Risk & Business Magazine Nesbit Agencies Spring 2017 | Page 26

WISE ACRE EATERY & TANGLETOWN GARDENS
BY: DAVID BUSS
NESBIT AGENCIES
Feature: Wise Acre Eatery &
Tangletown Gardens:
True Farm-to-Table
D
ean Engelmann and Scott
Endres met when they were
both horticulture students at
the University of Minnesota.
Coming from similar
backgrounds — both grew up on farms—
they shared a unique love and appreciation
of farm culture, plants, and animals.
They also developed a strong sense of
sustainable horticulture practices. With
those principles in mind, they started
Tangletown Gardens, a garden business
fed by their farm in Plato, Minnesota. The
first greenhouse crop was grown during
the winter months of 2003; that spring,
Tangletown Gardens opened for business
in the Tangletown neighborhood of south
Minneapolis. Since then, the farm has
helped feed the garden center, with a
landscape division being added later on.
The landscape division has quickly grown
to become one of the largest parts of the
operation.
In 2012, Dean and Scott founded the
Wise Acre Eatery, a unique, farm-to-table
restaurant operation. Eighty percent or
more of the food that is served at Wise
Acre comes directly from the farm in
Plato. People who frequent the eatery
appreciate the approach that Dean and
Scott take to the business. The customers
understand that the animals and the land
are being cared for properly, and it makes
the fresh ingredients and meals being
served there taste that much better.
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The menu at Wise Acre Eatery is carefully
crafted, making the best use of each
season’s harvest, and reflects a focus on
cooking from scratch using the freshest
ingredients possible. With the majority
of ingredients coming straight from the
Plato farm, fresh ingredients are not an
issue. Scott, who runs the retail side of
the business, often describes the food
as comfort food that is targeted toward
customers who appreciate fresh, high-
quality food, produced in a sustainable
manner. Using the freshest ingredients
makes for more nutritious food and that
quality can be seen in every plate that is
served. When people see the connection
between the land and their dinner plate,
they truly begin to understand the vision
that Scott and Dean had for their business.
One of the key aspects of both Tangletown
Gardens and the Wise Acre Eatery is a
focus on setting trends in sustainable
agriculture and farm-to-table culture
rather than following them. The
combination of farm, garden center,
and restaurant provide a truly unique
experience which is unheard of in
mainstream retail centers. Dean and Scott
are in the business of selling creativity and
sustainability; the accolades they receive
confirm that they are taking their business
in the right direction.
With a strong focus on community and
customers, Dean and Scott are always
looking for ways to give back. Whether
that is by supporting civic groups, or
holding fundraisers for specific causes,
or the more than 15,000 pounds of food
they donate to area food shelves each
season. They see themselves more as
biological farmers than chemical farmers,
which is a refreshing change of pace in
the modern world of chemical farming
and unsustainable growing practices.
They have created a model that provides
food for more people per acre versus
conventional farming and restores and
improves the soil