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Gary Singh grew up watching his mother cook in Punjab, India, learning the rhythms of authentic Indian cuisine long before he ever thought about opening a restaurant. When he moved to Syracuse as an adult, he decided to bring those recipes to the public at Salt City Market last October.

“We wanted to introduce authentic Indian food here in Syracuse,” Singh, owner of Masala Heaven, said. “The kind of ingredients and cooking that you would find in restaurants back home.”

Singh is one of dozens of entrepreneurs who have opened stalls at Salt City Market. Located on 484 South Salina St., the market opened in January 2021 and is now celebrating its fifth anniversary. The market currently has 15 vendors serving cuisines from around the world, serving Ethiopian injera to Vietnamese pho to Jamaican jerk chicken.

Janie Alvarez visited Salt City Market for the first time recently before attending a comedy show at a nearby theater. She and her husband graduated from Syracuse University and returned to central New York after living in Washington, D.C. They also brought Alvarez’s in-laws along.

The group sampled six different vendors in one visit — a Vietnamese pho noodle soup, a Marco Polo sandwich, a Philly cheesesteak bun from SINBUN, a fried chicken sandwich from the soul food vendor, a jerk chicken burrito and a strawberry crème brûlée dessert bun.

Alvarez said she would not have tried the jerk chicken burrito, which became her favorite dish of the evening, if her husband had not suggested they split multiple items. The variety allowed her to step outside her comfort zone.

“I love that you can experience all these different cultures and foods in one area and kind of pick and choose,” Alvarez said.

Salt City Market was created through a $25 million commitment from the Allyn Family Foundation. The organization founded Salt City Market as a nonprofit venture designed to lower barriers for entrepreneurs of color and women trying to break into the notoriously difficult restaurant industry, CJ Butler, communications and marketing manager of Salt City Market, said.

“The Allyn family was able to garner so much wealth from a small business, and they wanted to create that opportunity for other people in central New York,” Butler said.

Syracuse locals Beth Genung and Olivia Melinski have been coming to Salt City Market regularly since it opened. They remember when the market hosted Small Business Sunday, an outdoor pop-up vendor event in the parking lot.

“It reflects the community as a whole,” Genung said. “It’s not just chain restaurants. It’s nice to see what people can bring to the city that’s different.”

The market’s global cuisine offerings stand out in a city that otherwise has “boring food options,” Genung and Melinski said. Syracuse has a diverse population, and Salt City Market reflects that diversity in a way few other spaces do, they said.

Butler said the market carefully considers its vendor mix when spaces are available. The team thinks about what cuisines are missing, what customers have requested and whether potential vendors can succeed in a shared space environment.

The market provides more than just physical space for business owners. Vendors receive technical assistance with business plans, accounting and marketing before opening their stalls. The market also provides most kitchen equipment and subsidizes common fees like trash removal and janitorial services — costs that typically eat into the slim profit margins restaurant owners face, Butler said.

For Danielle Jackson, owner of ElleRae’s Taco, that support turned her dreams of owning her store to reality. Jackson had never worked in a kitchen or owned a business before joining the market two years ago. In 2023, she won her spot through a competitive summer tryout process after friends encouraged her to apply.

“They helped me with everything down to writing my business plan, helping me get my loan through CenterState CEO, and just helping and guiding me through the whole process of having a business,” Jackson said.

Jackson, who moved to Syracuse from San Jose, CA, 11 years ago, wanted to bring a taste of home to her new community. She serves California-style tacos from a menu that has become popular with students from a nearby high school.

Salt City Market covers the costs of common fees like trash removal and janitorial services while offering technical assistance for their vendors. Providing these services allows vendors to easily transition into the restaurant industry. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer

The market has become more than a business incubator for Jackson. She uses it as a platform for community building, playing rock, paper, scissors with students after school for free tacos and creating what she calls a safe space for young people.

“It’s not just a business that I have,” Jackson said. “What I’m trying to build is a staple within the community.”

Bri Lastrina, co-owner of SINBUN, began her journey to Salt City Market even before she made her first cinnamon bun. She and her husband Jake enrolled in the StartIt! business course offered upstairs from the market in 2020, learning the fundamentals of small business ownership while developing their concept for SINBUN.

The couple spent six months operating as a ghost kitchen out of a teaching facility on North Salina Street before applying for a permanent stall at the market. They worked with Salt City Market employees to figure out paperwork and logistics as they solidified their concept.

“I almost felt like we had a dedicated advisor specifically for us, facilitating down to our signage and helping market everything,” Lastrina said, “We couldn’t have done it without them.”

SINBUN innovates the traditional cinnamon bun by offering both sweet and savory options. When they first opened, customers overwhelmingly ordered the familiar classic cinnamon bun. Now, after two years in the market, their goal of increasing savory bun sales has succeeded, catching up to the sweet varieties, Lastrina said.

Madison DuBois has worked at Cake Bar for all five years that Salt City Market has been open. As team leader, she has watched the space evolve and seen multiple vendors expand beyond Salt City Market to open their own standalone locations.

The market also serves social functions beyond business development. DuBois praised that the space keeps young people off the streets and formerly housed a program that employed people experiencing homelessness.

For customers, Salt City Market functions as a third space, DuBois said. The market features a community room available for rent, a bar area and communal seating where students study, remote workers set up laptops and groups meet for casual hangouts.

Operating in Salt City Market requires a particular personality type, Butler said. Entrepreneurs who open restaurants typically want complete independence, but working at the market involves cooperation on tasks, everything from breaking down cardboard boxes to maintaining shared spaces.

“We want to make sure that it’s a good fit for the market and also for the entrepreneur coming in,” Butler said. “The last thing we want is to put someone in a worse position than they were before they entered the market.”

A relatively new addition to Salt City Market, Singh had already operated a location in Cicero for a year before joining Salt City Market. He makes most items in-house, including gravies, butter chicken and naan bread, using recipes passed down from his mother and wife.

Singh’s menu features popular North Indian dishes like butter chicken and chicken tikka masala, as well as regional specialties like Sarson ka Saag, a famous Punjabi dish. The market also employs a South Indian cook to prepare authentic masala dosa.

For Singh, joining the market was about more than expanding his business. It was about contributing to a space that celebrates cultural diversity and introduces Syracuse residents to authentic cuisines they might not otherwise encounter, he said.

Butler said the market has no immediate plans to add new vendors after the most recent additions. Instead, the team is focused on keeping the space fresh through events and programming. Last fall’s Grown-Up Book Fair brought together local booksellers for a curated shopping experience. An upcoming Heart Mart on Feb. 12 will feature all women vendors offering Valentine’s Day gifts.

“We want to continue to be a space that feels new and feels like an exciting experience for people,” Butler said.

Five years later, Salt City Market has established itself as both a business incubator and a community gathering place, Butler said. Jackson sees the market as proof that community investment in small businesses can create ripple effects beyond profit margins.

“Having this as a hub, there’s so many people that come in here,” Jackson said. “It’s a great space to have just as a meeting point, a safe space.”

Published on February 3, 2026 at 10:09 pm
Contact Caroline: cberskin@syr.edu