By Emily Scaff
Seasons’ Yield, a bake shop and cafe in Lexington, will be moving out of Haywood’s restaurant on April 19. The cafe plans to start selling coffee and baked goods at the former Appalachian Sage on April 22.
Daniel Shear, the owner of Seasons’ Yield, announced at the beginning of March that he was purchasing Appalachian Sage. Under the new name Wildberry Market, Shear will continue to sell acai and smoothies, along with Seasons’ Yield products.
They will be there until their new home at Main Street opens up later this year.
“We are so excited about the purchase of this business, and it was not on our radar whatsoever about a month ago,” Shear said. “But conditions changed with our lease at the Georges, and we found out we needed to leave.”
Purchasing Appalachian Sage allows Seasons’ Yield to continue business operations while the new building is being remodeled, Shear said.
“Because we were losing our lease with the Georges, I was at a point business-wise where if we don’t have this outlet … I would be in a position where I would be laying off a significant amount of our employees.” Shear said.
The cafe makes up 50 percent of Seasons’ Yield revenue, Shear said. Shear also owns and operates Season’s Yield farm, which hosts bi-monthly “Bread Days.”
New Seasons’ Yield cafe plans
Seasons’ Yield announced at the beginning of last year that they would be opening a new cafe on Main Street in Lexington. The space will be shared with the owner of Rockbridge Barbell, a gym that is currently open on Walker Street in Lexington.
Shear said the new location will not be ready until the summer. However, their lease with Haywood’s ends April 19.
Appalachian Sage will reopen as Wildberry Market on April 1. Seasons’ Yield cafe will rent space from Wildberry Market until the new cafe is completed.
Future plans at Haywood’s
John Gomes, the manager of The Georges, said that Seasons’ Yield lease with Haywood’s ended at the agreed time.
“The lease was in effect to end back in January, and we continued to extend it,” Gomes said, adding that Haywood’s extended its lease with Seasons’ Yield by four months.
Following Seasons’ Yield’s move, Haywood’s will begin to offer three meals a day, said Gomes. The restaurant currently serves dinner Wednesday through Monday, as well as brunch on Sundays.
Haywood’s is expected to begin continuous meal service in May, Gomes said.
Moving forward at Wildberry Market
After the cafe on Main Street opens, Shear said he wants Wildberry Market and Seasons’ Yield to be two separate, yet mutually supportive businesses.
“The name Wildberry is, in essence, so much derived from the product that we are offering, such as the bowls and the smoothies,” Shear said. “…We like the word market as it seemed to be encompassing so much of what we want for the future of the space.”
Shear is excited to welcome students in both the new Wildberry Market and the future cafe.
“Thank you for supporting us, and we really welcome your feedback so that we can be providing you the nourishing food that you would want,” he said.