Taste for the Space brings restaurant competition to Belden Village Mall

JACKSON TWP. — Belden Village Mall's Taste for the Space event Saturday drew more than 850 guests to watch nine competitors vying for a total prize worth $140,000 — including a $50,000 investment and six months' free rent at an eatery space in the mall.

The nine competitors were Big A#$ Salads, Blue Smoke, The Cheesecake Bar LLC, Daisy Pops, iRiE Jamaican Kitchen, Merrybrook Baking Co., Poagies BBQ, SOL Pie Pizza and Taco Buddy. Event sponsors included US Foods and Dave & Buster's.

Each competitor shared a signature tasting dish, or a few options from which to choose, with the crowd. Community members then voted via text message for their favorite restaurant, and the judging panel, comprised of eight people influential in the local food community alongside two Belden Village Mall tenant managers and representatives from the mall’s corporate owner, scored the competing restaurants.

“We want to do more than simply fill an eatery space, we want to build a food community and support local small business,” said Alisa Carl, Belden Village Mall marketing and business development manager, in a news release before the event. “Our center serves the community, so of course we want to involve the public in shaping the future of their local dining.”

Ticket proceeds from the event were donated to Stark County Hunger Task Force to help provide free groceries to those in need. The event also had a beer and wine garden featuring Hoodletown Brewing Co. and Gervasi Vineyard with sales benefiting Run to Ohio Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

Entertainment was provided by local band Eric Brooke. There also was a kids' section, sponsored by Dave & Buster's, that included a T. rex demonstration, face painters, games and more.

How the Taste for the Space event came together

Carl said Pacific Retail Capital Partners, the corporate owner of Belden Village Mall, has run this event at centers across the U.S. Carl modeled the Belden event on one at a mall in Chicago.

The corporation looked at the demographics and the amount of locally owned restaurants in the area and thought Taste for the Space would be a good way to fill mall space with the help of the community, Carl said.

To participate, restaurants had to fill out an extensive application and include a video of themselves. The mall staff wanted to get a real feel for each restaurant’s business plan and chefs to see if they would be a good fit for a space in the mall.

Some of the finalists don’t have a brick-and-mortar business yet, so they were thrilled to have an opportunity to win a space.

“There are two chefs that do not have a business right now. The one is called Blue Smoke and the other one is Taco Buddy,” said Carl. “The owner of Blue Smoke … has been wanting to open his own business for quite some time. …

“To be able to look at some of these chefs that want a business, it’s amazing that we can look at them and say, ‘We want to help you start your business,’ and give them an opportunity that maybe they wouldn’t be able to do without a competition like this,” she said.

More about the food at Belden Village Mall’s Taste for the Space event

Guests roamed around sampling food from each participating restaurant. Dishes ranged from pulled pork sliders from Blue Smoke, to margarita pizza slices from SOL Pie Pizza, to a variety of salads from Big A#$ Salads, to multiple kinds of cheesecake from The Cheesecake Bar and four kinds of cake pops from Daisy Pops.

Also on the menu were soft pretzels and doughnuts from Merrybrook Baking, jerk chicken tacos from Taco Buddy, pulled pork macaroni and cheese from Poagies BBQ, and an island bowl with rice, beef, mango and salsa from iRiE Jamaican Kitchen.

Judging from the buzz of the crowd, standouts appeared to be iRiE Jamaican Kitchen and Blue Smoke.

Blue Smoke's dish was called the Armadillo. “It’s a jalapeño wrapped in sausage wrapped in bacon with cream cheese inside,” said local chef Pete Carbone, who also is a trustee at the Tri-County Restaurant Association. “It’s very good!”

“I’ve heard nothing but positive responses about the event,” Carl said. “I keep hearing good things about iRiE Jamaican Kitchen. It seems like a top pick.”

Others couldn’t decide which they liked best.

“I’m so impressed with everyone,” said Amanda DeVries, who works for the corporate  leasing company of Belden Village Mall. “The pretzels and doughnuts (from Merrybrook Baking Co.) are really good. I liked iRiE a lot.

“I also like the idea of salad (from Big A#$ Salads). I’m from Chicago, so we’re big into being healthy. I don’t know if that would go over as well here,” DeVries said.

“Everyone is into gluten-free,” Carbone said. He noted that he liked SOL Pie Pizza’s concept. “I think it would be a good fit.

“I'm really glad to see an independent restaurant will be going in,” Carbone added. “I'm glad it's all independents participating.”

How the vendors and Belden Village Mall felt about the event

As food lines started to slow, the vendors and mall staff could finally enjoy the event and take it in.

“I’m 100% just blown away,” Blue Smoke owner Jamie Moore said of the event. “I’m super grateful to be chosen to participate. This is an amazing opportunity for a new chef without a brick-and-mortar shop.”

SOL Pie Pizza owner Alan Frank had similar sentiments.

“I think it went very well. This is a great opportunity,” Frank said. “We’ve been wanting to expand for 14 years. If we were to win, we’d like to do a stromboli concept with custom strombolis.”

He also mentioned how organized the event was, noting he has been a part of many food events over the years. Carl said she'd heard similar comments from many vendors.

She said it was amazing to see so many people attend. “Kids are having fun. Families are enjoying themselves,” Carl said.

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Julie Sanderson, a representative from Franklin Park Mall in Toledo, said it was the first event like this that she has helped out with, and she loved seeing the enthusiasm of the community and the vendors. She mentioned how great it is for the community input regarding what restaurant they want to see in their mall.

How the winner will be chosen

The winner will be announced in a few weeks. After votes from the community are tallied, with scores and comments from judges taken into consideration, the mall will meet with its leasing team to review the top restaurants' business plans to see which will fit best in one of the three spots available in the mall — the space where The Rail was, a food court site or a kiosk in the center of the mall.

“It’s about figuring out their business plan, what space would work best for them and seeing if they can fit in,” said Carl. “We want to make sure that they’re going to be able to be sustainable long term in the mall.

“We want someone good, new, authentic — just a new idea — inside the mall. ... I think the community voting will have a huge impact on who we will look at the most,” said Carl.

Reach Kelsey at kelsey.davis@cantonrep.com

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Belden Village Mall hosts competition to find new restaurant