were there, so there was energy.

“After a long weekend stint of working as sommelier in the city, just laying around the house, I started reading an article about Bottega il Buco, which is the restaurant my old boss Donna Lennard opened in Ibiza. I was looking at photos of the place, and seeing the place very much having a sibling resemblance to her two spots in the city. It was its own unique space for sure, you could tell that, with these beautiful whites and blues and open air and light, but you could also tell Donna had done this, even though it looked so new.

“In that moment, I felt this urge of ‘I want to open a restaurant so bad!' I literally Google searched ‘turn-key restaurants hudson valley.’ That's how I met Jessica Reisman. Her ad came up of selling this sweet restaurant in Beacon, right on the Main Street. It had been open since 2006. It had this beautiful backyard, the exposed brick inside, a nice size for a cozy restaurant. And then as I read I saw that she also ran the cafe at Dia:Beacon. I sent the link to my wife, who had historically been pretty skeptical about me finding a space etc, and Kate said, ‘You have to write this lady.’ So I did.”

Watch For More From Homespun

There is even more to this story, for the foodies in the audience who want to know more about Joe’s experience with food and chefs who open restaurants. This, I will bet, will be a feature you’ll read about in edible Hudson Valley, so we’ll leave it to them for the interview. But also know this: Joe has been following the threat of the 100 percent tariffs expected to come on European wines, a result of the current U.S. administration’s tariff war, says Joe. Already, a 25 percent tariff is in play, “but most importers are eating it,” he says. “If the tariff happens, a $12 bottle of French wine could be $40.” People are encouraged to call their congressional representatives.

Meanwhile … lunch at Homespun continues!

PS: We interviewed Jessica Reisman too, to find out where she is now. Read her answers here!