It's important to honor and celebrate women owned and operated businesses right here in Central New York. You should check out Vine and Fig of Rome, owned and operated by Carly Reynolds.

Vine & Fig opened in Rome in 2019. They serve eclectic small plates, interesting cocktails, and pretty different wines. Check out some of their amazing foods and wines below:

Whether you’re craving a glass of New York State wine, craft beer, or are after fresh and creative small plates, there is an experience here waiting for you. We’re excited to connect with our community as we offer garden-to-table fresh meals and locally sourced drinks. Step inside for a uniquely comforting ambiance and delicious cuisine."

During the height of the pandemic, Carly and her team realized that restaurants weren't the only ones struggling, but people in the community. That's why she launched a way to help:

"A big thing about me opening this place and coming back to Rome was that I really love this community. I grew up here. I lived in New York City for a while but I missed it here. I don't have a lot of free time to devote to organizations that I would like to you know, help and make a difference with so we decided to start this program in 2021. We started serving oysters on Wednesdays and the proceeds from that every month would go to a different local organization has been a very successful program. We've been able to partner with all sorts of different wonderful causes in the area. And then in the summer instead of oysters we do lobster rolls and that's been extremely successful people love those and people love to you know, come out and support a good cause."

They changed it up a little bit in the fall and now call this program Donation Knights.

"We do flatbreads on Wednesdays now instead of the oysters. We'll go back to lobster rolls in the summer. We've been going strong with that program since we started it and it's been really heartening to be able to help out."

For January and February, they have combined the months donations. Both months are for the Rome Historical Society. On their website, they mention that the total amount raised for local organizations through Wednesday fundraisers is over $12,770.

When asked what advice Carly has for other women who are looking to launch their business, their restaurants, she said it's all about your close network around you:

"The most important thing I would say is... don't be afraid to ask for help find your people find other people who are doing the same thing that you are, or a similar thing. You can understand and having people in your corner and mentors is hugely helpful because it can feel very lonely to open a business especially with the time demands that it requires but making sure that you prioritize the people in your life they're going to give you the best advice and really help you with moment of clarity when everything feels kind of overwhelming because things are a little bit more overwhelming as a woman business owner people tend to not take you quite as seriously or interpret you as being a rude person if you're just baseline professional to them so that you know it's little things can bog you down so making sure you've got the right people in your corner is really just the biggest thing."

You can check out Vine & Fig at 8171 Turin Road in Rome. They are open Tuesday through Saturday. Tuesday and Wednesday the hours are 4PM - 9PM, Thursday - Saturday they close at 10PM.

"We have some people who say they hesitated to come there because they they think the food is fancy, or that it is hard to maybe wrap their head around. If you look at the menu, there's something on there for everybody. Come try us out if you haven't"

You can find them online here.

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