A Young Business Owner from Northport
Among all the businesses in the country, only 30%* of them are owned by women. By that percentage alone, one can safely assume that propelling forward in a male dominated field can be difficult for a woman, especially a young woman. But Nicole Nappy of Northport, Long Island, has done just that. Through her constant ambition, adventurous nature, and personal need to succeed for herself, Ms. Nappy has become the successful owner of The Batata Café, the eclectic and multi-culturally motivated café in her own (and my own) hometown of Northport.
L: First, tell us a little about yourself.
N: Well, My name is Nicole. I grew up in Northport; I went to Northport High School. I left Northport after high school and I went to college in Virginia and got a job afterward as a software developer in Northern Virginia. So, I did that for a few years and I ended up getting an opportunity in Europe where I went to for 3 years and did software development there.
When I was there, I got to travel a lot and I went all over Europe. After the 3 years, I knew I was kind of done with the corporate world, I didn’t really want to pursue it anymore and I always wanted to be in business for myself. So I came back to New York because my family is here, and that is the main reason. But first, I decided to go backpacking through Latin America; I did that for 5 months. I got a lot of inspiration and motivation to do this. And so when I came back, I waitressed, basically; I went from working a desk job in a cooperation to just waitressing. And I actually went to Stony Brook for a semester, just taking a couple of different classes of interest. Now, I don’t know if you know the history of this spot, but my dad had Barrister’s Chocolate, and he had been in the chocolate business for 25 years. So this was his location. He also had a coffee shop. So, he was kind of ready to get out of the business, or tame it down, and I was looking to do something, to pursue something, so we talked about what we were going to do. He helped me with the whole idea and here I am today.
L: Nice! So you’ve always wanted to be a business owner?
N: I don’t know if I would say “business owner”, but I know I wanted to do something for myself. I don’t know if I initially wanted to be in retail, but some type of entrepreneurial idea had gone through my mind.
L: So your father wanted to “tone down” his chocolate and you wanted to do something for yourself…
N: I wanted to expand it. I expanded to the kitchen, because there was no kitchen before. It was just chocolate and coffee.
L: What made you come up with the idea of having “actual” food?
N: Mostly through my travels. When I was travelling, in all the places where I went to, in all these little towns in Latin America, there was always the little café that was owned by a foreigner who just decided to establish this little business in the middle of nowhere, you know? And I found it throughout Latin America. And, ideally, I would have loved to do that in Latin America, but I didn’t have the guts for that. (Ha-ha.) So I think I took a little bit from all of those little places. And I love food, and I was waitressing, and I got inspired just by being in a restaurant atmosphere, and I decided to pursue it.
L: I’ve always wanted to go away and find out what I want to do, not many people get to do that. That’s awesome that you had that opportunity. Now, our magazine, FOCUS: On Women & On Diversity, embraces all of people’s differences. From the artwork on the wall and the atmosphere to the items on the menu, it seems that you have something for everyone. What made you take that route and your inspiration…we now know that it was Latin America, but what about the artwork on the walls? It is all local art, isn’t it?
N: Yea, it’s local people. Well, I am just a big supporter of the arts in general. I’m not an artist, I mean, I love to be creative in my own way, which I think is through the food and the menu and the atmosphere. But as far as the artwork and the music goes, we tried to do open mic nights for a while. I just try to encourage people to be creative and to follow their dreams, in any way that I can help. As well as the fact that I see it as free decor. It’s beautiful décor and if I can help somebody get their name out there and sell something, that’s even better.
L: So all of the artwork can be purchased?
N: Yes.
L: That’s interesting because whenever I come in here, I would see something and think, “You know, that would go really nice in my room” or “I really like that”.
N: (Ha-ha.) Yea. When people come in here, it’s not the same thing all the time. The scenery changes.
L: You mentioned open mic nights. What other events do you have here?
