Spinach Bus Ventures plans to open a farm-to-table restaurant this spring at Skagit Regional Airport.
The airport has been without a restaurant since December 2019 when Flyers Restaurant and Brewhouse closed its location there. Spinach Bus Ventures plans to open in that vacant building.
Spinach Bus Ventures owns Tulip Town, Fairhaven Mill, and Skagit Acres, formerly Skagit Valley Gardens.
The new restaurant, called Skagit Landing, is set to open April 10 for grab-and-go breakfast and lunch, and later expand to full-service dining, according to a news release from the Port of Skagit, which owns the property.
The restaurant will focus on locally sourced ingredients.
Spinach Bus Ventures CEO Andrew Miller said the restaurant's location will allow patrons — who drive or fly to the restaurant — to appreciate the connection between Skagit farmland and food.
"We think there's a lot of opportunity for the food and agricultural story to be told," he said.
Miller said the restaurant will offer a grab-and-go menu, in part because of how the pandemic has shifted eating habits.
He said the company is also planning to open sister cafés at Tulip Town and Skagit Acres, and to later add catering services.
Josie Urbick will be the executive chef of Skagit Landing and oversee the two cafés.
Like the five founders of Spinach Bus Ventures, Urbick is a 1994 graduate of Mount Vernon High School and grew up picking berries and other crops on Skagit Valley farms.
Urbick previously worked for Seattle Chef Tom Douglas and most recently at Bon Appetit in the Seattle Art Museum.
She said in addition to her experience as a line cook and a general manager, she has also worked on a farm in Carnation.
Urbick said she is in talks with local farmers and producers about sourcing ingredients.
"It's going to be focused on using items not just from farmers, but vendors," she said.
Supporting value-added agriculture has been a focus for the Port of Skagit since 2010. There are 18 businesses in the value-added agriculture sector across port properties, according to the port's news release.
— Reporter Jacqueline Allison: [email protected], 360-416-2145, Twitter: @Jacqueline_SVH
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