April 2, 2025 • 25 mins
Chef Matt Cooper is a multi-award willing and James Beard award Semifinalist who leads Conifer, a restaurant where sustainability, inclusivity, and storytelling shape every dish. Fully gluten-free and rooted in local sourcing, Conifer prioritizes both environmental and employment sustainability. The open kitchen fosters transparency and Cooper’s inclusive menu ensures that all guests enjoy beautifully composed meals.
Looking ahead, Cooper’s next venture, RYN (Remember Your Name), will elevate the region’s dining scene with a 10-course tasting menu and a women-led team. Whether you're here for mountain biking, art, or business, make time for Conifer—if tables are full, grab a seat at the bar and experience hospitality redefined. Reserve your table: https://www.coniferbentonville.com/book-your-table
Make Confier's Grilled Cheese at home: https://www.visitbentonville.com/podcast/post/shattering-expectations-in-arkansass-dining-scene/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Biju Thomas (00:00):
Hey everybody, welcome to Dining Out
Bentonville with me, Biju, andI'm coming to you today from one
of our favorite little spots inBentonville Conifer.
We're going to sit down withChef Matt Cooper of Conifer to
hear a little bit about hisjourney into opening up this
incredible spot that we have allcome to love.
Ah, chef Matt Cooper, how areyou, buddy?
Chef Matt Cooper (00:22):
Good to see you.
Biju Thomas (00:23):
Thanks for doing this.
Oh man, you got a knife off theknife wall for us.
Yeah, look at this thing.
Chef Matt, thanks so much fordoing this.
We're doing this lovely littleshowcase of some of our favorite
spots here in town, brought tous by the lovely folks at Visit
Bentonville.
Yeah, we wanted folks to get achance to get to know you a
little bit.
Yeah, we wanted folks to get achance to get to know you a
(00:44):
little bit.
I know you personally as theoriginal Preacher's Son, which,
as far as I can remember, I'mguessing you're still a
Preacher's Son, still aPreacher's Son, but the man
behind the restaurant that wasthat is the Preacher's Son,
which was the originalrestaurant that really people
started thinking about as alittle bit more of an elevated,
(01:04):
more of an experience, more of anight out.
Is that kind of how youremember it?
Chef Matt Cooper (01:07):
Yeah, I mean, we were definitely, you know,
next to what Matt McClure wasdoing at the time at the Hive we
were definitely something thatwas really coming in, that was
really unique that old renovatedchurch and things like that and
we kind of yes, I think thatthe team really did set the
stage for what was kind ofhappening at the time, for sure,
yeah, and that was early on, soit was a little bit before what
(01:29):
we have now, which is anexplosion of great places and
more on the docket to come up.
Biju Thomas (01:33):
Oh yeah, so many places now.
Right Like all these awesomeplaces.
So what got you into that?
I mean, I know a little bitabout your history, but what
made you want to do Preacher'sSon to start?
Chef Matt Cooper (01:41):
with I had been.
I had been in Portland, oregon,for quite some time, cooking all
over the city and sous chef andworking odd jobs here and there
as well, just because theeconomy was crazy, and I really
wanted to take everything thatI'd learned from everything that
I'd learned from growing up andbuilding communities and things
like that, as well as like allthe wonderful farm to table
(02:02):
movements that I'd learned inPortland and there were just so
many chefs there doing like somany chefs doing the same thing
and it just I just couldn't makea difference.
So I really wanted to move backand be able to make a difference
in my Arkansas community andtake everything that I'd learned
, and I think that's what reallydefines a space is.
There's a lot of people here inBentonville that have gone away
(02:22):
, taken the things that they'velearned, brought it back to this
community so they can thriveand grow all together, and so I
think that's really what Ithought about doing as well.
We moved back to Arkansas in2010, moved to Little Rocks, and
I'd lived there before thisplace called Cash that you were
doing there.
Yeah we built a restaurant namedCash, based on the Cash River,
(02:43):
not cash money.
Biju Thomas (02:44):
Oh cool, yeah, yeah For rush-harding, Hence the
spelling yeah, yeah, this isvery important.
Chef Matt Cooper (02:48):
on the spelling Cash sounds silly but
we, yeah, we built that.
And then I had been at a fewother restaurants.
I was executive sous at ChenalCountry Club and executive chef
of a little place called Lulav,which was at the time this
really cool little place on 6thand Louisiana here in town.
