When Bee Bee’s restaurant closed earlier this year, there were some questions as to what might move into the space on Laurens Road.
As it turns out, this fall Greenville will get a second location of Fountain Inn-based Upstate Grower’s Market.
Platt Moore owns the local butcher shop and produce market. He also owns AM/PM Cattle Co. and is managing partner of Tomahawk Processing. Moore grew up on a farm and spent the first 35 years of his career in the environmental and recycling business. When the time came, he realized he was not very good at being retired.
So he did what anyone raised on a farm would do.
“We bought a ranch and were raising cows and realized there was a big disconnect between the local farmers and ranchers in the area and being able to get their products to market,” Moore said.
Moore said South Carolina doesn’t have as much capacity to process cows, so many are sent elsewhere for processing before coming back to the state packaged. The mission of Upstate Growers Market is to curb that a bit.
“We wanted to be able to get our cows to the consumer, not just sell the cows for them to go somewhere else,” Moore said. “So we bought a butcher shop.”
The shop first opened in early 2023 but it’s more than just beef. Visitors can find a variety of locally produced food, including Naked Pasta products, Palmetto Olive Oil Co. oil, Hensley Farms raw milk, City Scape wines and West End Coffee Roasters coffee.
Recently, the Fountain Inn location added a lunch counter serving a farm-to-table meals.
What to expect
Moore said the upcoming storefront was chosen for its easy accessibility in a high-traffic area.
The new location will be similar to the first in that it will be a butcher shop and market, but it will not have its own restaurant. The commercial kitchen in Fountain Inn will produce grab-and-go options for the Greenville location.
The structure will be painted and its parking lot refurbished, but there will be aspects that remain the same. For example, the market will maintain the drive-thru component, giving visitors an opportunity to order items from the butcher online and pick them up at the window.
Upstate Grower’s Market in Greenville will be located at 1907 Laurens Road. It is slated to open in the fall. For now, those interested in getting a sneak peek can drop by the Fountain Inn location at 202 S. Weston St.
Meaning behind the name: “AM/PM” stands for Ashley Moore and Platt Moore. Ashley is Platt Moore’s wife.
