©2023 Saratoga Photographer.com
by Jill Nagy
When Adam Foti’s PDT Marketplace opens later this month, it will be “not like any supermarket you have ever seen,” he said.
The market, in the former Price Chopper store at 55 Railroad Place in downtown Saratoga Springs, will have seven aisles of groceries surrounded by prepared foods, flowers and plants, a variety of personal care and household products. It will also have a bar and places to sit and eat.
PDT stands for Pomme de Terre, translated on the PDT Marketplace website as “apple of the earth,” but more commonly, a potato.
Foti combines his skills and experience as a trained chef with what he has learned in more than 20 years in corporate retail.
He describes the atmosphere of his business as having a “French and Italian feeling.” To produce that feeling, he had the building completely gutted and renovated.
“We just kept the shell of the old store,” he said. Bonacio Construction did the work, guided by ABN Design.
When he opens, a staff of 62 will include chefs, bar tenders, and other specialists as well as sales staff. Foti said he is already fully staffed “but we always take applications.”
The chefs and cooks will work in an open kitchen, preparing food to be eaten on the premises or taken out, either ready to eat or ready to be warmed up and served. In addition, they will offer cooking demonstrations and classes.
Bar tenders will serve up a menu of four wines and craft beers. The bar and other locations in the store will offer limited menus of food to be eaten on the premises.
The cafe will have a rotating menu: comfort food on Monday, Latin menu on Tuesday, Italian specialties on Wednesday, “world cuisine” on Thursday, pub food on Friday, and brunch on Saturday and Sunday.
The store’s dairy section will offer cheeses and other dairy products from around the world as well as locally made products. The candy section combines old-fashioned penny candy with high end chocolates.
A produce section, at the center of the store, will stock “high end really super fresh” products, locally sourced when available. There will be a butcher on the premises. Fish and seafood will come largely from the Boston area. Fans of charcuterie can purchase them at the deli counter by the pound or create their own charcuterie boards to take home.
Foti is the founder and owner of PDT Catering. That company was created in 2012 and is headquartered in Ballston Lake. He will continue to offer catering services as well as private parties.
Foti said, he already has private parties booked.
For customers to serve up what they buy, Foti will sell “earth-friendly” dishes and flatware—compostable, made from bamboo or palm leaf or recycled materials, no styrofoam. The Marketplace will also sell flowers for the table and plants for more permanent display.
PDT Marketplace will open quietly in mid-March, if all goes according to plan. “Once we have our feet under us,” we will have a formal opening, probably in mid-April, Foti said.
In the meantime, there is further information on the marketplace website, pdtmarket.com, or by telephone at 518-636-9404.