IV Vitamin Therapy in Ridgefield, NJ

QuickChek's fresh deli coffee.

QuickChek's to-go display.

Officials celebrate the opening of the newest QuickChek fresh convenience market store. - QuickChek

QuickChek in Ridgefield.

Coffee. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. Energy. Fuel. It’s all available at QuickChek‘s newest location, which opened this past week in Ridgefield. This new store, which opens as the company celebrates its 56th anniversary this month, “cheks” these boxes off your daily list.

The 5,496-square-foot store is located at 92 Route 46 W. and features the company’s “Fresh to Go” interior layout designed to enhance the shopping experience for those who live, work in and travel through the area.

More than half of the new store will be dedicated to freshly prepared food and beverages, including QuickChek’s guaranteed fresh brewed hot and iced coffees, to meet the needs of today’s fast-casual shopper.

“You can get everything on your list and more in our new Ridgefield location,” said QuickChek Divisional Vice President Don Leech. “And, for the first time ever, we have a separate canopy offering high-flow diesel gasoline, which is in demand along this stretch of Route 46. It provides us with another way to meet the needs of the communities we serve.”

As part of its grand opening, QuickChek also is helping its most loyal customers fight inflation and perk up the end of the work week with free coffee every Friday through April 28. QuickChek Rewards members can get a free coffee — any size, hot or iced — with any in-store purchase during its “Free Coffee Fridays” by scanning the QuickChek Rewards mobile app or entering their phone number at checkout. Limit is one coffee per person per visit. Sign-ups are available here.

The Ridgefield store will have one canopy with eight gas pumps offering high-quality fuel at value prices and a second, separate canopy dedicated for high-flow diesel for tractor-trailers, which will be able to fuel both side tanks at the same time and have a dedicated exit from the store onto the highway.

The new Ridgefield store will be open 24 hours a day, allowing consumers to create made-to-order breakfast items, personalize their oven-toasted fresh QuickChek subs, wraps and salads, as well as customize hot and cold beverages exactly as they want them, or select freshly prepared ready-to-go items, any time of day or night.

Amenities include no-fee ATMs, which provide additional added value to consumers; indoor seating for 10 people; outdoor seating for eight people; and ample parking with 45 parking spaces.

Each new QuickChek store typically creates 35 to 45 new local jobs, including eight management positions, and generates approximately $1 million in tax revenue.

Committed to giving back to the communities it serves, QuickChek will donate 25 cents for every sub sandwich sold in the new store during the store’s first 30 days to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hackensack to help Fuel Great Futures for local kids in Bergen County. To learn more about the Murphy USA/QuickChek partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America, visit BGCA.org/MurphyUSA.

A wholly-owned subsidiary of Murphy USA, QuickChek operates 161 stores, including 98 locations with fuel throughout New Jersey, New York’s Hudson Valley and Long Island.

Cross River Bank, a Fort Lee-based technology infrastructure provider that offers embedded financial solutions, on Thursday said it partnered with FinClusive, a global Compliance-as-a-Service infrastructure provider for financial services, to provide account and payment services to advance secure and compliant access to the financially underserved.

“Regulatory compliance, responsibility and transparency are central to Cross River, and we continue to expand our partnerships with technology leaders focused on increasing financial access,” Gilles Gade, founder, CEO and president of Cross River, stated. “Both Cross River and FinClusive share fundamental values and a compliance-driven approach.”

Cross River is a strong advocate for regulatory modernization in order to create clear guidelines and standards in the fintech industry without compromising accessibility to safe, sound, compliant and affordable financial services.

FinClusive’s CaaS technology enables fintechs to grow in a responsible manner. Cross River remains focused on partners who share a forward-looking and streamlined compliance approach, ultimately strengthening the broader fintech ecosystem. FinClusive and Cross River partnered to bring expanded payment optionality to FinClusive’s platform earlier this year.

“In an uncertain industry environment — with ongoing challenges impacting both traditional and alternative financial services providers — this partnership is another example of our unwavering commitment to accountability and responsible governance within the financial system. Our partnership provides local communities with much-needed, reliable access to comprehensive compliance capabilities and demonstrates our shared commitment to innovation and compliance in tandem,” Amit Sharma, CEO of FinClusive, said.

FinClusive’s unique CaaS application and digital gateway embeds compliance-backed identity credentials into network transactions and enables both the secure onboarding of new clients, as well as continuous validation and verification downstream. This creates both cost and process efficiencies while ensuring application of global financial crimes compliance standards across any payment rail, traditional or alternative.

