Trillium Haven Farm eyes Grand Rapids' Eastown for fresh-produce restaurant

The owners of Jenison-based Trillium Haven Farm are making drastic changes to their Community Supported Agriculture operations in order to open a new farm-to-table eatery in Grand Rapids' Eastown.

The restaurant, called simply Trillium Haven, could open at 1429 Lake Dr. SE in the Kingsley Building this June with a focus on bringing seasonal fresh vegetables to customers through both the items on the menu and boxes of fresh veggies CSA members will pick up at the restaurant.

Husband and wife team Michael VanderBrug and Anja Mast currently serve some 450 farm members, who prepay for organic produce and pick it up from the farm weekly, June through October. The couple will reduce the number of memberships to just 30, and drop production acreage from 23 acres to 12. The change will allow them to focus their energies on food production for the restaurant and other outlets they supply.

"We didn't start out to be CSA farmers as the be all and end all," Mast says. "We're interested in opening businesses that connect people. Most of the produce grown here is shipped all over the U.S. -- we need to get more people interested in vegetable eating in Michigan."

The 4,000-square-foot restaurant will have locally grown meats on the menu, but the main focus will be vegetarian and vegan dishes prepared from organic in-season vegetables grown on Trillium Haven Farm, as well as fruits from other farms in the area. An open kitchen will allow customers to see how the food is prepared in the wood-fired oven. Tables and a bar, all hewn from barn beams, will keep the atmosphere casual.

The bar will offer local micro-brews and Michigan wines.

To get financing off the ground, Trillium Haven is offering 20 memberships to the restaurant for $1,200 each. Members will receive a $1,200 gift card to be used at $100/month at the restaurant, free cooking classes, invitations to taste test new dishes and more.

"One of the interesting components of this is that instead of us imposing on the community the foods we think they would like, our membership members will be our tasters and they'll be telling us what they want in a restaurant," Mast says.

Source: Anja Mast, Trillium Haven
Writer: Deborah Johnson Wood, Development News Editor