Gracious Plate relocating to Chesterfield Village

The Gracious Plate, a nearly four-year-old Springfield culinary concept, is making the move to Chesterfield Village.

Owner Katie Baker said she expects to relocate within two weeks to a commercial kitchen inside digital commerce firm Classy Llama Studios LLC’s 2215 W. Chesterfield Blvd. headquarters. She’s operated since October 2017 out of Redneck Nutz, located at 2127 W. College St.

“I have officially maxed out the space there,” Baker said. “Even if I wanted to buy another cooler, there’s not another place to put it.”

The Gracious Plate is a catering and ready-to-eat meal delivery business with an emphasis on serving customers with food allergies or diet restrictions. Baker said she buys ingredients from local farmers as much as possible for her gluten-free menu that includes ethnic foods such as Latin American, Asian and Middle Eastern cuisine. Her delivery business is similar to Blue Apron or HelloFresh, she said.

“We’re really trying to build out the family meal system,” Baker said. “We produce a large quantity of meals and deliver them to families each week.”

Baker said the business currently can support up to 15 family meal clients, but with the move, her goal is to increase that figure to 50-100 families.

Both Baker and her husband have food allergies, and she “very quickly decided this was a need that needed to be met” when she attended Ozarks Technical Community College for her culinary arts degree.

In Chesterfield Village, Baker is waiting for a health inspection before she can move into the 1,000-square-foot commercial kitchen space. A health inspection that was slated for this week has been rescheduled to next Monday, she said.

Baker said the kitchen previously was used by a restaurant, called Rye Bread & Apple Core, before it closed nearly 20 years ago. Classy Llama bought the building in summer 2018 from Bob Noble, whose businesses include CultureWaves LLC and Food Channel LLC, Springfield Business Journal previously reported.