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Woman selling pasta from Park Slope stoop moves sales to new restaurant

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Woman selling pasta from stoop moves sales to new restaurant

Lauren Glassberg reports on the woman who makes and then sells her own pasta from her Park Slope stoop.

PARK SLOPE, Brooklyn (WABC) -- At the height of the pandemic, when pasta was scarce at grocery stores, Allison Arevalo started making her own.

"I started ordering these big bags of semolina and I was making way more pasta than my family could eat so I just started sending around emails to my neighbors to see if anyone wanted pasta," Arevalo said.

And they did. So much so, a mini-business was born. Soon, she was selling pasta from her Park Slope stoop.

"Twice a week, I send out an email on when ordering opens, and it literally sells out in four minutes now," she said. "It's amazing. I wish I could make more."

She's been making plenty, 64 pounds of pasta twice a week. She sells it for $6 per pound.

This is really about more than pasta. It's about community.

"Yesterday, I had one mom pick up pasta, she's like you've given us such joy during the pandemic being able to walk out and pick up pasta from your stoop, it's been amazing," Arevalo said.

Her stoop sales are now relocating to the restaurant Allison had planned to open when the pandemic hit.

"In essence selling pasta on the porch has been a soft opening?" Eyewitness New asked.

"Absolutely, I didn't intend that but now so many people know about the restaurant," she said. "I'm excited about the opening."

It's something they chat about at the stoop.

Customers have been showing their support by buying Arevalo's cookbook and gift cards to Pasta Louise, which is named after her grandmother.

"She really kept the whole family together and was always feeding us, you could never leave her house without eating," Arevalo said. "She taught me the importance of family and cooking."

A grandmother's legacy, that is at the heart of Arevalo's pasta, whether she's selling it from her stoop or her restaurant.