White Birch, Sam Freund's acclaimed farm-to-table restaurant in Flanders, to close
After four and a half years, White Birch, a fine-dine restaurant in Flanders, a serene bucolic southwest corner of Morris County, will close permanently after Mother's Day brunch service May 14.
"I was just not doing the business that I was before," said chef and owner Sam Freund, who made the announcement initially on social media. "I don't know why. You can't force people to come to your restaurant. If I could, I would."
White Birch was a winner of New Jersey Monthly's annual Best 30 Restaurants list four years in a row.
Freund, who has been in the restaurant business for 25 years, said that COVID-19 had made running a restaurant, a notoriously tough undertaking, that much harder. "Hospitability is a tough and rough industry since COVID," he said. Adding: "I have given it everything I have. The return is not much. This industry is a grind."
He nevertheless said he will continue to run his other, more casual restaurant, The Oldwick General Store, a breakfast and lunch spot he opened a year ago. Freund not only serves sit-down meals there but sells many items that are made in the kitchen.
"Our made-in-house tomato sauce, preserves, donuts, muffins, pickles all the breads — they're all sold at the store," he said.
Freund, who tended a big garden on White Birch's sizable property, is a strong believer in using the freshest ingredients from the nearest farms and best local purveyors. He grew up in Warren County, not far from his restaurant, and learned early the advantage of using fresh, local products.
As a result, his menu changed seasonally. It was printed on throwaway paper; yesterday's menu would no longer be relevant if he was out of ingredients.
White Birch is Freund's third restaurant. His first was Slamwich Scratch Kitchen, a beloved breakfast, lunch and sandwich shop in Madison, which closed two years ago.
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Freund implored his social media followers to "support local businesses.
"People have to support their local businesses," he said. "Owning a local business is hard. And we need the support of our communities to thrive."
White Birch is at 380 Route 206, Flanders; 908-955-0443, whitebirchrestaurant.com.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: White Birch in Flanders NJ to close after Mother's Day brunch
