Bite-Sized News

Jesse Leadbetter with a handful of Chinese winged beans from his home garden. Bruce Mo ett, owner of the Mo ett Restaurant Group, has named

vides local food to breweries and restaurants across town. A er years of experience in the Charlotte foodshed, they planned to gradually expand to o er delivery direct to consumers—until COVID.

In mid-March, Leadbetter was at a food conference in New Orleans. “I was with a bunch of food systems people from all over the country, and they’re getting calls from back home and kind of saw the writing on the wall,” Leadbetter says. “So I skipped the rest of the conference and just stayed in the Airbnb and worked on getting the new marketplace up and running.” Freshlist scrambled to launch direct-to-consumer sales in just two weeks. As of now, their delivery area is mostly limited to the Myers Park, Sedge eld, and Dilworth neighborhoods and a few drop-o locations, but they plan to expand in the coming months.

“I would love to see Charlotte have more curiosity about what’s on their plate and what it took to bring that food to their plate,” says Tatum, who lived in Charlotte in the early ’90s. “In a city environment, there’s too many steps between that carrot that’s growing in the dirt and the plate of the consumer on the other end.”

A 2018 study commissioned by the city found that farmers in the Charlotte area don’t enjoy a strong direct-to-consumer market, and that similar metropolitan areas consistently outperform Charlotte in farmers’ market and CSA sales. But Leadbetter says that’s beginning to change. “There’s been a huge in ux of chefs who are really hanging their hat on local,” he says. “People want to know where the food is coming from, and for us, local has always been about supporting the people in your community.”

BITE-SIZED STORIES

Foodie News on a Small Plate

BRITTANY COCHRAN executive chef of Stagioni. Cochran was previously sous chef at Mimosa Grill.

COURTNEY BUCKLEY, owner of Your Mom’s Donuts, opened Your Mom’s Bazaar in the building formerly occupied by Bonjour Y’all Bakery in Davidson. Look for local meat, produce, dry goods, and Buckley’s signature square donuts.

The Ballantyne Hotel has named MORGAN LARSSON executive pastry chef. Larsson brings more than 30 years of experience from some of New York City’s most iconic hotels, including The Four Seasons, Essex House, and The St. Regis.

PROTAGONIST will open its second location in the former Broken Spoke space in Lower South End this fall. The 21,000-square-foot taproom will have three separate bars, a covered patio, room for private events, and an oven to prepare pizza by the slice. The Broken Spoke and Great Wagon Road Distilling Co. moved to a new location in NoDa. —Taylor Bowler