When cooking food becomes an overwhelming passion, it makes sense to dip your toe into the commercial world, maybe as a pop-up purveyor at businesses, events and farmers markets.
But how can you do that without a commercial kitchen? Partake Collective has the answer. Its ghost kitchens in downtown Long Beach include everything from pots and pans to food storage.
It was enough to attract “Pasta Mark” Esposito when he was ready to launch his business, PastaMark LLC, in 2022.
“I was literally on my way to sign a lease in Huntington Beach when I heard about Partake,” Mark said. “They had literally everything I needed. I didn’t have to buy so much going there. So here I am.”
This year, Mark signed a lease with Partake for a kitchen rental of his own. He still uses the shared kitchens rented on an hourly basis for cooking, and stores ingredients with Partake as well.
Mark began cooking professionally in 2008, working for others, including chefs like Stephanie Izard and Evan Funke. He and friends got partnered in a food truck, ultimately winning the Food Network’s The Great Food Truck Race All-Stars contest.
In 2020, what began as a potential disaster ended up a blessing for Mark, leading to his Pasta Mark moniker. He contracted a severe case of COVID, and found himself isolated in a room with not much more than a hot plate and a pasta pot.
“I’ve always had a passion for pasta,” Mark said. “Any time I’m making pasta, I’m in a good mood… It allows for a simplified niche, where I could get very good at it.
“Everyone else was making bread during COVID; I was making pasta.”
A return to the West Coast and the end of the pandemic prompted the creation of Pasta Mark LLC. Beginning with private gourmet pasta dinners, Mark quickly expanded to pop-ups at wine shops and connected to farmers markets.
Then came the pasta-making classes.
“People are fascinated with making pasta,” Mark said. “It’s pretty easy – just instinctive. I stay positive and encouraging. It’s supposed to be fun!”
Mark requires market-fresh ingredients for all his meals, which means slightly more expensive menus, but guarantees quality. He said it also creates a community with the growers at the markets. Mark helped feed firefighters during the wildfires in January, and much of the food was donated by his market friends, he said.
Partake is a community too. Mark recently catered a 150-guest wedding out of the building at 456 Elm Ave.
“I essentially used the whole building,” he said. “I was running up and down, all over the place. It was amazing.”
Mark said he has not thought about opening his own restaurant until recently, but admits that a storefront is his logical next step. “It’s all about how you can elevate your craft,” Mark said.
But for now, Partake Collective is home. To find all of Pasta Mark’s offerings, plus his pop-up locations, go to thepastamark.com.
Speaking Of Bread
Mark Esposito and Joyce Lee have a Food Network connection. While Esposito won a contest, Lee discovered her passion for baking by watching the network’s baking and decorating contest shows.
“I started baking as a child,” Joyce said. “I watched the baking competitions… I loved bringing food to the table.”
But that didn’t look like a career option, so Joyce studied engineering in school. She worked as an engineer for five years before deciding she had to follow her dream.
“I wanted to pursue what was in line with my values,” Joyce said. “So I got a job at a bakery in north Long Beach, Nonna Mercato. I actually started as a delivery driver.”
Joyce soon started decorating the cakes she was delivering, then began helping with the dessert assembly. Baking followed.
Joyce said that after a year or so, she began itching to do more. With support from her husband, Joyce struck out on her own in 2023, calling her business The Pastry Club.
But she needed a place to bake and finish pastries in a large quantity. Partake Collective fit the bill.
“I’ve been at Partake since the beginning; I’m a two-and-a-half-year renter,” Joyce said. “I use the hourly kitchens. I really like the flexibility. I can almost always reserve one at the time I want, or maybe an hour before or after.”
Joyce began to build a following with a pop-up at the Saturday farmers market at Bixby Park. She began gathering wholesale customers as well as retail fans – she had been up since 3 a.m. baking to fulfill an order the day we talked.
Weekly stops at the farmers market have been put on hold, Joyce said, so she can concentrate on research and development of more sweet and savory pastries. It all takes place at Partake.
“In addition to the flexibility, everything here is new,” Joyce said. “I use the food storage a lot too. Both the dry storage and the refrigerator/freezer are huge pluses.
“Long-term, I do want to have my own storefront,” she added. “I’m laying the groundwork now.”
Until then, Partake remains baking headquarters. Joyce fills pastry box orders through Instagram and TikTok – thepastryclub_ and thepastryclub, respectively – as well as at her website, the thepastryclub.co.
Partake Collective offers a wide range of kitchen spaces, including prep spaces, fully equipped commercial kitchens, a Chef’s & Commissary Kitchen and more. Rentals range from hourly and daily to monthly or yearly.
There is also a food hall, a marketplace and food pickup and delivery areas.
Free tours are available by appointment. For more information, go to partakecollective.com.
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