Lisa Reisman Photos
Darrell "Fred" Bellamy III with Darrell Bellamy Jr.
No junky food here: Yellow watermelon for sale.
On a sun-drenched early afternoon on Sylvan Avenue, blocks from Yale New Haven Hospital, a woman ambled along the sidewalk toward the Fruit Kings stand, stopping at the containers of fresh mango, watermelon, pineapples, and mixed berries.
“Oh,” she said, regarding a sign that read Fresh Fruit. “I thought it said free fruit.” She didn’t have any cash.
Darrell Bellamy Jr., co-proprietor, along with his son Darrell “Fred” Bellamy III, 13, gave her a container of fresh berries for free.
“Try it, you’ll see what you’ve been missing,” he told her, as Fred watched intently. “Also best way to hydrate in this heat. Let us know tomorrow.”
Fruit Kings, which popped up last week near the corner of Sylvan Avenue and Asylum Street, is quietly changing the landscape of the Hill neighborhood.
“What we have here is a food desert,” said Bellamy Jr., referring to low-income areas with limited access to affordable and healthy food. The corner stores within walking distance carry subs, sugary sodas, maybe bananas. “I always eat fruit, always eat healthy and clean, and people around here are always telling me they want to eat healthy too,” he said. The closest places for fresh produce are Stop & Shop and Edge of the Woods Market on Whalley, over a mile away.
The solution seemed clear. “We needed something in the center of this neighborhood that offered healthy, fresh fruit,” he said.
Fred has been largely unoccupied this summer until he begins eighth grade at ESUMS in the fall. Dad Bellamy Jr., who’s owner and principal of The Film Department and TCB Films, came up with a form of summer internship, an enterprise that would school his son in the fundamentals of supply and demand, and afford his neighbors, as well as passers-by, what was lacking in his neighborhood.
Using $37.36 from Fred’s allowance, the two headed to Restaurant Depot in Milford, where they bought fresh fruit and 16- and 32-ounce containers. They agreed on the cost of one 16-ounce container of fruit, $5, that would produce a reasonable ROI, or return on investment. Bellamy Jr. cut up the fruit. Fred put it in containers. Bellamy Jr. flooded social media with content for Fruit Kings. Fred made signs.
When they sold out the first day, the two knew they had something. At 6 a.m. most days they stock up at Restaurant Depot. Usually they start around noon. “People are already waiting for us,” Fred said, including neighbors and employees from the hospital. Fruit enthusiasts have come from Bridgeport, Hartford, and Waterbury, too, he said. “They saw us on Facebook.”
The long-term plan is for a fresh fruit food truck. That will take time. For now, they’ll keep reinvesting the profits, even after Fred goes back to school. “This has been picking up organically,” Bellamy Jr. said. “We can’t stop now.”
With that, Jeffrey Suggs warily approached the stand, seemingly going back and forth between the pineapples and mangos. He chose mangos. “That’s our bestseller,” Bellamy Jr. said. Suggs opened the container, speared a piece, and popped it in his mouth. His face brightened. “That tastes good,” he said. “Sweet and refreshing.”
“You gonna be here tomorrow?” he asked them.
Darrell Bellamy Jr. preaching the gospel of fresh fruit to his neighbors.
Fred and his little sister at the Fruit Kings stand.