ASAP likes to share the stories of people who help us fulfill our mission. This month we talked to Mary Walsh, co-owner of Swamp Rabbit Cafe and Grocery in Greenville, SC. Supporting local farmers has been at the core of Swamp Rabbit since it opened in 2011, and Mary has been a consistent participant in ASAP’s Grower-Buyer Meetings over the years. Mary will give the opening presentation at this year’s Business of Farming Conference on Feb. 11.
Swamp Rabbit is a lot of things—cafe, grocery store, wholesale distributor, bike trail rest stop, community hub. Can you talk about how that model has grown over the past decade?
We’re also a bakery! When we started out, we were just a cafe, bakery, and grocery in 1800 square feet. Every couple of years we took over more and more space in our building, until last year when we finally took over the last part of our building and we’re now closer to 10,000 square feet! Our grocery expansion made the biggest difference in our ability to buy more from farmers. That allowed us to more than triple our buying.
We started the food hub around year five. At the time we weren’t exactly looking to get into the wholesale business, but there was such a need in our community and we were already spending all this time sourcing local foods, it just made sense. The Food Hub really helped us get to the next level in buying volumes and helped us be able to more reliably order and crop plan with farmers.
Through the years we have kept true to our mission to support local farmers and food vendors, but also to be a community gathering place. Our parking is terrible, but we will always maintain our grassy areas outside. It is fantastic for people to rest and enjoy the outdoors. Our outdoor area may be one of the things that sets us apart the most. We’re not just a grocery that you run in and out of to get your goods, but we ‘re an experience where we hope you’ll linger, meet someone new, run into your neighbors, or better yet, run into your farmers.
What are you most excited about in your work these days?
Jac, my business partner, and I still work at the Swamp five to seven days a week, and we’re always trying to make things better and better. While the amount of different things we do can be overwhelming and exhausting, it definitely also keeps things exciting. I’m excited about so many things, like the winter strawberries we’re getting in that actually taste good, the South Carolina and Georgia citrus that has been delicious, and flower season. We also have some events coming up. I’m half-Chinese and we celebrate Lunar New Year every year with house-made dumplings. We invite other Asian-owned businesses in the community to come serve food. We also celebrate Mardis Gras, where we’ll have the Greenville Jazz Collective play and serve gumbo and jambalaya. Every time our cafe makes a menu change, which we do a lot to highlight the seasons, I’m excited. Our employees and farmers are fun, and funny, and I always reflect on how lucky I am to be excited to go to work every day.
About how many farmers does Swamp Rabbit work with? What region does that cover?
This is an ever-changing number, but at the last count we were over 150 farms over the last year. We used to use a 150-mile radius, but realized that that would prohibit things like South Carolina citrus from making the local list. We focus on source-identification and if we can identify the farm, and drive there in a day, we count it as a local farm. Generally South Carolina and neighboring states are mostly local, and farther we may consider regional.
How have ASAP’s Grower-Buyer Meetings helped Swamp Rabbit connect with farms?
It seems like at each one we have made at least one new connection that grew to be pretty important to us. I met Ellijay Farms, and now we use their shiitakes in our kitchen, sell them in our grocery, and wholesale them through our food hub.
Is there a local food or a perfect seasonal dish that you look forward to all year long?
I love making homemade strawberry ice cream during strawberry season. Two vegetables that I love, that we never seem to sell a lot of (but want to change that!) are eggplant and napa cabbage. Eggplant is so good in so many things, and napa cabbage can make a really great stir-fry or even better, dumpling filler. Citrus season has been really fun too, I eat a normal amount but I have fun watching in amazement as my husband and sons feast on pounds and pounds of Georgia kisses, sumo citrus, and mandarins every night.
Find out more about ASAP’s Business of Farming Conference and Grower-Buyer Meeting.