In 2021, Sara Sellarole’s Bright Side Kitchen and Catering was a “ghost kitchen” and lunch pickup window at the Terrace Tavern in Beach Haven Terrace. With her 25 years of cooking experience and several years as an independent business owner, Sellarole has a new home on Mill Creek Road in Manahawkin, in the space shared by East Bay Kombucha.

Tavern owner Toby Sweeney facilitated the partnership. “We realized we were underserving our retail customers by not offering a full restaurant experience,” East Bay owner Heather Committee explained. “In the past, we had a limited food menu, but operating a full-scale café was beyond our expertise.