#HipNJ’s Lisa Marie Latino sits down with Luciana Gencarelli from Zest Eats in Fairfield, NJ.
Luciana founded Zest when she was in college. She ran Zest on the side out of a commercial kitchen, but she always knew she wanted to start her own business. Luciana had the opportunity to live her dream and open her very own storefront in 2017.
With the help of her then-boyfriend, now husband TJ, they have an extremely successful business. When Luciana first opened the storefront, TJ worked at his father’s bakery daily and after his shift, he would leave to come help her. After a few months, Zest got a lot busier, so he started working with Luciana full time. Eventually, they got engaged and married. They even took pictures at Zest on their wedding day. With TJ’s knowledge from his father’s bakery, he helped her expand the menu of bakery items and recipe collection.
Not only does Zest have an amazing bakery menu, they also offer salads, soups, acai bowls, smoothies and their very popular “krust,” which are their variations on gluten free toasts. In addition, they offer weekly meal prep for anyone that doesn’t have time to cook but still wants to eat healthy. All of the ingredients at Zest are naturally gluten and dairy-free. Most items on the menu are vegan, but customers can add organic chicken or eggs if they would like.
Luciana describes some of their most popular tasty treats — Cacao Cookie Monster, Chickpea Cacao Bar (their best seller), Sweet Potato Brownie (Luciana’s fave), and Peanut Butter Pretzel cookie ( which is our personal fave at Hip NJ.)
Visit Zest at their store located at 418 Fairfield Ave, Fairfield, NJ 07004.
You can also check out Zest online at their website, Instagram, and Facebook.
For all things Garden State, keep checking out HipNewJersey.com!
Hip New Jersey and Lisa Marie would like to thank Bloomingdale’s Short Hills (wardrobe) for styling Lisa.
