Indian food business opens new facility

The rumors about Cafe Spice’s relocation from New Windsor to Beacon may have been the only things spicier than the chicken vindaloo and other Indian dishes the company has made for more than two decades. 

In 2018, when the company owners were said to be interested in relocating to Beacon, Orange County officials launched a campaign to get them to stay.

An employee watches an assembly line at Cafe Spice’s new Beacon facility.
An employee watches an assembly line at Cafe Spice’s new Beacon facility. (Photos provided)

This month, Cafe Spice announced it would make the move to a 70,000-square-foot space at 511 Fishkill Ave., next door to the Industrial Arts Brewing Co. But it won’t be leaving New Windsor: its 50,000-square-foot facility there will remain as its headquarters, said Virgilio Felix, the chief operating officer.

cafe spiceHe said the Beacon plant will accommodate a demand for the company’s products, which include private-label foods. Felix also noted the Beacon building has higher ceilings, giving Cafe Spice “the ability to bring in more advanced automation to our processes.” 

“We’ve done things from Peruvian, Mediterranean, American and Mexican,” he said. “If someone comes to us and wants to produce a specific product, like mac-and-cheese, we’re able to do that as well.”

Empire State Development contributed $1.4 million to the $9.1 million project to renovate and equip the Beacon location, which has easy access to Interstate 84, and to renovate the Cafe Spice building in New Windsor. The firm has 150 employees.

The higher ceilings at the Beacon facility have allowed Cafe Spice to install larger equipment.
The higher ceilings at the Beacon facility have allowed Cafe Spice to install larger equipment.

Sameer Malhotra and his father, Sushil, who supplied spices and chutneys to Indian restaurants in New York City, launched Cafe Spice in 2000, opening eponymous restaurants in Manhattan, Jersey City, Philadelphia and Gaithersburg, Maryland. 

The family closed the restaurants in 2010 to concentrate on Cafe Spice Express, a chain of food stands at Grand Central Station and major universities, and making ready-to-eat foods for sales in supermarkets. When it outgrew a 5,000-square-foot facility in Long Island City, it relocated in 2008 to a former sausage plant in New Windsor in 2008.

Its vegetarian heat-and-serve and gluten-free meat dishes, sold by Whole Foods, ShopRite, Adams Fairacre Farms and other grocers, include Indian favorites such as chicken tikka masala, saag paneer and vegetable korma. It also makes naan and dairy-free products.

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Behind The Story

Type: News

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

Leonard Sparks has been reporting for The Current since 2020. The Peekskill resident holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Morgan State University and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland and previously covered Sullivan County and Newburgh for The Times Herald-Record in Middletown. He can be reached at [email protected].

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Cafe Spice’s marketing director said the number of employees it will need at full operation is still undetermined “as there are still system and process observations being done.” Payal Malhotra, the company’s vice president, said in 2019 that the company expected to have 180 to 200 employees.