How a Bronx-born food collective went from trendy dinner parties to Target shelves

Jon Gray, Pierre Serrao and Lester Walker founded Ghetto Gastro as a culinary collective in 2012. The Bronx-born trio’s mission statement reads: “Where food goes, so go its people,” 

The three held underground dinner parties out of an apartment that Gray lived in. The parties brought together friends for “Freestyle Fridays,” as Gray called them, to “break bread, play good music and have a good time.” 

Walker, a Chopped Champion, had a job at Madison Square Garden as a food server and would take home ingredients for the parties, while Gray and Serrao used their food stamps at Whole Foods for other ingredients.

The dinner parties grew in popularity, with performances by some of New York’s hottest DJs and the fusion of chef-quality food with hip-hop culture became prized and unique, moving experience in the city. 

Soon, “Freestyle Fridays,” brought bigger events and experiences, like collaborations with popular brands like Nike, Beats by Dre, Cartier, and more. 

“When the pandemic came to be, the fancy party thing might not have been a thing for a minute,” said President Sushma Dwivedi in an interview with Food Dive at Natural Products Expo West, “so the brand rightfully took a pause.” 

It wasn’t long, though, until the brand found its rhythm in packaged goods. 

Dwivedi joined the company as its first president in August of 2022, and its breakfast-forward products hit Target shelves a year later. “We met with the Target team a few times and they were lovely to us, it was great to see them take a chance on a small food brand from the Bronx,” said Dwivedi.

Though Target shelves look a little different from the clandestine dinner parties pre-pandemic, the trio has maintained their original mission: to nourish their community and to tell a story through food. 

“We’re all about teaching our people and showing them better ways, healthier ways, and really easy ways to make food delicious and nutritious in their own home,” said Serrao in an interview with Food Dive at Natural Products Expo West last week. 

The company is focused on staying as low-barrier as possible, which is why it chose to be placed in the center of the store, where most underrepresented communities shop and where mostly only ultra-high processed foods are found, said Dwivedi. 

But taste is still its highest priority, according to Gray, if a product doesn’t taste good then no one will care how healthy it is.

“We know that a lot of people can’t access a Ghetto Gastro experience in person, so this is an extension of our brand,” said Serrao. 

Though the brand’s events are still full of incredible culture and flavor — including Ghetto Gastro’s own products, there’s a lot more reach in grocery stores, and people being able to access the brand on the shelf. 

Ghetto Gastro currently offers a line of products including a pancake and waffle mix, and toastable strudels, all of which can be prepared by either heating or adding a few ingredients like oil and water.

“Make it pop, and never stop,” said Gray on the strategic decision behind the products. 

“I have a four-year-old at home and a young son, so for us, it’s not just about us being in the kitchen but we want to encourage the next generation of our people to have a healthy relationship with food,” said Serrao.

Ghetto Gastro has only been on shelves for seven months, but there’s a lot more to come, according to Dwivedi. The company plans to expand its retail presence in 2024, and then break into new categories in 2025. 

Right now, Ghetto Gastro carries a pancake and waffle mix as well as toaster pastries all to bring healthy options to the center of the grocery store. 

The trio calls the Bronx home and has a mission to share their love for food with their roots. This year, the company is partnering with Rethink Foods, a nonprofit organization based in New York that aims to address hunger by contributing to a sustainable and equitable food system.

“Community and activism is in our cells, and as mature as a company, we’ll formalize commitments to that,” said Dwivedi. 

The first collection of products available at Target consists entirely of plant-based breakfast foods made with ingredients like sweet potato powder and maple syrup, which Walker said the company sources from a farm in upstate New York. 

The pancake and waffle mix comes in original, strawberry and sweet potato while the toaster pastries are available in PB&J, Apple Cinnamon, Chocolate Raspberry and Strawberry.

“We wanted to make good food be as easy as possible for people,” said Walker, and eventually, the company wants to pump out deeper flavor profiles in new product categories.