Courtesy Stone Soup Cottage
For 12 years, Stone Soup Cottage has been a beloved fixture of the area dining scene, setting the standard for food and hospitality with its elegant tasting menu dinners and stunning setting. Now, after a pandemic-induced 13-month pause of its in-service dining, owners Carl and Nancy McConnell are thrilled to announce that they are ready to reopen their dining room with one important caveat: The restaurant, in its current form, will serve its last guests in June 2022.
The McConnells announced their plans for the immediate and long-term future of Stone Soup Cottage this morning, noting that they are eager to usher in a new era of their acclaimed restaurant while taking the time to say goodbye to the form that made it what it is today. As Nancy McConnell explains, the past year and a half has forced the owners to do some serious soul-searching about what they want the restaurant to be moving forward. When they answered that question honestly, they came to the conclusion that they were ready to start a new chapter.
“The past year really took a toll on our family and our physical and mental health,” McConnell says. “Restaurateurs had to live through almost losing everything, and when you have a moment to take a deep breath and come up for air above the water, you ask yourself, 'OK, where are we?'”
Courtesy Stone Soup Cottage
Where the McConnells have been since the early days of the pandemic is in their cars—a lot. As a way to keep the lights on, the pair have been running the restaurant’s best-in-class to-go operation, Cottage to Carriage, which brought the elegance of the Stone Soup Cottage experience to guests’ doorsteps. The response exceeded the McConnells’ expectations and provided a lifeline to the restaurant. It also prompted them to reflect on fundamental questions of what they wanted the restaurant to be and what they would be capable of delivering with the ongoing specter of the pandemic. Even should they reach a point in which the pandemic is in the rearview mirror, they still knew that they were ready for a change after discussing it with each other and their sons.
“We had to take a healthy and holistic approach to all of this, because there is still so much unknown,” Nancy says. “COVID is still at the back door, but we also wanted to figure out where we want to be in the next 15 years. We did the work, reached out to our boys and really questioned what this all looked like, and made our decision. It doesn’t mean it’s the end of Stone Soup; it’s just the end of this chapter.”
That new chapter is still coming into focus for the McConnells, but they have some important details already sketched out. For the next nine months, beginning September 24 and ending June 11, Stone Soup Cottage will be open for the in-person tasting menu experience that guests have come to know and love on Friday and Saturday evenings only, with each night serving just 20 guests. The price for the experience is $195 per person, excluding tax and gratuity. Included in the new price are a cheese course and a beverage pairing, with both wine and nonalcoholic options provided. (Dinner dates through December 31 are sold out. Future reservations will be available online beginning October 5 at 7 a.m. for January–March 2022 seatings, and reservations will be available to book beginning January 4 at 7 a.m. for April–June 2022.)
Courtesy Stone Soup Cottage
“Our decision to reopen was because we wanted to say goodbye to our guests, who have been so unbelievably loyal,” says Nancy. “We couldn’t just slink off and say, ‘On the next chapter’ without taking the time to do it. September and June also represent some significant dates. We opened the farm eight years ago in September, and June is 13 years since we first opened the original location. We also felt that because we have so many guests holding on to gift cards, this will give them enough time to be able to use them. It was extremely important to Carl and I not to leave one person holding onto cards; some restaurants just don’t have any other choice, but it was never an option for Carl and I.”
Nancy acknowledges that the next nine months will be bittersweet for her and Carl, though she's equally filled with excitement for the future. Though she and Carl are not yet disclosing full details about their forthcoming plans for Stone Soup Cottage and the property, she hints that they have a vision to turn the entire acreage into a special space for events and other projects.
“We’re going to continue to develop this unique and different space, but in different ways,” Nancy says. “We purchased the property eight years ago but have never had the time to explore it as much as we have over the past several months. I bought a John Deere tractor, and Carl and I have been able to use that to see the full potential of this property and what we can create. Back behind the restaurant is where we grew produce and had weddings, but we never explored back behind trees and fields. We found some really amazing hidden gem spots on the property that are very secluded and intimate that can lend themselves to some exciting projects down the road that will have the boutique, luxury Stone Soup feel.”
Equally exciting for the McConnells are their plans to give back to the community and young entrepreneurs. Though Nancy did not disclose details of what is in the works, she noted that she and Carl are eager to use the space to help incubate talent, whether a young restaurateur, sommelier, chef, or artist.
“We had to start out of necessity,” Nancy says, reflecting on the McConnells' own beginnings. “We didn’t have investors and had to go to the local SBA office to get a loan and sit white-knuckled in front of bankers the old-fashioned way. We know that COVID has hit the culinary industry hard, and maybe there is someone who wants to launch something but can’t find a turnkey restaurant space. There is a lot of creative and young talent that doesn’t have a vehicle or canvas for some of the things they do. We just happen to have a beautiful venue with a turnkey restaurant and beautiful grounds that are an amazing vessel and background for thinking outside of the box.”
In the meantime, Nancy encourages guests to use the next nine months as a way of both celebrating what Stone Soup Cottage has been and what it is about to become. She’s hoping that the time to say goodbye to the current iteration will bring out patrons to share stories about the place and allow her and Carl to show guests what they have meant to them—and what they hope they'll mean to them moving forward.
“It’s going to be an emotional nine months, but it will allow us to see the friends and family and people who have enjoyed us for all that time,” Nancy says. “It’s not like we are going anywhere; it’s just going to look different, and we’re so excited because we think this is going to be great for the community.”
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect the new timeline for booking reservations for 2022 seatings.