Together, Cross River will provide enhanced payment capabilities and connectivity to the U.S. banking system and community access, while FinClusive will ensure the necessary consumer and business protections inherent to preserving financial system integrity.

The FinClusive leadership team consists of senior executives from global financial institutions, technology companies, federal government and financial regulatory agencies, and international law firms:

Location: Veteran’s Memorial Park

Address: 554 Shaler Blvd, Ridgefield, 07657

Event Date: 09/16/2023

Event Time: 11:00 am - 7:00 pm

Event Description:

Come to the Veteran’s Memorial Field in Ridgefield for the Ridgefield PBA Food Truck & Music Festival. This event takes place on Saturday, September 16, 2023 from 11:00 am until 7:00 pm. Admission is $5, but kids under 5 are free. Visit the Just Jersey Fest website to learn more.

At the Ridgefield PBA Food Truck & Music Festival, guests can enjoy food trucks and music all day. Dogs are also welcome at this event. Tickets for the festival are available on-site. Follow Just Jersey Fest on Facebook for event updates and more details.

Every Just Jersey Fest festival is guaranteed to feature over 20 gourmet food trucks per event. In addition, all festivals are kid friendly and many events are dog friendly as well. (It’s best to check with each event for more info about rules regarding pets.) Other benefits of Just Just Fest Events include craft beer, sangria, and margarita bars. Plus, all events feature either a live band performance or a DJ.

Just Jersey Fest does ask guests to bring their own blankets or chairs, as they do not provide seating. Likewise, they do not permit outside food, drinks, or coolers. (Food and refreshments are available for sale at every event.) Finally, Just Jersey Fest asks all attendees to consider bringing a non-perishable canned or boxed item for donation. These donations are provided to local food pantrys.

Allison Kohler is the president of both Just Jersey Fest and JMK Shows. With over 35 years of experience in event promotion, she is the premier event organizer for food truck festivals. She also organizes the Big Brew Beer Festival, Beer BBQ Bacon Showdown, Taco Palooza, and many other local festivals.

Click Here To See More Events on Best of NJ.

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Upcoming Events at Veteran’s Memorial Park:

2022-2023 Game Log

It’s their way or the highway.

A Mexican restaurant in New Jersey is serving up an ultra strict dress code — despite the fact that it’s on a truck route next door to a QuickChek convenience store.

Cantina 46 — off of Route 46 highway in Ridgefield –has a laundry list of fashion faux pas including: no plain white t-shirts, men’s tank tops/sleeveless shirts, beach attire, sweatsuit/athletic attire, excessively baggy clothing, flip-flops or slippers, work boots or inappropriate headwear.

“We don’t want to be like a regular restaurant, we want to be high end,” partner and manager Joaquin Molina told The Post.

The clothing regulations — which are posted on its website and a sign on the front door — start with “no plain white tees.”

“I don’t know why, but a lot of people think that having a white shirt is being part of a gang,” said Rafael Anaya, hospitality consultant behind the group Anaya, which works with Cantina 46.

Baggy clothing — especially on men — simply doesn’t work alongside bites of the joint’s $138 Tomahawk steak.

“It doesn’t look nice, that you got your pants all the way down here, showing your underwear, while you got a family here eating with kids,” said Molina, 33, a native of the Dominican Republic.

Underneath the dress code, in all capital letters, it states, “We reserve the right to refuse admission.”

That’s what happened on a recent weekday night, when a man with a backwards hat and a woman wearing flip flops strolled in for a bite.

“I said, ‘We have a dress code. I’m sorry,'” said hostess Richely Patricio. “They said, ‘OK, next time.'”

Cantina 46, which opened on April 28, posted the dress code on its Instagram page — and some were taken aback by the stringent policy.

“Look at this one, ‘No flip flops?! No manches.’ ‘No manches’ in Mexico means like, ‘What’s wrong with you, man?'” Anaya, who hails from Colombia, explained.

Others thought the rules were more appropriate for Central Park West — as opposed to Ridgefield Park.

“Are you located in NYC or truck route 46 in Ridgefield Park?” @kadensmommy14 wondered.

“Not a smart business move to turn off potential clients before you even have a customer base,” user @bernoutgsx1 said.

But customers chowing down at the restaurant approved.

