It seems odd now to think of a time when Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery wasn’t a drop-in for produce or a pretty mean sandwich.
Owners Jacqueline “Jac” Oliver and Mary Walsh were considered trailblazers when they opened 13 years ago along the then-fledgling, now-bustling Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail Network. In the broadest sense, Walsh and Oliver attribute the success of the business to a combination of hard work, luck and foresight. They describe the current phase as Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery’s “teenage years.”
The business opened in 2011 as a dream for Oliver and Walsh, who were each nearly 30 years old at the time. Walsh didn’t own a house yet, and neither had children. They had some savings and believed wholeheartedly in a business that brought the weekend farmers market experience into a daily routine.
“Thirteen years ago, there were maybe a handful of people who were talking about buying from farmers, and then very few places where you could buy stuff from farmers,” Walsh said. “We wanted to do it and then — and then — the movement grew on different people’s radars. So I feel like that was part luck, but also part we saw something that had potential and we got in before it was more mainstream.”
The two used their personal savings and took out a $30,000 loan to begin the business, which required them to be frugal. Walkability was important for the partners, but their budget cut out downtown real estate.
Eventually, a 1,600-square-foot former meat-processing plant on Cedar Lane Road, north of downtown Greenville, came across their radar.
At the time, it was considered odd to set up shop in that part of town. The Swamp Rabbit Trail had opened the year prior and the extension to that area, between City View and Sans Souci, was new. But the location met their desires, and they stuck to their guns, tackling the location with the same fervor they had for raising public awareness about buying local.
“A lot of people were like, ‘That’s a weird area. Nobody goes there. Nobody’s going to go there.’ And we were like, ‘Why wouldn’t you want to ride your bike here? That’s fun,’” Walsh recalled.
“We were on the front page of the newspaper a lot that first year,” Oliver said. “I think we were the only business on the trail, so if anyone wanted to talk about the trail, they took a picture of Swamp Rabbit Cafe.”
The partners listened to the public, catered to the community and grew organically. Over the past 13 years, the cafe and grocery has become a landmark along the trail — locally famous for its name, its longevity and its trademark stecca bread.
The business has expanded over time. It recently added a coffee bar in the former SRT Bike Shop, and a production kitchen is being added off-premises to meet grab-and-go demands and alleviate truck-delivery traffic in the parking lot.
Weathering storms at Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery
Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery has also fared its share of storms, including literal ones. A downscaled Main Street Greenville extension, Swamp Mart, opened in April 2024 but closed after Hurricane Helene.
“We lost over $70,000 worth of food,” Oliver said.
Given the cafe’s business model, it wasn’t as easy as restocking the shelves. One of its vendor farmers lost five cows. The weeks following the storm are normally when the business plans ahead for the holidays. Construction on the production kitchen was supposed to begin and the new coffee shop was still getting off the ground.
Ultimately, the grab-and-go stop was successful but closed as Oliver and Walsh shifted priorities. After the storm, they received a visit from the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Isabel Casillas Guzman, during a tour highlighting ways local business could receive help and assistance.
The ability of Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery to persevere through events like the hurricane, or the COVID-19 pandemic years earlier, can be attributed to its core values. By buying from local vendors, Oliver said supply chain complications are alleviated. Nearby farmers with power were able to bring milk or beef directly to the store.
Oliver said local support is never in short supply.
“It was very amplified during the hurricane,” she said. “But I feel like in lots of different ways the community is like that in a nonemergency.”
Walsh agreed.
“We help each other,” she said.
Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery is located at 205 Cedar Lane Road in Greenville.
Food hub
Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery works with roughly 450 local vendors and operates a food hub. Some of the vendors wholesale directly to the café, which allows it to sell to other places that may not have as much access to crops or products. In turn, the business can buy and sell from other food hubs, which helps support local farmers in other areas.
Employment
The business currently has about 150 employees but started off with just the two owners. Mary Walsh’s husband made the first sandwich.
Development along the Swamp Rabbit Trail
“I think some of the connections have taken longer than we expected, and some bridges and improvements have far exceeded our expectations. We never expected our area, our business and the whole trail community to burst like it did, but it’s been really great to experience it.” — Jacqueline “Jac” Oliver, co-owner, Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery
