Kitchen Farm is closing - a letter from our founder.
It's with sadness we advise that Kitchen Farm is closing for an extended period. We've outgrown these beautiful historic buildings in terms of critical infrastructure and need some important building works to be undertaken if we are to service our customers efficiently and effectively.
It's been a very difficult decision. But this time, rather than retrofit and trade through, as we've done many times over the past five years to keep up with organic growth, we've decided to be prudent and close for an extended period. The constraints of buildings that were never designed for modern hospitality has caught up with us. So, we need to close for a minimum period of 6 months.
These upgrades are costly and will have a significant impact on whether the business can remain viable in our current location. As we can't commit to exact timing we don't want to raise expectations or take bookings we can't honour.
We appreciate this will come as a disappointment to our regular customers, who treat this as a place of community connection and to experience our beautiful menu. We ask for your support and understanding and request you give us the space and time to make sure we can do what is needed.
We've also decided not to plant our summer crop in the produce garden. It's a challenging space to farm. Our work in the local regional food system has taught us a lot about regenerative principles and we believe that supporting local farmers rather than trying to do it all ourselves is a more practical and manageable path forward at this time given our extended closure. We'll reconsider our approach to our own farm operation as part of our planning phase.
I am personally disappointed we have reached this juncture. Along with our dedicated team, I have put countless hours into this business and of course my family and the Newenham project more broadly have contributed enormously, funding works and subsidising the operation and jointly hosting events.
Our last service will be Sunday 30th August. We will be open as per our usual trading times until then - Monday, Thursday, Friday - 8am to 3pm, Saturday & Sunday - 8am to 3.30pm. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday. We'd love for you to come in, support us and say goodbye to the team before we close.
If you have a gift voucher, we'd love for you to come in and use it before our final day. If you're unavailable, please contact us directly at vouchers@kitchenfarm.com.au to discuss alternative options for redeeming your voucher.
If you have further questions, please visit the Q&A page on our website. You may also register to become a Friend of Kitchen Farm, to keep up to date with news.
Thank you for your support, understanding and loyalty.
Olivia Burke
Founder, Kitchen Farm