Reopen Crossie's: A Beloved Community Spot

Jedai Stevens and Kevin Collins opened up Crossie's Counter in September of 2023 as a mission to offer delicious casual food to a neighborhood largely populated by high-end and overpriced restaurants. We understood that the community lacked a place where you could have quick and pleasurable service without overspending.

Crossie's Counter operates out of a mobile trailer unit that has been turned into a commercial kitchen and rendered immobile as we are attached to the ground. It is located inside a private lot, accompanied by picnic tables, music speakers, and a projector to encourage guests to hang out.

After a year in business, Crossie's Counter maintained a 4.9-star review on Google as well as a high level of customer retention. We did incredible in our first year of business.

Unfortunately, in December of 2024, a 311 complaint was made about our permit (Mobile Vending Unit) and how we weren't actually mobile. The business was built to remain in its fixed location.

This unexpected complaint warranted a visit from the Department of Health, which shut down Crossie's Counter.

In order for us to re-open, we must lay a 20-foot water drainage pipe from the trailer unit into the city sewer, which will qualify us as a restaurant in NYC rather than a Mobile Food Truck, which is legally how we previously operated.

The purpose of this GoFundMe is to raise the funds needed for this project, as well as operational costs to get back up and running once the plumbing and construction are finished.

After speaking with a plethora of plumbers, architects, and expeditors, we were able to create a rough estimate of about $15,000-$20,000 that it will cost to get the construction and plumbing started and finished.

Step 1: $2,000 pays a licensed Site Surveyor to come and survey the grounds above surface and sub-surface utilities, which is then printed and given to an architect to create construction plans.

Step 2: $9,000 pays Architect and Expeditor to file plumbing plans with DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) as well as other permits required when tapping into the NYC sewer system. This also includes permit approval from the Department of Buildings and a permit to close off the street during construction.

Step 3: $5,000 to hire plumbers and purchase materials (This cost could greatly vary depending on the direction of the pipe and any unaccounted-for barriers beneath the ground, which essentially lengthens the amount of time needed to build a water drainage system).

Step 4: Inspections from the Department of Buildings and the Department of Environmental Protection.

Remaining funds are needed to upgrade our kitchen as we will be operating at a 38% increase as per our guests requests to be open more.

We were previously open 4 days a week, 5-7 hours a day. With our re-open, we will be open 6 days a week, 10-12 hours a day.

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