Nourish Botanica is kicking off its anniversary weekend by expanding into food and coffee pop-ups.
Nourish Botanica is a Black-owned plant nursery and shop that officially opened in the spring of 2022 in south Atlanta. Founder, artist, event producer and social justice advocate Quianah Upton continued raising money to expand the space to include a cafe.
According to a press release, the space currently sits on about ¾ acres in the neighborhood of Joyland in south Atlanta. The space consists of a plant shop, a cafe which will undergo renovations throughout 2023, and a large greenhouse where the dining area will be located.
“I’ve learned a lot over the past 10 months that we’ve been open as a plant and flower shop,” Upton said in a press release. “It’s critical we build the right team and community partners, and with the restaurant industry in flux, especially in staffing, I want to dip my toes into the water carefully, so that we can sustain this business and provide healthy food access in Joyland for a long time.”
Upton is testing the expansion of the space into the cafe by collaborating with local popups to offer food and drinks on the weekend. Starting on March 4, Nourish Botanica will begin serving food on Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m., and coffee on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
According to the release, after roughly six to nine months of testing, Nourish Botanica will decide how to proceed with menu development and community partnerships. The pop ups will include food options from Meraki Soul and The Powerplant, and coffee from the likes of Recuerdos Cafe and Tanbrown Coffee.
Upton said that while a lot of the popup food offered will be vegan, there will be other options as well.
“We want people to eat as many plants as possible, but we’re not 100% tied to the idea of a completely meatless model yet,” Upton said in the release. “It’s important for us to provide a space that is welcoming and has culturally relevant food, accessible for our immediate neighbors more than anything else. That will be determined through conversations over food with the community in 2023.”