Area taste buds rejoice as the Farmery’s Airstream Kitchen opens as Research Triangle Park’s first Park Center restaurant
The Farmery, a new startup that brings a fresh approach to local food by growing and selling at the same site, announces the opening of their full-service Airstream Kitchen at The Frontier in Research Triangle Park. This will be the first restaurant at RTP’s Park Center development, and is a great representation of the types of North Carolina-based businesses that will be a part of the project. Offering a unique take on the farm-to-fork movement, many of the Farmery’s ingredients are sourced directly from shipping containers located across the Triangle that have been converted into crop boxes. The company’s innovative process, and commitment to sustainability, makes them the ideal first restaurant at Park Center.
To begin, The Farmery will host all operations out of a 1968 Airstream that has been converted into a kitchen. Located directly outside of The Frontier, the Airstream Kitchen is equipped with the latest cooking and coffee equipment that will enable staff to produce the healthy and energizing items found on the menu.
“Dishes served by the Farmery flip the script on a typical American style menu built around large portions of meat by serving heaping portions of freshly harvested greens, herbs, nutrient dense superfoods, and gourmet mushrooms – all topped off with fresh herb infused meats,” says Ben Greene, CEO of the Farmery. “The menu is meant to center around virtuous eating with dishes like flatbreads, salad bowls, hot topped bowls, wraps, melts, smoothies and coffee drinks.”
The healthy menu at Farmery is loaded with superfood ingredients used in exciting ways. Diners can expect to see flatbreads and bowls loaded with balsamic sweet potatoes, gourmet mushrooms and quinoa, along with healthy proteins like house made pesto hummus, fresh chicken and chorizo. Greens and herbs used across the menu are harvested each morning from the team’s growing systems to provide the kitchen with the freshest possible ingredients. And, vegetarians and vegans will have no shortage of options with items such as cashew miso cheese, ‘cillyantro’ tofu triangles and the Sea Earth Salad – which is the Farmery’s take on tuna salad, made with chickpeas, seaweed and a collection of fresh herbs.
Operating hours are currently 11am – 3pm, Monday – Friday at 800 Park Offices Drive in Research Triangle Park. Seating is available inside The Frontier for customers. Breakfast service with entrees, espresso drinks and smoothies are expected to begin in mid-February, with delivery to RTP companies following soon after. In late spring, an expansion will take place that includes the construction of an outdoor pavilion to provide seating and event space. Once completed, Farmery crop boxes will be located on site, creating a visible farm-to-table experience. (Crop boxes are currently in two locations across Raleigh.)
The concept for the Farmery is the brainchild of Ben Greene. Devised as a student design project while at NC State University, the Farmery has grown from an idea into a full-fledged business. Mitch Orland will serve as the president of the Farmery in RTP, and has an executive background with natural food stores. Daily operations at the Farmery will be run by cafe manager Crystal Blaylock-Gee. Additional support is provided by Tyler Nethers, former manager of NC State’s aquaculture systems who assists in the development of the growing system; Elizabeth Clarke, merchandising manager; and Jeff Curran, who advises on finance and business strategy for the Farmery. The team has previously operated a ‘Mini-Farmery’, which served as a produce stand on American Tobacco Campus. They also participated in Tumml, a startup accelerator in San Francisco focused on young companies with solutions to urban problems.
More information about the Farmery can be found at http://www.thefarmery.com/index.html, or on Twitter at @the_farmery.
About the Farmery
The Farmery is a cafe and farm designed to grow and sell healthy food at the same site, to advance the farm-to-table movement to a farm-at-your-table concept. Growing food at the same site as it’s prepared and sold, provides a simpler consolidated food distribution system that gives its customers access to the freshest food possible by harvesting greens, gourmet mushrooms and herbs every morning for the day’s customers. Click here for additional information about the technology used at the Farmery.
About The Frontier
Located in heart of RTP’s Park Center development, The Frontier is an open collaboration destination that can be used by anyone in the community. Launched in 2015, The Frontier houses more than 30 companies, and offers a free work environment and flexible event space that is open for use by the public. Viewed as a testing ground for new ideas, The Frontier is a space that welcomes the community’s dreamers and doers. Find out more at rtp.org/thefrontier.
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