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Recipe for success: Fresh, local
James Nix / jnix@independenttribune.com
Thomas Barr, cooks a burger while Marvin Bost preps a plate at Bost's Marvin's Fresh Farmhouse Restaurant in Mount Pleasant. Bost uses as many local ingredients in his food as possible.
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Published: December 2, 2009
Updated: 12/02/2009 11:03 am
A new Mount Pleasant business, Marvin's Fresh Farmhouse Restaurant, is following the trend of serving locally grown foods and supporting local family farmers.
The restaurant opened in August. It is located on the edge of downtown Mount Pleasant, where the old Troutman's Barbecue was.
Marvin Bost and his wife, Debbie, a Cabarrus County extension agent, have made the farm-to-table trip a short one for their customers.
"People are looking for local," Marvin Bost said. "People appreciate us trying to do as much locally as we can."
Farming has been a part of both families for as long as they can remember.
"Marvin inherited his farm from his maternal grandmother, and it is designated a Century Farm by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture," Debbie said. That means Marvin's farm can be traced back in his family for more than 100 years.
"The family farm is something that is important to both of us. When we decided this is what we wanted to do, everyone we talked to, everyone we hired, Marvin would tell them 'we are working for the good Lord, and we are working for the farmers of North Carolina'," Debbie said.
The Bost family farm is 130 acres. They lease another 300 acres to grow hay to feed the animals.
Before the restaurant opened, they sold some of the beef and pork raised on the farm at area markets.
Today, the farm has about 50 head of "mama cattle," five pigs, 15 sheep, a couple hundred chickens and turkeys and 43 head of horses, donkeys and mules.
The restaurant serves some of their own meat and egg products, but they also source from several area producers and farmers in the county, like D & A Farms, Windy Hill Farms in New London and Creekside Farms.
"In the summertime, we will use more of the locally grown produce, because they can't sufficiently grow enough in the winter time," Marvin said.
"We are just getting everyone geared up locally," Debbie said.
What the local farmers can't supply the restaurant, Debbie and Marvin will turn to their major food supplier, Sysco Foods, to purchase.
"They help us source as much local, within North Carolina as possible," Debbie said. Using locally grown is not a cheap way to stock a restaurant with food. Owners must be committed to the importance of supporting the local farmers.
"You can buy eggs from wholesale people for 90 cents to $1.10 per dozen. We sometimes pay as high as $3 a dozen for local," Marvin said. "It does cost us more, but our goal is to be able to use and buy from everyone locally."
Looking into the future Marvin explains that Cruse Meats, of Rimertown, is looking to put a "kill floor" to slaughter cattle that can be sourced right here in Cabarrus County.
Debbie's office is working with the county on this, and they received a $675,000 grant to build the "kill floor".
It is part of the local food movement and the sustainability that Cabarrus County and Cooperative Extension brought with it, according to Debbie.
"It all ties together," Debbie said.
Steve Troxler, North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture, has endorsed the restaurant and the local foods concept.
"He understands that we have to keep the local farmers farming," Debbie said. "They have to be able to make a living or there won't be any more out there."
Marvin has spent his entire life in the area. He is familiar with the farms the surround Mount Pleasant and the hardships of being a farmer.
Marvin's Fresh Farmhouse Restaurant is the first restaurant to carry the new slogan to promote North Carolina farmers from Troxler's office, part of the "goodness grows in North Carolina" program.
It proudly displays a seal that states "It's got to be N.C."
• Contact reporter Robin L. Gardner: 704-789-9140
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