Map showing farmers markets, community garden access. Green Works Philadelphia

With the community gardening movement experiencing increasing popularity, some cities are undertaking innovative efforts to expand access to these facilities. In Philadelphia, Mayor Michael Nutter directed the creation of a strategic plan called Green Works. One of the plan’s key goals is to “bring local food within 10 minutes [walk] of 75 percent of residents.

To accomplish this, the city, with the help of the Philadelphia Horticulture Society has mapped out the existing gardens and their proximity to residents. The maps allows the city to target programs to create new gardens and markets in underserved areas, perhaps concentrating first on higher population density areas or those without other access to fresh food.

Using this information the, Green Works makes the following statement and goals:

Today Philadelphia enjoys 30 outdoor seasonal farmers’ markets, which provide a place for people to gather and purchase agricultural products from the region. An additional 200 food-producing gardens combine to make access to fresh food convenient for even more city residents. And no discussion of access to fresh food would be complete without a nod to Philadelphia’s crown jewel—the Reading Terminal Market. In addition to its being a leading tourist destination, Reading Terminal Market is the leading redeemer of food stamps and Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program vouchers in the state. Yet, as the map [see right] indicates, many city neighborhoods still lack access to locally grown fresh food. To increase this access citywide, Greenworks Philadelphia calls for the creation of 59 food-producing gardens, 12 farms and 15 farmers’ markets in Philadelphia.

This is only one component of Philadelphia’s efforts in this area, but it is one of the most important. As the old business-success-model saying goes, its all about location, location, location.

• There are 1,000 seats in the restaurant;
• There are as many as 650,000 diners a year and the business reported $36.2 million in revenue last year;
• Just the name “Tavern on the Green” was recently appraised at $19 million;
• In the summer, about 50 percent of dining is outdoors;
• There are 500 employees in the Christmas season and in the summer, and at other times the roster is more like 225 to 250;
• The current owner of the restaurant is required to pay 3.5 percent of its gross receipts to the city;
• It has historically been one of the highest grossing independently-owned restaurants in the country; and
• The core building is an original Central Park slate-roofed, red-bricked structure called the Sheepfold, which once housed 200 sheep. It was opened to the public as a restaurant in 1934 by Robert Moses, who was parks commissioner at the time.

The line at Madison Square Park's Shake Shack

“If you make it, they will come” might be the mantra for providing food in parks – and there may be no clearer example than Madison Square Park. We recently noticed the line outside the New York City park’s ShakeShack food kiosk, and couldn’t believe how long it was on a not-entirely warm late March weekend day. The kiosk is fairly new, and has brought alive the southern end of the picturesque park that sits next to the famous Flatiron building.

In 2003, the Madison Square Park Conservancy, a nonprofit that runs the park in an agreement with the city, launched a new initiative to bring a high-quality food kiosk to the park. According the the Conservancy’s website:

In one year it financed and built the $750,000 Shake Shack, the new zinc-clad, ivy-covered “green” building designed by architect James Wines of SITE Environmental design and operated by the Union Square Hospitality Group…….  Since Shake Shack’s opening in 2004, it has exceeded all expectations – and not just because a portion of each purchase benefits park maintenance and programs. From opening day, Shake Shack has made the southern end of the park a destination for dining. Customers are lured by the tasty menu featuring frozen custard, shakes, concretes, Shack burgers, Chicago hotdogs, ‘shroom burgers, and more.

There is great value in quality food destinations for parks. Not every park is meant for a food vendor, but those that have them need good ones that draw people in and other parks can improve their quality of place by providing them. And good food offerings bring revenue to the park, as the Conservancy mentions above.