West Fannin Elementary School and Lit’l Pond Hospitality Group recently developed an ongoing partnership where WFES grown produce is used in Lit’l Pond restaurants.
According to Principal Lucas Roof, teacher Mary Jean Pace, fourth grade students and Garden Club students grow specialty crops the Lit’l Pond Hospitality Group will now use in their restaurants for certain menu items.
“To begin this wonderful partnership, the students grew tomatoes and butternut squash that Melisa Gardner, the kitchen manager at Masseria Kitchen, used over the weekend of September 27th through September 29th to help create two specials called Autumn Pizza and Tomato-Pesto Pasta,” Roof said.
Lit’l Pond Hospitality Group is owned and operated by Michelle Moran and Danny Mellman and consists of local restaurants including Harvest on Main, Masseria Kitchen, The Cook’s Farm, La Pizzeria, Cucina Rustica and Blue Smoke Barbeque.
Moran, Mellman and their kitchen managers and chefs will also be visiting the school to work with students. A recent special menu distributed at Masseria read, “Lit’l Pond Hospitality Group is partnering with the West Fannin Elementary School in their on-site gardens. The students are growing specialty products for the restaurants and we are creating menus using these ingredients and then working with the students on recipe development and cooking.”
In order to expand the partnership, WFES students will continue growing and harvesting many more specialty crops in the future.
Roof expressed his excitement about the partnership stating, “We are very thankful at West Fannin to have dedicated partners like the Lit’l Pond Hospitality Group that have a positive impact on our students and are willing to assist in providing our students with a well-rounded education.”