The Secret to Staying Open 13 Years in New York City

Naama Tamir of Lighthouse BK shares how to make your biz a little more sustainable and how finding your *thing* can lead to success.

Welcome to Nu Business, where we share resources specifically for food business owners. You’re here because you’re a NuMarket alum or at some point been curious about whether this whole Nu thing can help you. We’ll be providing some of that help here by introducing you to our friends, compiling a ton of useful information and sharing some horror stories to make you feel better about the flood that just happened in your kitchen. No matter what initially brought you to the NuMarket corner of the world, we’re glad you’re here.

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Vol 1: Keep Everything Sustainable

Meet Naama Tamir, co-owner of Lighthouse BK, a Brooklyn restaurant committed to their locally sourced, ingredient focused menu and driven by their mission to do better for the community they’ve fed daily for 13 years and counting. Recently, Lighthouse’s community raised $30,000 with their NuMarket campaign and funded a new industrial composter to serve their neighborhood. So what’s their secret to sustaining their continued success?— well for them, it’s just that: sustainability.

“The dream for Lighthouse was to open a place that we wanted to have in the neighborhood… New York can be so lonely at times and we wanted a place that felt like home. These community centers are these places where people hang out and meet other people and it it can be such a big part of your life,” Naama shares. Community plays a huge part in how Lighthouse has called Brooklyn their home for over a decade, but there’s something else that contributes to their success. From the start, Naama and her team found themselves wanting to serve their patrons, staff, and network of local suppliers in a much bigger and more holistic way. Their commitment to sustainability became what made them stick out from the rest and kept their community coming back and growing throughout the years.

“It starts with a vision. We just really wanted to do things differently… and this is an ongoing thing. We're constantly thinking about the better way of doing something. And by better I mean it has to be better for the environment. It has to be better for the staff. It has to be better for the guest.”

Naama credits the intellectual challenge of constantly seeking improvement and doing more as the driving force that keeps her curious and maintains her love for her job, even after many years in the industry. That passion extends to her team as well. “We have staff that have been with us for so so many years. Back of the house for 13 years, front of the house for 9 years. You know that famous saying where people people don't work for a job, they work for a leader or they work for a cause. There's just something about knowing that you're a part of something that's bigger that just makes makes us all much more committed.”

This commitment to doing more is also what brought Lighthouse and NuMarket together for a campaign. Well, that and being regulars ourselves. Naama and her brother/co-owner Assaf knew that to continue making an impact, their sustainability efforts needed to go past their restaurant. Last year, with the help of the friends, family, and fans, they successfully funded an industrial composter for the neighborhood which is going to be up and running any day now!

For Naama and the Lighthouse BK crew, the spark that keeps their business going and sustainable (when it feels like the world and economy is against small food businesses) is sustainability. But what is it for you and your business? We challenge you to put a name to whatever niche or passion you feel makes your business special, and if you’re willing to share. Shoot us an email or a DM on instagram @numarket.co, we want to hear it!

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Interested in making your food and beverage business more sustainable? According to Naama, it begins with finding great partners who align with your vison.

Here are some of her recommendations and resources to assist you in taking whatever size step toward sustainability you desire for your business:

• Start with your energy provider: “It can be as easy as finding a energy company that sells renewable energy and can give you some tips on how to save energy and what smart devices do use.”

• Think local: “If you're not a locally sourced restaurant. It can be as simple as deciding to make one dish a week with locally sourced ingredients. Source locally and organically from a farmer that you love. You can kind of talk about the dish in a different way and engage with the guests to see their reaction. Maybe over time that dish grows into more dishes and you are sourcing more locally.”

• Partnering with companies committed to sustainable and equitable food systems: “Rethink Food is another great one where if you are working in in a bigger facility and you have a good amount of food access. They they pick it up and use it to cook healthy meals for food insecure people. So you’re both reducing food waste and also helping people eat healthy. There are just so many great small organizations like BK ROT, and even the Billy Oyster project too who collect oyster shells to restore oyster reefs in NY.”

• Tap into your local resources: “Even the department of sanitation can sometimes be a great resource. A few years back, I was working with the NY Institute of Public Knowledge, and we actually worked on creating this tool called “No Free Lunch” that would basically do two things. 1) it would map out a lot of this information so people can would have a roadmap to becoming more sustainable but also 2) show some accountability. So if Lighthouse said that they were composting. You'd be like okay well who are you composting with and then BK ROT would have to verify us working with them.”

• Think green… packaging: “In terms of packaging. We'll always pick the most sustainable packaging. There's just so many decisions you can make but I would say either start with the easiest thing that you can you can change because that will just propel you in the right direction.”

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TL/DR:

• Naama and her brother Assaf opened Lighthouse in Brooklyn over 13 years ago and are still kicking (they just signed a new lease!)

• In a city dominated by hype, their focus on sustainability and community has enabled them to survive boom/bust/pandemic/media mayhem.

• The secret? Having something at the core of their business to drive them and their team. For them, it’s sustainability.

• Trying to make your biz more sustainable? Start with the easy things and build relationships with people who get what you’re doing.