The Madison Public Market is planning for a summer opening. “We are monitoring construction schedules closely before we announce an official grand opening date for this summer,” reads an April 29 post on the market’s Instagram. “We are making targeted efforts to ensure we have product and service diversity among the merchants and their offerings.”

The post goes on to say soft opening events are in the works “to get you through the doors as merchants with simpler buildouts become ready to serve you.”

The market’s caution stems from having missed a few other anticipated opening dates. On the bright side, construction on stall buildouts appears to be increasing and anticipation is high, especially because the market is designed to be an indoor/outdoor space perfect for summer, a place to grab lunch while bicycling past through Burr Jones Park or even kayaking on the Yahara.

Isthmus spoke with the owners of several food businesses headed to the market about the selection process and what’s on their menus.

Shradda Tilloo is behind the Indian street food stall The Chowpati. Originally from India, she moved to Madison in 2015 with her family.

Tilloo says she is “passionate about the quality of food that we eat and the taste and authenticity” and found that Madison’s Indian restaurants had limited choices. Madison is “not seeing the real authentic food that you get back in India.” And that’s particularly true of Indian street foods, a gap she is intent on filling.

After cooking for ever larger groups of people in her home, she started offering food delivery in fall 2024 to “test the market.”

While taking the entrepreneurship course from the Small Business Development Center at UW-Madison in 2025, she learned about the public market and applied. She describes a thorough questionnaire that asked for a complete business plan, and, after she passed that level, a five- to six-person tasting panel. “That went really well,” says Tilloo.

Tilloo’s market menu has three parts that she calls chai, chaat and chow. Customers will be able to sip on masala chai, which in India is “a celebration all the time,” and is always served along with street food snacks called chaat. “I don’t want to spill the beans too early on,” Tilloo says, but she will concentrate on dishes many Madisonians may never have heard of.

One is poha, a rice variety found in northern India and, served with chai, is a morning staple: “This is like rice flakes, you just steam them and put some spices in.” 

Another chaat she plans to serve is called sprouts bhel, sprouts mixed with peanuts, onion, tomato, cucumber, spices and lemon. “Chow,” the third prong of her menu, will be more entree-like dishes.

Tilloo traveled all over India while working in information technology, tasting many different regional dishes, an experience she plans on drawing on for her eatery. “Chowpati” means four, or four corners or regions, in a dialect called Marathi. “So, I have taken the menu from four corners of India,” says Tilloo.

Cinn City Smash, already a Madison food truck, has begun its buildout with Elite Builders “and things are going well so far,” report owners Maximus Perdomo and Rutger Schiesser. They hope to open sometime this summer.

The food cart, which launched in 2023, will continue to operate while the market space is completed. Initially, Cinn City will launch with its cart menu of burgers (beef, vegetarian and vegan), fries and churros. The pair is hopeful that they’ll eventually expand the market menu to include specials.

Cinn City applied for a space at the market last fall, after a fellow cart vendor mentioned it and thought that they’d be a good fit. At first they dismissed the idea but then said, “You know what? Let’s try it. Why not?” says Perdomo.

The market was interested and two interviews followed. Instead of bringing food samples that would be cold by the time they were eaten, they gave the panel members vouchers to try the food at the cart.

About a month and a half later, the market told them they were accepted. “They wanted a safety food for people,” says Schiesser. “They [have] a lot of variety in the space. And the biggest thing they seemed to be missing was a classic burger. We fill that void pretty well.”

Cervato is “the wine bar,” says owner Amanda Stefl, indicating that the market was looking for a wine bar: “They’re trying to cover as wide a variety as possible.” She owns Timber Hill Winery outside Milton, which opened in 2016, with a 50-acre vineyard that specializes in growing cold climate grapes. The Milton location has a tasting room that also serves food.

Cervato’s space and decor within the market will be “more wine bar” than tasting room, says Stefl, serving local charcuterie and cheese as well as tapas. She describes the look as “big shelves with the wine on display, a nice big bar where people can sit and do a tasting, or drink wine by the glass.” There will also be a space for tables.

For Stefl, being part of the market is a draw. “I didn’t want to open just another wine bar in Madison. I wanted to be part of a community and with the public market, it’s going to be a built-in community of other small businesses that I’m really excited to work with. It’s not just a wine bar under an apartment building or something.”

Stefl does not have an exact date for opening, but her contractor “thinks it will only be a few weeks to build out the space,” even though at 900 square feet, Cervato is one of the larger spaces  and will include “a huge bar.” The space will also have to be enclosed due to the presence of alcohol, says Stefl. “It will be lockable at night and so ours is probably [one of the] more complicated buildouts.”

Stefl says she’ll be making wines to serve only at Cervato as well as serving Timber Hill wines and guest wines from other Wisconsin wineries. There will be 10 wines on tap, as well as bottles to take home. Timber Hill produces some sweet fruit wines, “but we have a lot of other wines that showcase how you can make some very good dry, flavorful wines from Wisconsin grapes.”

Other food merchants announced so far for the 28 permanent stalls (15-20 of which are planned as food businesses) are Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, Caracas Empanadas Y Más and Melly Mel’s. There will also be multiple temporary and kiosk spaces.