Craften food hall was built by the community for the community. While their first location opened in February 2022 in Knightdale, North Carolina, Craften is already breaking ground on their second location in Clayton, North Carolina, in May. Director of Operations Max Trujillo explains how Craften is reimagining the traditional food hall to offer food and beverages from a variety of carefully curated concepts that are all conveniently connected.  

What inspired Craften?

“My partner and I found a need for multiple food options in the town of Knightdale and collaborated with local food truck operators to create Craften. We also unified the ordering process by only using one ordering terminal for our guests’ benefit.”

What do you love about your business?

“I love that we can provide so much diversity of food and drink into an underserved area. I also love that we are helping other small businesses have a chance at starting their own brick and mortar businesses.

We have 4 independent kitchens at Craften, ranging from a traditional NY Pizzeria, a taqueria, a burger/hot dog shop, and an authentic Venezuelan restaurant. We also have a Café that features a local coffee roaster and a full bar program.”

What’s the most interesting thing to happen to your business?

“The most interesting thing that has happened so far is the outpour of interest from other small towns asking for us to open a Craften in their neighborhoods. We are excited to bring this concept to more and more places as we grow.”

What is the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome?

“It’s what we’re still dealing with: the buildout of the business. From supply chain woes to rises in raw materials, it’s been one thing after another. But it’s not supposed to be easy, right? We knew we were going to be challenged from the start and ow we are so close to completion.

The walk-ins, store fronts, steel and garage doors were all backed up and caused us about 6 months of delays, so we had to create small pop-up events and grassroots marketing to generate buzz before we officially opened up. With our next location about to break ground, we are prepared to order everything extremely early to avoid those issues again!”

Which Cambro products help make your business work?

“First and foremost, it’s got to be the Décor Series Camtrays! Since we are a food hall with multiple concepts of food and drink purveyors, it’s the trays that connect everyone at Craften. We have 2 colors of branded trays that go out to every guest in the building. They look slick and provide an important need.”

Links for Craften

Website | Facebook | Instagram

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