Our Story ~ The Short Version

A little about us, we met in 2011 at a restaurant called Converse Deli in Spartanburg, SC. Lenora was working as the manager when Joel came in to interview as a server. While the restaurant did not really need a new server Lenora took one look at Joel and hired him on the spot. It was several months after that before we started dating. Ten months later in May of 2012 we were married at Glendale Shoals. 

In March of 2012 we took a leap of faith and opened our own restaurant, the Farmers Table. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into and what we thought would be a small sandwich shop, turned into a packed 99 seat restaurant 7 days a week. Our desire to serve locally grown and sourced food was the driving force behind our success. We were the first restaurant in our area to fully embrace farm-to-table. 

Over the course of eight years we grew our business from a small table service restaurant on Kennedy Street to one of the busiest restaurants in downtown Spartanburg. In addition we grew with the purchase of our food truck and expansion into school foodservice both elementary and university. During this time we also expanded our family with two wonderful children. 

Being small business/restaurant owners was the only life we had ever known, and the only life our kids had ever known. When the pandemic closed our doors unexpectedly in March of 2020 our whole world shifted and we had no idea that this would change our lives forever. Due to many challenges and obstacles we were never able to reopen our doors to the public after the pandemic. While this was a very hard decision for us, it was the best decision for our family. 

Our story wasn't over though as we had just joined in a partnership with a local private school in our town. We began a new adventure there in August of 2020 by providing our same locally grown and sourced concept to students in grades preschool-upper school. What we didn't realize is how much time this opened up for us to spend with our children as a family. 

This has opened so many doors for us as a family. Joel began coaching Cross Country & Track in the fall of 2021. He finally found his calling in coaching and teaching students about his passion for running. Lenora found more time for volunteering and getting back to the basics of cooking while sharing her passions with young aspiring chefs. We also welcomed a new addition to our family. 

This brings us to where we are now, loving life and creating a space where we can share our journey with you. For years while our restaurant was open our customers asked us to share more about ourselves and our successes. Our life has not always been what we expected but we have learned to navigate the bumps and detours to make the most out of every second we spend together!  Here we want to finally share our stories with you about life, parenting, cooking, traveling and so much more. We hope that you will follow along with us on this journey. We know we don't have everything figured out and life is far from perfect but we do know that the most important thing in life is family! Welcome to ours!