Garden to Table: Restaurants Growing Their Own
We love these unique collaborations. But better hurry, they might not last long.
Mission: Buy a Meal, Change a Life
Generosity of spirit is baked into the operations of these favorite restaurants.
Generosity of spirit is required to prepare food for people day in and day out, so we’re not surprised to find community service efforts baked into the operations of many favorite restaurants.
Look no further than to a silent auction where restaurateurs donate gift certificates for sale... or to a fundraiser where chefs contribute the meal... or to Dining Out for Life, when restaurateurs donate proceeds to Nashville CARES... or to Dozen Bakery’s “donation loaf” program, which directs sales to a nonprofit... or to the five-year partnership between Jackalope Brewing Company and Von Elrod’s Beer Hall & Kitchen to create Neighborhood Pilsner, with proceeds benefiting Germantown neighborhood and Martha O’Bryan Center... or to ongoing efforts by The Well Coffeehouse to provide potable water to communities around the world... or to Just Love Coffee’s support of adoption programs and other nonprofit organizations... or to Nathan Gifford’s Eastsider, “a dive bar that’s designed to give back,” which directs a portion of proceeds from music shows and other events to support various nonprofits.
A culinary culture that supports families, neighborhoods, schools and nonprofit organizations is part of what makes Middle Tennessee a beautiful place to live. Check out—and thank—these restaurants that put community service at the core of their enterprises.
Café Momentum
Although this “restaurant” has no walls, Café Momentum is building something sweet by training “justice-involved youth” for jobs in the restaurant industry. You can find them popping up around town in collaboration with restaurants and organizations such as The Nashville Food Project. And now you can pick up dinner through their Thrive Meals program on Wednesdays at Hunters Station and Thursdays at St. George’s Farmers Market. Lemon herb roasted chicken, coffee-rubbed pork tenderloin? We’re in.
The Cookery
On the hill between the bustling Gulch and 12 South districts, Brett Swayn has spent more than a decade serving people in crisis. A social enterprise funded by Lambscroft Ministries, The Cookery provides a culinary training and residency for people living without permanent housing or re-entering society after incarceration. Proceeds feed back into initiatives such as distributing sack lunches at the restaurant, providing meals to the Village at Glencliff and delivering meals to people living on the streets. Worth noting, Swayn’s team prepares one of the most elegant and decadent desserts we’ve found in town: frangipane layered with pears and caramel and flecked with sea salt.
1827 12th Ave. S.
Lockeland Table
From 4–6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, owners Hal Holden-Bache and Cara Graham remind diners that schools and restaurants are part of an interwoven community fabric. You can call it happy hour, because such long-running philanthropy is indeed happy-making, but it’s actually trademarked Lockeland Table Community Hour, and sale of $7 snacks—think chorizo with pumpkin seed and warm tortillas and crispy chicken wings with gochujang maple glaze—directs a portion of proceeds to parent-teacher organizations and charitable groups in the surrounding East Nashville neighborhood.
1520 Woodland St.
Humphreys Street
Buy this coffee, empower a community Humphreys Street, the social enterprise of Harvest Hands Community Development Corporation, trains and employs teens in underserved neighborhoods to run a coffee shop and a wholesale roastery that provides coffee to Graduate Hotels, a Bridgestone Arena kiosk and Whole Foods, among other local venues. Humphreys Street and Harvest Hands re-invest proceeds from operations into two after-school locations, job-readiness and financial literacy programs, scholarships and mentoring opportunities.
424 Humphreys St.
The Café at Thistle Farms
The restaurant social enterprise of Thistle Farms continues to grow, evolving from an intimate tearoom to include generous dining rooms, porches and event space, powered by female survivors of trafficking, prostitution and addiction, along with an underlying faith that love heals everybody. With nourishment of the body in mind, the menu delivers a bounty of healthy dining options, including the favorite Harvest Bowl, a destination salad piled with roasted Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, arugula, goat cheese, toasted pepitas and dried cranberries.
5128 Charlotte Pk.
Liberty's Station
For founder Jody Powers, “God opened the door” for her journey employing adults with disabilities, starting when she opened Amelia’s Closet in Murfreesboro in 2018. In 2020, when she opened the café and event space Liberty’s Station, she recruited people with disabilities and employment barriers, then trained staff in bakery, barista, custodial and kitchen roles, so that after the 12- to 15-month training program, they have skills to move into full-time employment.
850 NW. Broad St., Murfreesboro
Cledis Burgers & Beer Garden
Owner Shane Nasby named his beer-and-burger joint on Elm Hill Pike after his grandfather, who ran a restaurant in Indiana, and he follows the original Cledis’ service-minded tradition of fighting hunger. The Cledis team partners with the nonprofit People Loving Nashville to provide meals to Nashville’s unhoused population, typically on the last Monday of each month. In other news, Cledis recently announced plans to open a second location this fall in Bellevue.
1011 Elm Hill Pk.
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