Yonder — Local services in Franklin

My family and I had breakfast at Yonder on Sunday, 3/1/20. We have been there several times before. It has always been an enjoyable experience. We brought an out-of-town guest with us this time. I had the 'steak special'. Let me begin by saying the steak was perfectly cooked, tender & seasoned great. No complaints there. My daughter had french toast which was terrific. My other daughter & her guest had eggs and grits with a biscuit. No complaints on the quality of the food. None whatsoever. However, to say I was in "sticker shock" would be an understatement. Breakfast for the four of us was $83 plus tax, plus the 15% gratuity I left our servers. Let's recap: 6 eggs, 1 cup of grits, 2 biscuits, 2 slices of bread (french toast), 2 slices bacon, 1 6 oz sirloin, 1 cup potatoes, 4 oz sausage gravy, two coffees, one sweet tea and an orange juice. Also maybe 1/2 cup of blackberries & bananas. 2oz of 'chow-chow' relish. (This is a generous estimate on portions). $100 bucks. Now, I get this establishment's thing is farm to table. I also get that they spend a lot of their time curating their products from local vendors. I knew that when we went there Sunday. I also can plainly read the menu and estimated our tab to be about $50-ish for breakfast for 4. To say I was floored by the tab is an understatement. We were all floored. I questioned the bill &, to be honest, was met with indignation from our server. (They use an Ipad so there is no detailed bill). She brought the Ipad over for my review. Anyone who has been to Yonder knows it is close quarters in there. So, it felt like I was being examined by the other patrons for my questioning. I get that is on me, but still. Our server handed me the Ipad and, frankly, I was embarrassed. She was NOT reassuring in the least. She was NOT apologetic. She flatly told us the story about farm to table, sustainable, hand picked, etc. But not in a tremendously nice way. It was painful to be scrutinized. I paid the bill.STILL TIPPED HER 15% and promptly left. The end to the story could be that I will not be back. I also own a small business (Tallulah Gorgeous in case anyone wants to, in turn, leave me a less than 5-star review which I fully expect). I also spend WAY TOO MUCH TIME running my business and take it real personal when someone has something unfavorable to say.. However, I listen to my customers and I genuinely feel terrible when someone isn't happy with my contribution to society as a small business owner. And, like Yonder, my products are sustainable as I am a consignment store so keeping stuff out of landfills is my first order of business. My daughter, who was with me Sunday, left Yonder a review today because I told her I would not. Her review was not bad. In response, the owner,, Hannah, direct messaged my daughter & told her that her review "SUCKED". She also Sara that she is entitled to her opinions & she shouldn't share them on social media. Not sure why you'd put your business in a position to be rated on Google if you didn't expect the ratings to be shared. She also told my daughter that "folks can figure out for themselves what their budget is to eat out." We travel quite a bit & sometimes, it's nice to know the price point of places before you go to them. It is also nice to be told the cost of add-on items if they are not on the menu (2 oz chow chow relish was $1. 2 strips of bacon $4). There is more defensive, indignant stuff in Hannah's response but what is NOT in there is an apology that our experience was less than stellar. What is NOT in there is that they will take our review as an opportunity to improve. What IS in there is that our opinion SUCKS. That is NOT good business. Yonder bills themselves as community minded. The first thing about being part of a community is to be nice. Just be nice. Hannah, you got my $83 and I didn't ask you to give one penny of it back. My daughter gave you a better rating than you deserved. The best thing you could've done is apologize for our unfavorable experience. The worse thing you could've done is what you did....

I went to this community market and small venue space with my sister and her husband to enjoy an outdoor event and meet up with some folks. I loved the outdoor space and the support for the band (Jackson Grimm), which played some wonderful music. The market had a diverse selection for its relatively small area and items available seemed to be organic, artisanal, local, global, and focused on health and quality. Prices were comparable to similar stores. It was nice to see this kind of place open 7 days a week and located in Franklin, NC. I’m personally used to more racial diversity, so the more homogeneous crowd was a bit strange for me, but that aligns with the demographics of the area, and folks were nice enough. I could definitely see myself frequenting this place if I were a local or lived in one of the neighboring towns. Certain elements of the store and set up reminded me of places in my hometown, and I definitely like having access to some variety in my food selection. I’m sure I’ll be visiting this place again when I’m...

Hmmmmm. I really so want to like this place. In my most recent visit, the very nice person working that day called me to let me know the fresh baked goods had been delivered. The sour dough bread was dry, the banana bread was pretty good and the cookies, well, the cookies sucked. They really need to try and find a new provider of baked goods. There's a bread bakery in Silva called Little Cove that's outstanding and they deliver bread to restaurants in Franklin. Maybe they should think about getting on their delivery route. Today I was there and bought a loaf of cranberry nut sour dough bread. It wasn't necessarily dry, but it has a chemical taste (and after taste) that might have ruined bread of any kind for me forever, plus it was $12 freaking dollars for a bad loaf of bread. Never never never again. Their frozen foods are really good. I bought a quiche about 2 months ago that was really amazing. Thought it would be nice to end on a...