Amy McCarthy is at it again. The opening of her latest The Lunch Box creation shows her driven desire to seek out remarkable spaces within some of the city’s most aspirational buildings. This particular restaurant setting happens to be within the 500 Seneca Building. Not only is the setting industrial in nature, it comes with immediate access to a vast atrium, where customers can sit and gaze out upon surroundings that are electrified with economic life.
Before Amy established The Lunch Box at the Tri-Main Center, she co-founded Globe Market on Elmwood. After her days with Globe Market, Amy set her sights on fulfilling the café and catering needs for office and industrial buildings. While attending an art unveiling earlier in the week at 500 Seneca, Amy tugged my arm and said, “Wanna see something really neat?” She led me from the atrium to her new Lunch Box digs, which I had never seen before. “I finally figured out that this is the type of environment where I need to be.”
Similar to her café and catering operations within the Tri-Main Center and the Lafayette Court Building (another neat little atrium), her business within the 500 Seneca building revolves around the business tenants that occupy the building. It’s a symbiotic relationship that drives Amy to produce a fulfilling lunch setting serving up gourmet soups and sandwiches, while fueling workers with coffee throughout the day. Amy’s Current Catering operation also accommodates the parties and gatherings that take place within the atrium. All of The Lunch Box locations are open to the public, making for inspirational outings in some of the best locales in Buffalo.
The Lunch Box at 500 Seneca is located in an old industrial setting, and plays it up nicely. There are great historic images of employees at F.N. Burt (the company that once operated within the building) at work and eating at lunchtime. Concrete mushroom columns add to the aesthetic flavor of the culinary experience. Visitors can opt to sit in the café, or out on the patio (inside the atrium). Either way, they are guaranteed to have quality food in impressive surroundings.
The Lunch Box | 500 Seneca Building | The Hydraulics District
Lead image: The Lunch Box