Main Line caterer Tasty Table opens a market for takeout and pantry staples

Within a week of the coronavirus shutting down the Main Line office parks, Tasty Table Catering’s George McLoughlin lost his bread and butter: the 400 to 800 lunches a day he and his staff delivered to such businesses as Vanguard and Lincoln Financial Group.

The Berwyn caterer switched to home delivery of family meals and set up a fund-raiser to feed workers at Bryn Mawr, Paoli, and Riddle Hospitals.

But with 80% of his business gone, he needed to make a second pivot at his facility, tucked just off Lancaster Avenue at 10 Leopard Road.

McLoughlin spent the early part of the summer converting the first floor — previously where takeout orders were assembled before heading out the door — into a full-service market, which opens Wednesday, July 29. Jonathan Raduns, a veteran of Wegmans who consults in food merchandising, set it up, and Lisa Vonderstuck of Brandywine View Antiques decorated it.

The market pivot is not new. Almost from the outset of the pandemic, restaurants like Founding Farmers in King of Prussia began offering staples as part of their regular menu. Gran Caffe L’Aquila converted its entire first floor to an Italian grocery in June.

McLoughlin’s Tasty Table Market has three grab-and-go refrigerator cases and a freezer stocked with meats and cheeses, as well as prepared foods, such as black bean corn salad, orzo lemon tomato salad, mango chicken quesadillas, salmon with dill cream, crab cakes, stuffed shells, chicken Parm, and crab cakes.

Shelves have pantry items, such as olive oils, vinegars, spices and seasonings, dry pastas and grains, and coffee beans and tea.

Sandwiches are made to order over lunchtime (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.). Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.