HONOREE SIZE & INDUSTRY: Small  – Hospitality and Entertainment

Texan by Nature is excited to recognize Harvest Seasonal Kitchen in the 2020 TxN 20. Harvest was also recognized in the 2019 TxN 20 for their efforts in conservation and sustainability that positively impact Texas’ communities, economic prosperity, and natural resources. Read their 2019 write-up. 

COMPANY OVERVIEW 

Harvest Seasonal Kitchen is a community-to-table restaurant in Historic Downtown McKinney, Texas. The restaurant was created not only to connect with this vibrant North Texas community and serve great food, but also to make a long term impact by supporting local farmers, ranchers, and artisans. Their seasonal menus are a celebration of local farmers, featuring exceptional products grown close to home. They are committed to strengthening their local community and pushing the bounds of the food movement. Harvest seeks to advance its purpose-driven company while bettering each member of the McKinney community, the environment, and the lives they serve.  

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS STRATEGY 

Harvest’s Mission Statement is “One Heart”: One Heart is embracing a shared purpose and pursuing it with intention. One Heart declares that we are better together and that a culture of unity, servanthood, excellence, and positivity will drive us to achieve our goals. Harvest collectively seeks to advance their purpose-driven company while bettering themselves, each other, the Mckinney community, the environment, and the lives of those they serve.

When a dollar is spent with a locally owned business, seventy cents of it stays in their community, and it’s on that principle that Harvest operates. In 2019 alone, Harvest welcomed 75,000 guests, each of which were educated about local growers, sustainability, and conservation. 

Conservation is central to the culture at Harvest. Restaurants typically generate a lot of waste, but Harvest utilizes every piece of the animal or produce. Additionally, buying locally lowers Harvest’s carbon footprint and has a direct positive impact on the local economy.

Harvest also seeks to drive its local farming economy by creating demand for the products that grow well in North Texas. The public typically looks to chefs and restaurants to set the trends; Harvest wants to feature the exceptional products grown by local farmers, make them trendy, and therefore create more demand for them. Harvest’s goal is to foster an agricultural community known around the world for excellent products. They want the reputation of their food producers in North Texas to rival anywhere in the world.

EMPLOYEE LEADERSHIP

Rick Wells, Andrea Shackelford, Toby Tomason, and Megan Neubauer are integral to Harvest’s success in serving the North Texas Community:

• Harvest Co-Owner, Rick Wells grew up in the restaurant industry and knew there had to be a better way to operate, one that would not only waste less, but consume in a way that benefited the community. Rick grew up in a small farming community in Oklahoma and now lives on an organic farm in nearby Lucas called Water Boy Farms. 
• Executive Chef, Andrea Shackelford is Harvest’s connection to local farmers. Referred to as Texas’ Alice Waters, Shackelford embraces the adaptability of a true farm-to-table chef. While one farmer’s crop may be lost to pests or disease, another’s crop is overly abundant. As a Master Gardener, she empathizes with situations like this and works with the farmers to get the products she needs and preserves the abundance of products down the road. 
• General Manager, Toby Thomason drives the daily commitment to Harvest’s conservation programs, ensuring procedures are followed and explaining the rationale to staff. Being a Master Naturalist gives Toby a keen eye for opportunities to apply conservation strategies to not only in the restaurant but also in the environment, where he volunteers with conservation initiatives regularly. Toby created the bar program at Harvest the same way Andrea created the menu, with a focus on using locally grown products and wasting nothing. Toby is the face of Harvest’s efforts to guests.
• Executive Director of the Seed Project, Megan Neubauer brings the perspective of a farmer. In 2012, Megan left a career in biotech to start a farm in McKinney with her father called Pure Land Farm. In 2017, she noticed a growing demand for opportunities to visit her farm, so they converted the operation to a Pick-Your-Own and now spend their 8-week season educating families about growing food. Pure Land Farm hosted over 7,000 visitors in 2020. 

CONSERVATION PROGRAMS

Local Sustainable Sourcing 

Harvest sources almost all its food from within a 250-mile radius, from proteins to produce, visiting local farmers markets weekly to shop and seek out new farmers. Their menu changes four times a year based on what is seasonally available. This commitment is continued in the bar, which features almost entirely Texas-made liquor and beer. The kitchen uses every part of the animals and vegetables they receive, from preserving in jars and dehydrating into powders to making their own sausage and stock. Operating this way not only saves costs and supports the local economy but also lowers their carbon footprint.

