Episode summary
Hoboken Farms Nets $4 Million in Fresh Funding | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 11 min · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec · Guests: Brad Finkel
Summary
Hoboken Farms founder Brad Finkele says the company has raised $4 million in Series A funding to keep expanding beyond the farmers markets where it started. He described a business that began in 1992 with home deliveries of Hoboken breads, mozzarella and pastas, then grew after a marinara sauce took off and a Whole Foods buyer opened the door to supermarket distribution across the Northeast and eventually the country.
Finkele said the current consumer is “scared” and “confused,” with more people cooking at home, seeking quality and value, and going out to restaurants less. He argued that small businesses need stability more than political headlines, because tariffs raise ingredient costs and create more hoops for a growing food company that still depends on consistent sourcing.
He also framed farmers markets as both an ecosystem and an incubator: a place to learn what customers want, source ingredients, and test products face to face. That customer feedback led Hoboken Farms to add sauce, and later to scale into pasta, bread and other products sold in stores and online, with more expansion planned into the Midwest, California, Texas and new product lines like pizza sauce.
Key takeaways
- Brad Finkele says Hoboken Farms has raised $4 million in Series A funding to support its next phase of growth.
- Finkele says the consumer is scared, confused and more value-conscious, with more cooking at home and less restaurant spending.
- He argues tariffs directly hurt small food businesses by raising ingredient costs and increasing operational complexity.
- Finkele says customer demand at farmers markets drove Hoboken Farms from bread and ravioli into marinara sauce and broader supermarket distribution.
- The company is expanding across the U.S. and plans new products, including pizza sauce.
Notable quotes
“I think the consumer is scared. I think the consumer is confused. I think the consumer is trying to grab on to some form of uh uh an idea of what they can plan for and they can't find it”
“what matters to me is uh stability. Uh if I'm going to plan for next month, next year, I have to be able to have an understanding of what it is I'm planning for”
“our pasta sauce is, you know, popping up on shelves. uh AC across the supermarkets of America, tariffs hit, our ingredients, our cogs go up”
“a farm market is both an ecosystem and an incubator, right? So it's an ecosystem, right”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts, radio, news. — You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio.
According to the US Small Business Administration, the US has more than 36 million small businesses and those businesses provide close to 46% of employment in the private sector. And our next guest knows a lot about that. He is someone I have known for a long time.
Bradfin is CEO of Hoboken Farms. It's a family-owned company. Started out in local farmers markets and has grown into a business that sells pasta and sauces all over the country.
And it's taken you first of all, welcome.
Thank you to be here. — It's great to have you here. — Happy birthday. Oh, thank you. — But I have known you a long time and I want to get into how you've gone from farmers markets to so much more. But I want to also ask you because you guys I've been to your, you know, bought from your different stands and stuff.
Hamilton Park, Jersey City. I have. I have. I have. And so you guys have people out in front talking with consumers all the time. How would you say the consumer is doing right now? — I think the consumer is scared. I think the consumer is confused. I think the consumer is trying to grab on to some form of uh uh an idea of what they can plan for and they can't find it.
So being more discretionary in spending. Do you see that? I well in my exact world I find uh consumers uh are not going out to eat to restaurants as much. They are cooking at home so they're coming to us but they certainly want uh unbelievably high quality and they also want value for their money.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- fresh funding
- food retail
- entrepreneurship
- small business growth
- consumer brands
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Hoboken Farms
Watch the episode
Watch “Hoboken Farms Nets $4 Million in Fresh Funding | Bloomberg Businessweek” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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