N: We tried to have open mic nights and it just didn’t work. I think the musicians, the ones who are really into open mic, they have their own network of people and certain places that they go and this just wasn’t one of those places. So we stopped that. But now, what I’ve done, we started doing a “Tapas Menu”, which is a
Spanish term for “small plates”, and so its appetizer size dishes, but it’s a sit down dinner. So you come in on a Thursday, Friday, Saturday night and this place looks much different than it does right now. We cover up the chocolate, we cover up the cases, and the lights are dim and there’s linen on the tables and there’s candles. And it’s table servings, we have waiters and busboys and we have a chef. So it’s a little bit different. We’ve already been doing that for about 2 months and it’s really taken off. It’s been more successful than open mic nights were, and it’s fun. It’s another reason for people to come in. The food is excellent, and it follows with the concept of the breakfast and lunch menu at the café. It’s eclectic and fun and casual.
L: So it’s a nice balance. At this time, it’s relaxing and chill and café like, and at night it is so much nicer.
N: Yea, but it’s not like it’s “stuffy” nice. It’s very casual and relax at the same time. And so is the menu. We encourage people to order one thing and hold on to the menu if you want to order something else. It’s not, like, “What do you want to eat, and tell us now.” We aren’t going to push you out of here. We just want it to be, you know, very chill.
L: Nice. Now, as a young, female business owner, what struggles have you overcome and how have you overcome them?
N: What kind of obstacles? Gosh, well, in the beginning, it’s just so overwhelming, everything. And especially being a woman, and going to trade shows, and no matter what anyone says, I’m dealing with mostly men in the industry. Whether it’s my distributers, my sales people, finding
equipment; I go to auctions to find equipment that is discounted and it’s all men. So it’s intimidating; it’s definitely intimidating, you know. But I’m totally over it; I just feel like I’ve put my foot in there and I’ve stood up for myself.
L: Good! Do you feel being a young woman has benefitted you in any way?
N: Um, maybe. I think it’s benefited me in the fact that I can relate to my employees. I feel like I am one of them.
L: I mean, right now, when I came in, you were actually working. Not many owners work in their own restaurants.
N: Yea, and we are friends and we have a good time. I am older than everyone that works here, but I don’t feel like I’m older. I just feel like I’m one of them and I’m young at heart. And they can relate to me; I can understand them too. Especially the high school kids that work for me, they don’t have a problem talking to me about things.
L: And what advice do you have for other young women who are thinking about exploring and trying to maybe open their own business?
N: You have to go for it. The biggest obstacle was taking that first risk, you know, just plunging head first into it. And if you can get through that, you can get through anything else that comes your way. That was just the hardest part, getting through that first couple of months, I think. And being confident. No matter what, people are going to tell you, people are going to give you their opinion even though you don’t want it; and you just have to learn to take what you want and just go with it. And ignore the things that you don’t really feel are important because if you lose sight of what you have, then it’s not yours anymore.
L: Do you have any aspirations for the future, either for yourself or for the café?
N: I’m always looking for the next thing to do, always. We tried the music, it didn’t work. I am now doing the “Tapas Menu.” I’m always looking for things to utilize the space during the time that I have it, to the maximum efficiency that I can. Something else we’ve done - we started to do private parties. We are closed on Sundays, so we will hold private parties for bridal showers or baby showers, just trying to optimize the space. And that’s it for now. I’m still very ambitious. In the future, I definitely want to have a family and stuff, so I’m trying to take advantage of that now while I can before that all happens.
L: Well, thank you very much. It has been a pleasure.
N: Anytime, and thank you.
The Batata Café is located on Ft. Salonga Road in Northport. Being from Northport, myself, I can assure you that the food is delicious (the California Chicken Wrap with sweet potato fries and a lemonade is my personal favorite). Nicole Nappy, after the recording of the interview ended, expressed again that she is always willing to help out new artists. If you are interested in selling your artwork at The Batata Café, contact for Nicole Nappy is available through the Café.
By Lauren La Magna
*Statistic is from March 2005 National Women’s Business Council. Info was received from http://www.awsystems.com/nwbc/ResearchPublications/documents/key_facts_about_women_business_owners_2005_03-05.pdf
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