Even if you're looking for it, it's easy to drive right past Cox Business Center without giving it a second glance, not realizing that the nondescript gray-and-white building near the north end of Cox Lane in Cutchogue may be the best-kept business secret in town.

On quiet days, this small industrial park resembles a ghost town. On busier days, it's a hub of activity, with everything from vinegar to potato chips to name tags being made there. Some of the eclectic array of businesses have natural ties to the area's agricultural bounty; others do not. But this one building, owned by the North Fork Resource Group, is home to all six.

"It really is an interesting group," said artist Rod Tryon of Rod Tryon Designs, his graphic design firm.

For example, who would have thought that name tags for 1,500 Kinko's stores throughout the world would be produced right in Cutchogue? Those name tags are the work of Mr. Tryon's wife, Kit Tryon, who shares a unit in the building with her husband. Ms. Tryon's business, Tryon Graphics, does engraving work.

The Tryons, both former Kinko's employees, lived in California for 25 years before moving in December to the North Fork, where Ms. Tryon has family roots dating back to the 1600s. It didn't take long for the Tryons to set up shop. They were in the right place at the right time when they came upon the Cutchogue building.

"Our whole move out here was very scary," said Ms. Tryon. "But everything fell into place." The Tryons are happy. What had been a 40-minute commute from home to work in California has been slashed to four minutes, and their new work space is perfect for their needs.

Ms. Tryon hopes to expand Tryon Graphics but for now is kept busy churning out between 3,000 and 5,000 name tags a month for Kinko's, the provider of business products and services. "It's a lot of name tags," laughed Ms. Tryon, who sends shipments out of the building every work day.

Mr. Tryon, a professional street-chalk artist whose work has been featured at festivals all over the country, has been drawn to graphic arts since handling the signage for his father's grocery store as a youngster. Nowadays, he spends his time working in pastels and paint, and designing logos and computer graphics. "It's working out great," he said of the move east. "I'm just sort of getting established. I'm just trying to get my name out there."

The same could be said of their Cox Lane neighbors, Jayne McCahill, Jeri Woodhouse and her husband, John Woodhouse. They are the owners of A Taste of the North Fork, which makes food products from local produce.

Ms. McCahill and Ms. Woodhouse had worked in separate kitchens before forming a partnership and moving into the 60 x 90 foot unit last fall. "It was the best move we ever made," said Ms. McCahill, who showed a visitor the well-organized space, with kitchen, sink, stove and refrigerator at one end, and desk at the other. "We met down here, we looked at it, and we said, 'You know what, we can do this.' It went together like a puzzle."

And so, the operators of A Taste of the North Fork became one of the building's first tenants, and got right to work. Vinegar from local wines, jellies, brownie and cookie mixes, spices and glazes are only some of the many items they produce, along with gift baskets. At least seven categories of products are listed under the company name. Among them are 17 varieties of jams and jellies alone. Pickles are in the plans for the Fourth of July. A Taste of the North Fork also offers customers the makings for home gourmet tastings.

All the bottling, labeling and packaging is done in-house.

Ms. McCahill is constantly experimenting and doing taste tests-on the lookout for something new. One recent day she found she had some leftover apple juice after making dressings. "My mind says apple juice, rosemary, ginger and garlic," she said. Voilá. She created a chicken glaze. "It's delicious," she said.

The delightful aroma from the kitchen wafts next door and can be smelled by Matt Kaessinger, the warehouse manager for AdvantageNurtrition.com. An internet site that sells vitamins, nutritional supplements and food bars, AdvantageNutrition.com has been in business since 1995.

The company, owned by Mr. Kaessinger's brother, Peter, is based in Portland, Maine. Its warehouse used to be in Middle Island, but the growing business needed more space, hence the move to Cutchogue, where 1,300 square feet of main floor space, plus a loft, fill the need.

"Every year we've been growing," Mr. Kaessinger said.

Because it is a mail-order business, shipments are going out of the office daily. "If UPS works, I work," he quipped.

Nearby is a new business venture. North Fork Potato Chips, owned by Martin and Carol Sidor, a third-generation Mattituck farm family, has a modest plant on site that will produce all-natural chips that are expected to hit the market soon. The Sidors, who grow 180 acres of potatoes along Oregon Road, will manufacture the first locally produced potato chips since the 1960s, when the Warner family brand, which came out of Riverhead, vanished.

In Cutchogue, the potatoes will be loaded into a hopper, cleaned, skinned, sliced and then deposited into a computer-operated fryer, which can hold 100 gallons of sunflower oil. After being cooked, the chips are salted and packaged into 6-ounce and 2-ounce bags. A variety of flavored chips and a line of sweet potato chips are planned.

Mr. Sidor has expressed confidence in the new venture.

"I understand business; there are no guarantees," he recently told Times/Review Newspapers. "It's worth taking a shot."

Two other businesses, rlh Land Planning Service and Humble Roots Inc., a produce distributor, also operate out of the Cutchogue building but could not be reached by presstime.

All in all, it's a creative, diverse group with perhaps only two things in common: the desire to succeed in business on the North Fork, and the building they share.

"It's a very comfortable place to be," said Ms. McCahill. "It's my home away from home right now."

More News

Newsday - The perfect jelly, September 2004
Distinction Magazine - Savor a Taste of the North Fork, Aug/Sept 2004
People, Places, & Plants - Summer 2003