It’s not just the food and drink, either. All flowers for the restaurant are purchased from a nearby flower farm. The tables and booths were crafted by a local artisan, and art prints of local farmers adorn the walls. Harvest’s farmers are also featured in the restaurant marketing materials handed to each guest with their check, to strengthen the connection between the guest and the farmer. 

• Old paper menus are cut into coasters
• The water glasses are made from recycled wine bottles
• The dining napkins are reusable cloth towels laundered in-house 
• All takeout containers are compostable
• LED bulbs are used to light the restaurant

Additionally, a joint effort by Rick, Toby, Megan, and Andrea – Water Boy Farms was established to supply Harvest and is 6 acres of organic farm and pasture land. It is worked by Harvest employees and supplies flowers, microgreens, produce, and honey. Each year, 2.5 tons of restaurant waste from Harvest is diverted to become compost at Water Boy Farms each year. The farm is so named because “the Water Boy is the ultimate servant, and we are servants to the environment and world we raise our children in.” 

Sustainable Infrastructure 

Running a restaurant in the 119-year-old building Harvest has operated in for the last six years is not without infrastructure challenges. Harvest has done the best they can to improve the energy efficiency with the things they could change, such as using all LED bulbs to light the restaurant, saving 2734 kWh per year. 

With their lease ending in a year, Harvest has started planning to move into the Masonic Lodge around the corner, built in 1899. Renovations of the 10,000 square foot, 3 story building will incorporate the latest in green energy solutions and LEED building updates, with the goal of becoming green certified. The third floor features ten-foot windows that will be open during service for the temperate months, bringing the outside in.

Harvest Seed Project Foundation

To expand Harvest’s reach and impact, the restaurant established The Seed Project Foundation. The Seed Project funds educational, agricultural, and community initiatives that support sustainability.

Through The Seed Project, Harvest has funded the construction or expansion of several school gardens in Collin County, from elementary schools to high school Future Farmers of America programs. The Seed Project has also funded gardening programs for adults with special needs and community gardens that work to improve food access for those in need. Harvest has also granted funds to and developed close relationships with local Texas Master Gardeners and Texas Master Naturalists.

Additionally, the Seed Project sponsors the annual Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance Farm and Food Leadership Conference. In 2017, the Seed Project established the Farm Crisis Fund which is dedicated to helping local farmers and ranchers through times of natural disaster or economic crisis. Harvest and the Seed Project granted funds to three local farms during the COVID-19 crisis and will continue to be a resource to their farmers in need. 

BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE 

Harvest Seasonal Kitchen believes conservation happens at the local level, from the choices made within your community. Since the beginning, Harvest believed that most of their impact would be made by the purchases from the kitchen and bar, but they quickly realized the much greater opportunity to make a powerful change in their community was in bringing like-minded individuals together in the restaurant and exposing them to their mission. 

In addition to the restaurant, work with local farmers, and efforts of the Seed Project, Harvest hosts three Farm-to-Table Symposiums every year, each of which brings together over 200 local farmers, ranchers, artisans, chefs, restaurateurs, and local food advocates. 

Into the future, Harvest will continue to use their platform to positively benefit the people, prosperity, and natural resources of North Texas.

TEXAN-LED CONSERVATION

Texas has one of the strongest economies in the country and leads the nation in the number of farms. Specifically, the area of Collin County is one of the only counties in Texas that increased in the number of farms in the last census. The rich, dark soil of North Texas’  Blackland Prairie is an excellent medium for a wide variety of agricultural products. Harvest believes it can create a national and eventually global market for these products by exposing and publicizing them through Harvest.

McKinney is consistently placed high on lists of the Best Places to Live in America because of the vibrant downtown, excellent schools, and thriving job market. Collin County is among the fastest-growing areas in the nation. This is fertile ground for a true movement to take place and for McKinney to become a model of how you can create a thriving community by supporting locally owned businesses

Definitions:

– LEED or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is the most widely used green building rating system in the world.