Fine dining in Little Rock.
Biju Thomas (03:04):
Oh, nice yeah.
Chef Matt Cooper (03:05):
I started hearing these whispers of some
people had been wanting me tocome up for quite some time and
really check this out.
It was right after I built Cash.
Yeah, the object was always tohand over that restaurant to the
owner's son.
So, and then you know, my nextsteps would have happened and I
just I kept getting calls fromRob Apple.
Nice, I love that man, man,he's like you really need to
(03:27):
come up here and check this out.
Biju Thomas (03:28):
His name comes up a lot.
Anything cool that's happenedhere, his name comes up a lot
100%.
Chef Matt Cooper (03:32):
He's a great human and I kept getting these
calls and I was like, okay,finally I came up to check it
out because I had lived here 20something years ago when I moved
back from Austin at the timeand it was a very different
place, to say the least.
I was here for about a year anda half and and in Rogers area,
and I came up here and my wifeand I took one look and you know
(03:53):
we just decided it was time,like we moved up.
I mean that and the premise of,you know, building a
hospitality company that wasthat was that was focused on
community and building, buildingthe community, which is all my
morals and then being able tohave a restaurant that was named
and designed around me and thenthe community, and then be able
to have control of thatrestaurant For sure, without
(04:14):
really and full creative control, and it'd be 100% gluten-free,
which not only is significantfor the time and the place.
Yeah, that's a whole thing, butto be able to be a gluten-free
restaurant of that caliber inthe state of Arkansas at that
time, which just really speaksto what what people were doing
at the time.
Biju Thomas (04:32):
So when Preacher's Son opened, it was all
gluten-free also.
And cause I mean?
Now it's just a regularrestaurant with a regular menu
across the board.
And for folks that haven't beento Conifer, which is this
beautiful space we're sitting in, 100% gluten-free and not that
most people would never know thedifference between is it
gluten-free, is it not?
But for folks where it actuallymatters, the fact that you've
taken gluten-free to a wholeother level of just thought and
(04:55):
concern for each ingredient, theplating is beautiful, the food
is all just so ridiculously good.
All right, so, chef, you weretelling me about you know, being
able to create a gluten-freerestaurant here in addition to
what you were doing there, beingable to build that in this
incredible space and there's somuch happening, and I was asking
this before we even started thepodcast.
You know about the wood artaround the space, and then you
(05:21):
were talking to us about thetables.
There's a story behindeverything happening in this
space.
That's right.
Tell us a little bit about that.
Chef Matt Cooper (05:27):
The story is community right.
Conifer was built on thepremise of planting the seeds of
community, which is kind of apremise of my life as well, and
how I was raised Like my familywas all about community building
.
My father's side of the familywere all Methodist ministers,
hence preacher's son Mother'sside of the family were all
(05:48):
Methodist ministers, hencepreacher's son Mother's side of
the family all foodtechnologists M&M, mars, uncle
Ben's Rysland Foods.
My grandfather started the foodtechnology program at U of A
and then went on to Texas A&M.
My uncle followed in hisfootsteps.
So food and science andcommunity and building community
(06:09):
have been a huge, the pillarsof not only my family.
In fact, the new restaurantwhich we'll talk about, ren,
remember your name is based onthat premise as well, literally
built on the premise of.
You know, we are a reflectionof those who came before us and
those yet to be, and we can onlyevolve, strive and grow
together as a community,together, and that's really
important and that's how we goabout everything in our lives.
So to the gluten-free thing 30%of people nowadays have some
type of sensitivity to somethingright.
Most restaurants are gearedtowards whatever their vision is
(06:31):
right and, as far as the foodgoes.
Our vision for here isliterally to be a hundred
percent gluten-free, because I'mceliac and I couldn't cook in
restaurants or kitchens anymorethat that had gluten it was just
making me sick and killing meand to be able to have the
opportunity for anyone to comein and say I'm allergic to
peanuts, wheat, eggs, dairy.
We literally know that if youput it on the reservation
(06:53):
beforehand and we'll talk to youand you'll have a menu.
We don't want to isolate anyone.
Biju Thomas (06:57):
And it's not an afterthought, it's not like, oh,
we're just going to put tofu onthere.
No, it's not.
