Seedlings now has an official open date: January 2nd, 2018. We stopped by their preview event yesterday to get a feel for the restaurant, and of course, sample the food!

Our High-level notes:

Farm-to-table food from local vendors already established through Farm Fresh Fast.

Kid-friendly options like pasta and turkey meatballs, and pizza with vegan cheese.

Options for Young children, older children, and adults.

Programs (interactive exhibits or classes) where children can learn to plant seeds, care for animals and learn to compost, amongst other topics.

Baby chickens raised on site

TCMU’s CEO, Nancy Halverson says “The restaurant is perfectly aligned with the museum’s mission, noting Seedlings will not only provide families with healthy eating options during their visit to the museum, it will also offer a fun, imaginative, and interactive experience for our guests including ongoing interactive programs and special events.”

Restaurant owner and entrepreneur Jonathan Willis, who opened Farm Fresh Fast in Greenville earlier this year, will collaborate with The Children’s Museum of the Upstate (TCMU) to open up the nation’s first kids farm-to-table restaurant on January 2nd, 2018.

The new endeavor, which will be located on the ground floor of TCMU, will follow the interactive and engaging nature of the children’s museum, letting kids pick out what they want to eat from available stations, which include information about where the food came from and how it was made, plus a station for parents to help their children scan and pay for their items.

“We wanted to create something new and innovative that teaches children more about local farms and food and there was no one better to partner with than Jonathan at Farm Fresh Fast,” said Nancy Halverson, president an CEO of TCMU. “With our background as educators of children and his relationships with area farmers, partnering together was a natural fit.”

The new restaurant, Seedlings, will also host kids cooking classes and demonstrations featuring local farmers as well an outdoor gardening space.

“Working with farmers in the Upstate and with the community to support them through Farm Fresh Fast has been extremely rewarding,” said Jonathan Willis, owner of Farm Fresh Fast. “Families love TCMU and creating a restaurant with educational aspects of local food and farmers is more than a dream come true.”

“Greenville has been making a big name for itself in recent years in the food industry and Seedlings will add to that recognition, with the even bigger prize of advocating for local farmers and educating families on the vast diversity of healthy food options available,” said Willis.

Farm Fresh Fast is Greenville’s only farm-to-table fast food restaurant. It opened in May 2017 and has already invested over $30,000 back into the hands of local farms

The Children’s Museum of the Upstate is one of the nation’s top children’s museums and is consistently named as the Best of the Upstate Museum by the Greenville News and their readers every year.