District-based subscription meal delivery service Vegetable and Butcher plans to relocate to Prince George’s County after outgrowing its current headquarters in Northeast D.C.
The company, founded in 2016 by Turner Hoff and Ariane Valle, has leased a 46,000-square-foot industrial building at 6001 Fallard Drive in Upper Marlboro, 475% larger than its existing 8,000 square feet at 2619 Evarts St. NE. Vegetable and Butcher hopes to build out the space and use it as a launching pad to grow its client base in Greater Washington and expand into new markets including Annapolis and Baltimore by the second quarter of next year.
Vegetable and Butcher has come a long way since its launch from a shared prep table at incubator Union Kitchen, and has had to spread out to additional locations in other parts of the District, including shared offices inside a NoMa coworking location. The move will allow it to bring all those uses, including off-site refrigerated truck parking and a separate distribution facility, under one roof, Hoff said in an interview. Vegetable and Butcher plans to build out about 30,000 square feet initially and may look to sublease the balance in the short term until it’s ready for additional growth. Hoff said it is too early to disclose build-out costs.
“We’ve been thinking about the expansion for, probably at least two years, on and off, looking for space,” Hoff said. “We had a couple other opportunities, but it was really tough to find a space that was adequate for our current needs but also big enough to accommodate our future needs.”
Vegetable and Butcher's focus had been weighted toward venues like wellness centers and catered events, but those opportunities shrunk with fewer large-group events amid the Covid-19 pandemic, when it had to scrap more than 100 events on the books. It responded by ramping up digital marketing to reach more prospective individual customers or households.
The company seeks to provide healthy food options from locally sourced providers, with dishes including a Syrian salad with Za’atar vinaigrette, kale soup with potatoes and white beans, chipotle pumpkin chili, delivered fresh and ready to eat. It initially launched servicing just two ZIP codes, 20002 and 20003, and now has a base of about 3,000 active subscribers the D.C. area and delivers around 1,500 meals a week. It has roughly 150 employees, but aims to expand to around 250 once it makes the move and begins to ramp up its expansion plans.
Vegetable and Butcher, which declined to disclose revenue, sought out potential new sites across Greater Washington, including in D.C. and Northern Virginia, but found its options were limited in those other areas. It has retained Studio 3877, Scott Levine of The Design Difference and Shawn Johnston of Hospitality Construction Services to design and build out the Prince George's space.
“When it comes to impact, food is so unique in its ubiquity,” Hoff said. “It touches on health, wellbeing, sustenance, climate, and economic growth. From our perspective, we think there’s an opportunity but also a responsibility to provide healthier options.”