“I think it’s a good thing cause a lot of places don’t have a dress code,” said Cassidy Solis. “There’s plenty of other places to eat if you want to chill down with flip flops.”

Another guest cheered the high-end makeover.

“It’s an old diner that was turned into Chinese food that I never came to for a million years,” said Jamie Rodriguez. “It still looks like a diner, so they’re trying to stand out.”

What do you think? Post a comment.

Meanwhile, spurned customers have returned — but this time dressed to impress, Molina noted.

“They call a manager and say, ‘I was sent away,’ but now I am [dressed correctly],'” he said.

“When they do that, we send them a free drink.”

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RIDGEFIELD — A Norway Maple tree is considered one of the largest in the nation — and local officials want to protect it as much as possible.

A Norway maple located behind the Ridgefield Guild of Artists on Halpin Lane was designated the state champion last year, and is believed to be one of the biggest trees in the country, behind a Norway Maple in New Jersey.

Trees are measured using a point system that accounts for a combination of height, trunk circumference and branch spread, said Frank Kaputa, an official state tree measurer.

Ridgefield's Norway maple was measured at 291 points — it's 77 feet tall, with a trunk circumference of 190 inches and an average branch spread of 96 feet.

Previously, a tree in Suffield was state champion and a tree in Montana was national champion. Suffield's tree is measured at 287 points, while the Montana tree is 288 points.

The Suffield tree, which was previously the state champion at 303 points, dropped in points to 287, due to "decline," Kaputa said.

"I went down (to Suffield) last year and I remeasured it," said Kaputa, a Glastonbury resident. Kaputa is the official measurer of the Connecticut Notable Trees Project. Kaputa said he has been involved with the measuring of trees for about 20 years. Kaputa estimates Ridgefield's Norway maple to be over 100 years old.

The Montana tree was listed on American Forests, the National Tree Registry, while the Suffield tree is listed on Connecticut Notable Trees Project, a state registry. American Forests has not kept records of champion trees since 2021, but the Ridgefield tree ranks higher than the trees listed in that year, Kaputa said.

Hearst Connecticut Media learned a Norway Maple in Stanhope, N.J. ranks larger than the Ridgefield tree. The New Jersey Norway Maple has 323 points, a circumference of 194 inches, a height of 103 feet, and a crown of 102 feet. It is ranked as state champion by the NJ Big & Heritage Tree Dept. of the New Jersey Forest Service within the Department of Environmental Protection.

Protecting the tree

The town said it will be protecting its champion Norway maple because cars park too close to the Norway maple.

Pound Ridge, N.Y. resident John Kelly, a tree enthusiast who spotted the Norway maple while viewing artwork at the Guild and then researched its size, said he's concerned cars are damaging the soil.

"Norway maples are shallow-rooted. Most of the roots are within 18 inches of the surface. So every time a car parks (near the maple), the car compacts the soil even further. The tree gets its water and its nutrients from that soil," he said, adding that there's gravel and broken pieces of asphalt in the soil by the tree.

Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi agreed.

"Technically, with any tree, you should not disturb the soil within the dripline," or the area directly located under the outer circumference of the tree branches, Marconi said. "Cars park right near the tree and what you don't want to do is disrupt the root structure."

While the town had planned to put in a new parking lot at Halpin Lane, which would help preserve the tree, it was ever done.

"That master plan was never implemented," Marconi said, due to lack of funds.

"We would still like to do it. We have applied for grants and we'll probably do so in the near future next year," he said.

Prior to paving, the town would install catch basins to collect water and lay down topsoil in the area to protect the tree, he said.

He said he still hopes to eventually pave the front of the Guild of Artists to the volunteer fire department building.

However, the town is preparing to rope the area off, put in curbs and plant grass.

"That will discontinue the travel area in close proximity to the tree," Marconi said.

The town will perform the work next month, when it is warmer, he said.

'A real honor'

It's a "real honor" for a town to have a champion tree, and the town should do everything in its means to protect it, Kaputa said.

"You can take pride in this," he said. "Whether it's in the woods or on their front lawn, people should really take a lot of pride in that."

Rigdgefield's Norway maple is "beautiful," Kaputa added.

"It's a full a tree with a big trunk and large branches spreading out," he said, "and it should be protected. You've got something special in town."

Correction: An original version of this article incorrectly reported the Ridgefield Norway Maple tree's national ranking. Ridgefield's Norway Maple ranks as the largest tree in Connecticut, but is smaller than a Norway Maple in Stanhope, N.J.