European-inspired eatery serves up ultralocal fare

For entrepreneurs and restaurateurs Bill and Christina Griffiths, sustainability is both a business philosophy and a way of life.

The Griffiths, owners of Farmers Gastropub, 431 S. Jefferson Ave., serve only fresh, local, organic or sustainable foods, cooked by a crew of six chefs, including Bill Griffiths.

Local fare takes the cake: The hamburgers at Farmers Gastropub are grass-fed prime Angus from Rocking Z Ranch in Mountain Grove, served on freshly baked buns by Springfield bakery Artisan’s Oven with fresh produce from Mama Jean’s Natural Foods and Steppingstone Farm Produce and local farms.

Their eatery, opened in October, brings to the Ozarks the gastropub dining concept, pioneered in 1991 by two Americans living in London, Bill Griffiths said.

Springfield, by way of Europe
Englishman Bill Griffiths, an engineer by training, left private employment a few years ago only to be recruited by the British government. He most recently was attached to the British Consulate based in Chicago with the title of consul, trade and investment, lead officer advanced engineering.

Christina Griffiths, née Fugitt, is a Springfield native and Drury University graduate who specialized in languages, specifically French and Spanish. The couple met while both were in France on business – she representing Independent Stave Co., of Lebanon, and he representing a British chemical company with interests in Paris.

Business brought Bill Griffiths to the United States in 2003, and the couple subsequently relocated to Springfield to care for Christina’s elderly mother. When he retired last year, they decided to pursue restaurant ownership, a dream he had cherished for 30 years.

“I worked my way through engineering school in a fairly fancy restaurant in the UK,” said Griffiths, a self-described lifelong foodie. “I love cooking, and when we lived in France, my best friend was a three-star Michelin chef who let me play in his kitchen.”

Knowing his passion for fine food, Christina gave Bill birthday and anniversary gifts of classes at the cooking school of Roger Vergé, considered a top chef in France.

The Griffiths developed their concept for the restaurant last summer, based on what they liked best about European dining – classified by Bill Griffiths as “fresh local produce, cooked well and served simply.”

And while gastropub may be an odd-sounding term, Griffiths offers a clarification.

“For the readers that think it’s got to do with some kind of bowel disease, ‘gastro’ comes from ‘gastronomy,’ which comes from the French word ‘gastonomique,’ (which) is the art of fine food,” Griffiths said, noting that pub is short for public house, historically a roadside stop for foot-weary travelers.

The first U.S. gastropub, The Spotted Pig, opened in New York about five years ago, Griffiths said, and gastropubs are spreading across the U.S.

Farmers Gastropub offers a comfortable, casual setting, but it also has an upscale bistro area for private parties, Griffiths said, noting that menu items generally range between $7 and $12.  

The couple considered getting a U.S. Small Business Administration-backed loan to launch the eatery, but by the time they filled out the paperwork, the net worth they listed on the application was already invested in the business. It is entirely financed by their savings, although Griffiths declined to disclose the exact cost. “We’ve invested everything we have, basically, in setting up this restaurant,” he said.

Mutual benefits
Craig Crosby, owner of Artisan’s Oven, said that the relationship between the gastropub and its local vendors is mutually beneficial.

“When people eat there, they know where all the products come from,” he said. “Of course, it’s part of the local product movement that I think is gaining momentum all the time here in Springfield.”

Dan Bigbee, owner of Fassnight Creek Farm, is excited about the Griffiths’ innovative focus on local produce.

“I’ve had some bad experiences in the past with people who’ve said they want to buy local, but when they really got down to it, it was easier to go a different route,” Bigbee said.

Because he can tell Griffiths is serious, Bigbee said he’ll grow whatever Griffiths needs – even if it’s something new for Fassnight Creek Farms.

The most recent addition to the menu at Farmers Gastropub, Bill Griffiths said, is meat from Ossabaw heritage hogs, provided by Halltown’s Flint Rock Bison Ranch, which also supplies Farmers Gastropub with bison.

The Ossabaw stock is descended from small hogs brought to North America by the Spanish Conquistadors, who left them on Ossabaw Island, off the coast of what is now the state of Georgia.

“I’ve tasted them, and they are fantastic,” Griffiths said. “Like nothing I’ve ever tasted since I was eating wild boar in Italy.”

Order of the day: sustainability
Not all of Farmers Gastropub’s foods are locally produced, but those acquired elsewhere are still selected on the basis of sustainability as well as quality.

For example, Bill Griffiths offers some traditional fare from his native England, including fish and chips.

“We started off buying haddock from the East Coast of America, and a few weeks ago we switched to fresh long-line sustainably caught cod from the North Pacific because the haddock is in spawning season,” he said. “To be sustainable, we need to let them breed.”

Sustainability goes beyond what’s on the menu. Kitchen scraps go to feed the hogs at two local farms, which pick up the scraps every other day. The restaurant recycles cardboard, paper and glass, and rather than buying bottled water, it filters its own water on site using a Culligan system, Griffiths said.

Creating 26 local jobs and keeping dollars in the community also are part of the eatery’s sustainability model. “Farm-to-table is what it’s all about, and getting away from the overprocessed, overpackaged food that seems to be causing health issues across the nation,” said Griffiths, who predicts multiple Farmers Gastropub sites within five years.