Party Like It Opened in 1999
by briarcliff, June 10, 2009 | Permalink
The evening of Saturday, May 30, 2009 our little food empire here on 2111 Briarcliff Road celebrated its 10th Anniversary. Whole Foods Market, Briarcliff opened as the first Whole Foods Market in Atlanta in May of 1999, and we are so pleased about where we came from, where we are, and where we are going. We wanted to make our celebration memorable and we thought it important to give back in some way to our community. We decided to do a farm to table style dinner celebrating our local growers and producers and donate proceeds to The Oakhurst Community Garden Project located in Decatur, GA. We accomplished both and are still beside ourselves with excitement about how well the dinner turned out.
When the idea was conceived it all seemed romantic and wonderful-we envisioned a large white tent set up in the parking lot, bluegrass music, plates and plates of food, brimming wine glasses, and people celebrating together happy and full. You know what? It happened just the way we imagined. Each grower and producer that we reached out to was happy to take part and attend. We had our local pork producer, Thompson Farm Smokehouse, local beef from Harris Family Heritage Farm, all of the wonderful produce came from Nicolas Dunck at Crystal Organic Farms and Andy and Hilda Byrd at Whippoorwill Organic Farms. The amazing pasta was from Elisa Gambino of Via Elisa Pasta, the wine came from Persimmon Creek Vineyards and beer from Atlanta Brewing Company. Even the centerpiece orchids were local, and dressed by Patricia Cagle of Botanical Couture. The founders of Fromagerie Belle Chevre Tom and Liz Parnell attended, as did Farmer D. from Farmer D. Organics. Our very own Whole Foods Market chefs Scott Crawford and Butch Raphael together with our Prepared Foods Team Leader, Robert Brunet put together the food conception and execution.
So, we had the huge white tent, the white linens, the sweet Georgia setting sun, and a nice breeze blowing-mixed with music from the Drovers Old Time Medicine Show and incredible folks sharing in it all-it really doesn’t get any better. I have been with Whole Foods Market for 10 years now, and I have honestly never been a part of something so cool. Yes, I am tooting our horn, but it was truly amazing, and I sincerely appreciate all of those who took part. Our team members were the servers and set up crew; without them we could not have done it. We were so pleased with the event I want to let you all now that the wheels are turning on how to do this again in the near future. Believe me; you will not want to miss out. Stay tuned.
Categories: Thoughts from a Store Team Leader
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