Graze Craze opens first Long Island shop in Bay Shore

Bay Shore added another sign of retail confidence when Graze Craze opened its first Long Island shop at 18 Fourth Avenue, a 1,100-square-foot franchise built around charcuterie boards, catering and grab-and-go sales. The debut matters beyond the menu: it shows another operator is willing to test whether this South Shore corridor can support a niche food concept aimed at office orders, social gatherings and everyday snacking.

Joe and Amy Rago, the husband-and-wife team behind the shop, are bringing very different but complementary backgrounds to the business. Joe Rago is a Culinary Institute of America graduate who spent about 30 years working as a chef in New York City, New Orleans and Key West. Amy Rago has more than 20 years of hospitality experience and has been described in coverage as a former server and bartender. Joe Rago said there was "nothing like Graze Craze" in the area, and pointed to nearby residential neighborhoods, hospitals and ferry traffic as reasons the franchise could work in Bay Shore.

The company’s pitch is built on convenience as much as presentation. Graze Craze says its menu includes Large Boards, Medium Boards, Small Boards, Picnic Boxes, Lone Grazer, Grab & Graze and Char-Cutie-Cup offerings, with savory, vegetarian, gluten-free and dessert-based combinations. The boards are assembled from meats, cheeses, fruits, vegetables, dips and sweets, and the brand says the concept is designed for corporate meetings, birthdays, showers, gifting and everyday snacking. In a market where catering orders can be a reliable source of margin, that mix gives the Bay Shore shop a broader target than a typical dessert or specialty food counter.

Graze Craze was founded in Oklahoma and began franchising about five years ago. The brand now says it has more than 120 locations across five countries and 36 states, which suggests the Bay Shore opening is part of a larger national expansion, not a one-off experiment. For Suffolk County, the local question is whether the franchise model can translate into steady traffic in a hamlet that had 29,244 residents in the 2020 Census and a recent median household income estimate of $100,156.

That local backdrop includes another major draw nearby: South Shore University Hospital’s expansion in Bay Shore, where a new pavilion is expected to add 90 private patient rooms, 10 operating rooms and three procedure rooms. With hospital growth, commuter traffic and a dense commercial strip nearby, Graze Craze is betting that Bay Shore can support more than routine retail. Its arrival is another sign that some operators still see room to spend, build and grow on the South Shore.