Specialty grocer adds second outpost; sticks with shared markets

Michael Davis Nicolas Farrell, owners of MondoMarket at The Source, and soon at Stanley Marketplace. (Amy DiPierro)

Michael Davis Nicolas Farrell, owners of MondoMarket at The Source, and soon at Stanley Marketplace. (Amy DiPierro)

The duo behind a Denver specialty grocer is doubling down with a second location in another shared marketplace. And adding prepared food.

Nicolas Farrell and Michael Davis, owners of MondoMarket at The Source, have landed a $150,000 loan through the Small Business Administration to open their second grocery in Stanley Marketplace. (They’ll also be reinvesting money from their current location.)

Farrell and Davis bit on space at the Stanley because at The Source visitors sit down for a meal at a nearby restaurant and then swing by MondoMarket for packaged foods, spices, charcuterie or cheeses on their way out.

“We get traffic because people are coming to eat at the restaurants in the afternoons and evenings,” Farrell said.

MondoMarket sells packaged foods, spices, charcuterie and cheeses - mostly imported. (Amy DiPierro)

MondoMarket sells packaged foods, spices, charcuterie and cheeses – mostly imported. (Amy DiPierro)

And Farrell thinks Stapleton is ripe for a concept like MondoMarket, which caters to customers in their late 20s to early 40s.

“Here (at The Source) we built a store waiting for the demographic to come to us, all the construction,” said Farrell. “In Stapleton, the demographic is built and they’re waiting for us to come to them.”

For their forthcoming spot at Stanley, Farrell and Davis are tweaking their recipe: they’re building a kitchen and experimenting with prepared foods like salads and baked chickens.

The new kitchen will also give MondoMarket more space to make fruit spreads; earlier this fall, MondoMarket sold out of passion fruit, apple and other spreads it made in small batches at The Source.

MondoMarket at Stanley will be 2,400 square feet including the kitchen. The company’s location at The Source is 1,000 square feet.

White Construction Group is the general contractor and Patrick McMichael is the architect.

The Stanley Marketplace project revived the old Stanley Aviation building. (Rob Melick)

The Stanley Marketplace project revived the old Stanley Aviation building. (Rob Melick)

The business has eight employees. Farrell said that number could double when the second store opens.

Farrell and Davis started MondoFood.com as an online retail operation in 2009. From the start, the idea was to distribute ingredients that chefs covet but that the average consumer would be pressed to find even at specialty food stores.

Today inventory is about 30 percent domestic and 70 percent imports. The online catalog includes dried fruits and meats, smoked fish, candies and chocolates and cheeses. Among other goods, Mondo sells almond flour from Italy for baking and black currant syrup from France for bartending.

MondoMarket, opened in 2012, is an extension of the online store. Farrell calls it the company’s “warehouse for the Internet. Mondo also has a separate warehouse with a bay for trucks.

Michael Davis Nicolas Farrell, owners of MondoMarket at The Source, and soon at Stanley Marketplace. (Amy DiPierro)

Michael Davis Nicolas Farrell, owners of MondoMarket at The Source, and soon at Stanley Marketplace. (Amy DiPierro)

The duo behind a Denver specialty grocer is doubling down with a second location in another shared marketplace. And adding prepared food.

Nicolas Farrell and Michael Davis, owners of MondoMarket at The Source, have landed a $150,000 loan through the Small Business Administration to open their second grocery in Stanley Marketplace. (They’ll also be reinvesting money from their current location.)

Farrell and Davis bit on space at the Stanley because at The Source visitors sit down for a meal at a nearby restaurant and then swing by MondoMarket for packaged foods, spices, charcuterie or cheeses on their way out.

“We get traffic because people are coming to eat at the restaurants in the afternoons and evenings,” Farrell said.

MondoMarket sells packaged foods, spices, charcuterie and cheeses - mostly imported. (Amy DiPierro)

MondoMarket sells packaged foods, spices, charcuterie and cheeses – mostly imported. (Amy DiPierro)

And Farrell thinks Stapleton is ripe for a concept like MondoMarket, which caters to customers in their late 20s to early 40s.

“Here (at The Source) we built a store waiting for the demographic to come to us, all the construction,” said Farrell. “In Stapleton, the demographic is built and they’re waiting for us to come to them.”

For their forthcoming spot at Stanley, Farrell and Davis are tweaking their recipe: they’re building a kitchen and experimenting with prepared foods like salads and baked chickens.

The new kitchen will also give MondoMarket more space to make fruit spreads; earlier this fall, MondoMarket sold out of passion fruit, apple and other spreads it made in small batches at The Source.

MondoMarket at Stanley will be 2,400 square feet including the kitchen. The company’s location at The Source is 1,000 square feet.

White Construction Group is the general contractor and Patrick McMichael is the architect.

The Stanley Marketplace project revived the old Stanley Aviation building. (Rob Melick)

The Stanley Marketplace project revived the old Stanley Aviation building. (Rob Melick)

The business has eight employees. Farrell said that number could double when the second store opens.

Farrell and Davis started MondoFood.com as an online retail operation in 2009. From the start, the idea was to distribute ingredients that chefs covet but that the average consumer would be pressed to find even at specialty food stores.

Today inventory is about 30 percent domestic and 70 percent imports. The online catalog includes dried fruits and meats, smoked fish, candies and chocolates and cheeses. Among other goods, Mondo sells almond flour from Italy for baking and black currant syrup from France for bartending.

MondoMarket, opened in 2012, is an extension of the online store. Farrell calls it the company’s “warehouse for the Internet. Mondo also has a separate warehouse with a bay for trucks.

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