It’s official. Co-owners Erin Wiles and Brendan Kirby will launch their new business this week under the name Seed Sprout Spoon. For the last two months, their catering, special events and prepared foods company has been quietly completing contracts first placed for weddings and parties with Local Harvest Catering.
“We didn’t want to create chaos or induce panic for couples right before their weddings when the caterer they booked suddenly changed names,” Kirby says. “We finished our last contract and we’re ready to move forward.”
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These two like-minded owners will continue to provide scrumptious, locally sourced food using environmentally friendly practices for parties, special events, and prepared food cases.
Soon, they’ll re-introduce Sunday brunch in the tradition of the late, lamented Local Harvest Cafe. Praise the Lord and pass the big-breakfast vegan or chorizo burritos, please. Keep the potpies warm and the slingers hot, Sunday comfort is returning soon to 3137 Morgan Ford – dates to be announced.
Call it what you will — kismet, chance, or serendipity – when Wiles, who had managed catering for Local Harvest and front of house for Local Harvest Cafe, decided to buy the business, the chef quit the week before the sale was to complete. “I called Brendan and one other chef friend in the industry looking for a replacement. I was desperate. It was my best spot of luck ever,” she says.
Kirby had become a fixture in the miniscule but mighty kitchen at Civil Life Brewing Company, but Wiles’ call awakened something in the affable man. “I asked if she would like a chef and a partner,” Kirby says. “I didn’t want to leave Civil Life, but I’d knew I’d like to be in a restaurant on my own. I got off to a shaky start, thrown into catering with no experience at all, but it worked.”
The two creative partners aren’t just following the LHC playbook, however. They’ve kept the great practices and added even more to the mix. “Erin’s talents sets us apart from other caterers. She creates memorable table settings using a mix of china and glassware that’s unique,” Kirby says.
“There isn’t an event we do when someone doesn’t come up to me and say ‘My grandmother had this pattern in her China’ or ‘We used glasses like these for our Thanksgiving when I was growing up,’ Right now, I can do 30 up-cycled place settings,” she says. “We use up-cycled pieces for our catering displays – on buffets, passing trays, at the drink stations.”
Wiles and Kirby collaborate on menus and on dishes that are seasonal, bright, and unique with the same stunning results as the table settings for their client’s special event. Wiles and Kirby discovered clients want their special events to echo their core values. In daily life, they shop local, keeping money in the community, supporting local farms and businesses. They use environmentally sound practices at home by recycling, composting, conserving water, and minimizing their carbon footprint.
“Our clients understand we pay for quality food, and it may cost a little more. We pay our staff a living wage as well. Our goal is to only throw away items that cannot be composted or recycled.
“We scrape all plates into a compost receptacle and bring it back with us. We use only recyclable and compostable packaging. We package leftover foods for our clients to reduce the tremendous waste usually associated with catered events. We usually have less than one trash bag of landfill waste,” Wiles says.
For Kirby and Wiles, the new venture has brought new skills and insights into their lives.
Kirby was known for his flavorful vegetarian and vegan offerings at Civil Life. Catering events has created growth in his cooking. “Sometimes, at the buffet, people will be making fun about eating vegan or vegetarian food. They’re pleasantly surprised – and tell us so,” Wiles says.
“To be clear, we cook meat as well,” Kirby says. “In fact, our top catering menu item is whole roasted Buttonwood Farm chickens. I use the roasted bones and skin to make stock. Vegetable scraps go into a bucket in the freezer for stocks, too.”
The first few months have been a trial by fire for the new owners. “One Saturday we had two weddings, one for 140, the other for 120, in two different locations,” Kirby says.
Wiles and Kirby want folks to know when they’re not catering, they’re still cooking. “We have our prepared foods – salads, wraps, dips, antipasto trays, composed entrees, and more. You’ll find us in Local Harvest Grocery, at Silo Coffee at TechArista coworking center. That’s a growth area for us,” Kirby says.
Thank goodness the Sunday brunches will soon return to Morgan Ford at the new Seed Sprout Spoon where everyone can get a taste of the new goodness brewing. By November first, the website, Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram accounts will be up and running. We’ll update this article when those resources become active.
Seed Sprout Spoon
3137 Morgan Ford
314-606-0165
Hours: by appointment; Sunday brunch starting date and service hours to be announced soon
