BURLINGTON – New local favorite “The Greenhouse,” a farm-to-table restaurant on Cherry St. that has been serving Burlington diners for just over three months, has decided to file for bankruptcy. The financial move comes as part of a new effort to increase authenticity, according to founder and owner Cale Greene. The Greenhouse has been in a partnership with Greene Farm in Shelburne since it began, obtaining almost all of their produce and dairy from the farm.
“I don’t think anyone is going to walk into a farm-to-table restaurant and feel like they’re really eating farm food if the restaurant is doing well financially,” Greene said. “It just feels off. Obviously the first thing I did was to apply for some government subsidies, but there aren’t as many as you might think for restaurant start-ups. I asked for money in exchange for not cooking any dishes with corn in them, but they refused. This was our next best option.”
The Greenhouse is not planning to close, but will remain open for the foreseeable future during what Greene is calling a “financial reshuffling,” that should eliminate the debt acquired during the last six months and put the restaurant in the black going forward.
“Well, yes, it should be good for us financially,” Greene admitted, “but please don’t let anyone know. Are you going to print this? If people found out we weren’t in constant danger of closing it would ruin the local farm feel.”
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