Misery Loves Company to transition into a market only

Misery Loves Co.’s updated market interior, image courtasy of misertylovescovt instagram

Beloved Winooski business Misery Loves Co. will be dropping its restaurant service and transitioning fully into a market on Wednesday. The store will be closed Monday and Tuesday to get ready to welcome the public. 

Kitchen service will be completely removed from the restaurant, but it will still serve grab-and-go packages with wine, beer, gifts and sandwiches. 

Onion City Chicken and Oyster, opened last year by Misery Loves Co. owners Laura Wade and Aaron Josinsky as a dinner-only spot, will now begin to serve lunch. The two businesses are across the downtown roundabout from each other making it easy for patrons who want to support the new lunchtime hours. 

The market portion of Misery Loves Co. opened during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and was expanded into the existing dining room.

Wade said that focusing entirely on the market will benefit Winooski, where “folks will not have to drive far for fresh produce.” The hope is that Misery Loves Co. can fill the void left earlier this year when downtown’s only grocery store, Commodities Natural Market, closed.

The Misery Loves Co. market initially opened to create balance in people’s lives during the chaos of the pandemic, Wade said. With social distancing, many people began to prioritize cooking at home and having fresh ingredients at hand. The market offered take-home meals and a variety of spices to add to recipes. Customers would come in and rave about the “kitchen magic” they made with the products they’d bought, Wade said. 

She wants to replicate that feeling with fresh produce and help customers feel they have an active role in their cooking.

Wade said no one on staff will be losing their job — and that more jobs will come through the added lunch service at Onion City Chicken and Oyster. Most of the staff has been at Misery for a long time, Wade said, which will help with the transition. 

Blending restaurant service and the market was hard to manage in one place for much of the staff, Wade said. The new arrangement, she said, will “prove easier when separated between two establishments.” 

Wade said guests are excited about the move, though some are a little sad that Onion City Chicken and Oyster won’t be taking on some of Misery Loves’ popular sandwiches. 

Misery Loves Co. is celebrating its 11th year in business in November. Wade said the staff are grateful for the community they have built and confident customers will come with them on the “different waves of their journey.”