TURKS & CAICOS: The Farm Restaurant At Seven Stars Resort & Spa To Open Soon

By Todeline Defralien, SUNtv News Reporter

Apr 03, 2023

Seven Stars Resort & Spa’s newest restaurant venue The Farm Restaurant will open very soon in Grace Bay.

Ken Patterson, CEO of Seven Stars Resort & Spa told The SUN they hope to be opening around Easter weekend or maybe the week after.

Patterson stated that what this new restaurant will bring to guests and the public is a purer taste and the difference is extraordinary.

“The hydroponic farm is located inside The Farm Restaurant at Seven Stars Resort in Grace Bay and that’s the restaurant that is opening in three weeks time. All the produce that we serve at all of our restaurants, The Farm, The Terrace, Seven and The Deck are all grown within this hydroponic farm. What you are getting is a purer taste and the difference is extraordinary,” he said.

Asked what motivated the resort to have its own farm, Patterson added, “It’s not necessarily about cost or price…by the time you buy your lettuce and they come from either Florida or California by the time the lettuce arrives here in our restaurants it is two weeks old, so it literally only has a few days of life left and the taste is completely different. The taste of the produce that we grow here is so much fresher and it has no pesticides, no herbicides, we don’t use soil we just use water, nutrients and light and that’s it.”

The CEO said when people go into Seven restaurant and order a salad they will know the difference.

Meantime, Patterson revealed that there are plans to scale this to a much larger commercial scale but added that one of their biggest issues is the cost of electricity.

“We do have plans to do this to a much larger commercial scale but the one thing that is killing us is the cost of power. Sixty percent of the running cost of this hydroponic farm is power… so we are working with government and Fortis to see how we can bring the cost of the power down to agriculture farmers because this is technically farming even though it is very scientific. If we can get the cost of power down to the agricultural sector, then that makes the scalability of this much better so then we can bring these to the islands and we can work with local farmers and show and teach them how to do it.
There is a scheme in Te Bahamas where the government actually loans or gives grants to local farmers and that’s what can make this work and put these into the local environment,” he said.

Patterson revealed the cost of one of these hydroponic farms by time it gets to the TCI is $160,000.

“It is not cheap but we’re prepared to make that investment in order to make the islands self sustainable in terms of produce,” he said

Edwin Gallardo, Executive Chef at Seven Stars Resort & Spa said this was a very excellent move and he believes that this is the way of the future, especially in the island.

“There are so many things that we grow here but we are focusing on our four items that we normally serve to our main guests. We have the monte carlo romaine which is a very nice crisp and a little bit more on the sweeter side and we have another romaine which is the checherita romaine which is when you apply heat to it, it will change the flavour and it has a lot of hint of spice but it give you a nice buttery flavour as well. We also grow our own mint and kale as well. We grow two different kinds of kale; one is the regular kale and the red russian kale. We grow summer crisp lettuce as well and we also grow the butterhead lettuce, iceberg lettuce and the magenta greens that we do when we make our own mixed greens as well,” he said.

Gallardo added that apart from that they also grow their own micro greens which are more substantial to their restaurants and of course these micro greens are the last added touch onto the plate that gives a different level of flavours and enhance everything on the plate.

The executive chef said the hydroponic farm really gives them a little more interest into moving into the sustainability aspect of the property.

“We are living on an island where we depend on all import goods but for me as a chef, if I have a nice fresh produce then I can elevate flavours a little bit more and the quality and the product itself changes the whole profile. If we harvest one lettuce today it will last me at least for three weeks and you will still get the same taste, the same texture and the same profile of the lettuce as well. This brings us back to where we need to be a little more conscious of what we can do to be a little more sustainable in the next ten years or more. This is the way to go and the best way to go,” he explained.

The new restaurant concept, which will be located on the corner of Grace Bay Road, just west of the Seven Stars Resort entrance, will showcase a collection of chef-curated herbs, greens and produce grown and managed by the culinary team in its on-site Freight Farm hydroponic farm.

Featuring garden-style seating and a standalone bar, the restaurant will feature ingredients harvested daily from the hydroponic farm, offering its own island version of garden-to-fork dining. With a focus on fresh and healthy options, The Farm Restaurant will be open for healthy breakfast options, lunch with a fast-casual menu of grab-and-go selections, and a more elaborate dinner service.

Using the Freight Farms hydroponic container farm, Seven Stars Resort & Spa, Grace Bay is the first resort to self-manage and grow its own produce. The result: a culinary experience that includes hand-grown and harvested ingredients rich with flavor, texture, and color.

Named for the storied Pleiades constellation which is said to shine brightest over Turks and Caicos, Seven Stars Resort & Spa’s attentive and highly personalized guest service, innovative offerings, and exceptional accommodations and amenities have made it one of the Caribbean’s most iconic, top-ranked luxury resorts.

Following a $12 million capital improvements program in 2019, the resort’s offerings now include two oceanfront heated salt-water pools, a third children’s pool, and a full redesign of its lobby and 167 spacious and luxuriously appointed junior, one-, two- and three-bedroom suites with private balconies, stylish furnishings, and gourmet kitchens.

The resort is also known for its island-inspired gourmet dining served at its signature fine dining Seven restaurant and The Deck, a popular beachside open-air restaurant and bar; the full-service Spa at Seven Stars Resort; a state-of-the-art fitness center, and Spa Boutique.

Seven Stars Resort & Spa is located on Grace Bay Beach and is just 20 minutes from Providenciales International Airport with nonstop flights available from major North American cities and direct flights from London.