Fairfield Grant Helps Local Café Relocate From Unquowa Road

FAIRFIELD, CT — Clean Slate, an organic food café, recently moved from its Unquowa Road location in downtown Fairfield to nearby Sherman Street with the help of a Micro-Enterprise Assistance Program loan administered by the Fairfield Department of Community & Economic Development.

The $5,000 grant helped the business, formerly known as Catch a Healthy Habit Café, remain in Fairfield at 116 Sherman St., following a move from 39 Unquowa Road. The funding helped cover new equipment and other expenses associated with preparing the new space.

Catch a Healthy Habit had operated in downtown Fairfield for 20 years before relocating because of planned redevelopment of its former property, according to officials.

Businesses along that stretch of Unquowa Road have been forced to move to make room for a massive housing development.

Clean Slate offers organic, gluten-free juices, dairy-free smoothies, matcha, coffee and other products. The business is owned by Lisa Storch and her husband, Glen Colello.

Storch is a holistic health counselor, nutritional adviser, lecturer and raw foods chef. In 2020, she defeated chef Bobby Flay in a competition on the Food Network. Colello is also a health counselor. The couple met at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

Fairfield's Micro-Enterprise Assistance Program is funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The program provides training, technical assistance and startup capital to eligible small businesses in Fairfield, with a goal of creating employment opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents.

To qualify, applicants must be a recognized commercial enterprise with five or fewer employees, have their primary operations in Fairfield and be current on tax obligations. The town has assisted more than 60 small businesses through the program since its inception.

"We're delighted to help small businesses such as Clean Slate," Mark Barnhart, director of the Department of Community & Economic Development, said in a statement. "Small businesses have long been the backbone of our economy, and the Micro-Enterprise Program has been a very useful tool in our small business development strategy."

"It's stressful having to move after so many years, and we are grateful for the support that we received from the Town," Storch said. "We look forward to continuing to serve the greater Fairfield community for many years to come."

More information about the Micro-Enterprise Assistance Program is available from the Fairfield Department of Community & Economic Development at 203-256-3120.