It's not, it's a beautifulcomposed dish that you're going
to get, yeah, regardless of whatyour dietary restrictions or
concerns are.
Chef Matt Cooper (07:07):
And some of these concepts really exist in
other places.
But honestly like I, I've goneto New York and LA and all those
places too, and in Denver andeaten places and been like I'm
celiac and they were like, hey,you can have the salad.
Biju Thomas (07:18):
Yeah, you know.
So it really doesn't it reallydoes happen.
Chef Matt Cooper (07:21):
So what we're doing is really significant, not
only for the area, but for thenation as well.
Biju Thomas (07:27):
That's incredible, man, because I'm very fortunate
and I live really close by, so Iget to come here a lot.
Come here to sit at the bar,meet friends either way, to have
a beautiful plate of food, aglass of wine and to know that
whatever issues I might bepersonally dealing with or any
of the guests, it's never goingto be a concern for the kitchen
(07:47):
and to know that the food isstill going to be beautiful and
delicious and all the things youknow, and not an afterthought,
like I was saying.
It's not like, oh okay, justleave the bread off.
No, it's actually going to be abeautiful dish which is really
something special and very rarefor people to get.
Which, also, looking at yourmenu and going back to your
Portland days, for folks thathaven't been to Portland, it's
one of the most esoteric likeout there restaurant food scenes
(08:11):
where, like it's just crazy tosort of see little bits and
pieces of that coming in in thedesign work?
No, it definitely is.
Chef Matt Cooper (08:14):
My mother grew up in Oregon, so going going
back there was definitely likeme, connecting to my roots with
my mother and things like thatand and especially Oregon and
Portland in general will alwayslike feel like second home to me
.
Um, and that's why you see allof the, you see that very well
represented in this space, theknife wall being one of those
things.
Biju Thomas (08:34):
It's like such a cool thing.
Chef Matt Cooper (08:35):
Definitely one .
This was one of the ancientblacksmiths uh, last practicing
ancient blacksmiths um in theUnited States passed away a few
years ago and I was.
I had the pleasure of being afriend of his and I have all of
his knife blanks and stuff likethat, all from Swedish saw steel
where they used to cut down thetrees and he used them now to
create things.
Biju Thomas (08:52):
So anyway, and you can see it on the back wall
there.
Chef Matt Cooper (08:55):
There's always a story behind everything,
right, and I think that's why itwas really important when I
transitioned from my lastrestaurant to here.
It was time for, and that wasalways kind of the plan anyway,
is to get that company up andrunning and get it to where it
was really successful andsustainable and then be able to
come and open my own restaurant,me being the only owner having
full control of of the, thevision and and the control.
(09:16):
You know I can't say controlenough, it's just really
important Now, that being said,I have about a hundred and
something years of peopleworking for me in this
restaurant you know, and andthat really speaks to what we do
Like talking about.
You know, one of the things thatwe talk about is very different
than some things, like how wesupport our local farmers.
We're always going to talkabout, like, what's local right
now?
What can we order from ourpeople right now?
(09:38):
Not only that, what can we getfrom them that maybe other
people are not using, so we canhelp them create sustainable
business models, right?
And then the second andparallel conversation has always
been how can we take care ofour people, because they're our
family.
Biju Thomas (09:51):
Right.
Chef Matt Cooper (09:52):
So full coverage, health care for all of
our people.
You know, paid vacation for allof our people, including
servers.
We do fun things likeeducational vacations, so if
someone wants to go and learnsomething somewhere else, I'll
send them and connect them, getthem out there and we'll pay
them when their time off.
So we're really trying tocreate what a small business
sustainable model looks likethat can be profitable, and
(10:12):
sustainable is the word right.
Biju Thomas (10:14):
And for folks that you know from outside.
We're getting a lot ofattention from all over the
country, from all over the world, folks that you know from
outside.
We're getting a lot ofattention from all over the
country, from all over the world, folks that want to come and
visit Bentonville, as it were,and folks that are looking at it
don't realize this is really asmall town.
Our downtown is one tiny littlesquare, little square block so
many.
This restaurant butts up rightagainst it.
So, no matter how big the storygets, you're still running a
(10:34):
small neighborhood,community-based business taking
care of the people that livenext door to you and that you
get to see on a regular basis.
So you treat people in adifferent way and as somebody
who lives here and gets to comehere, it is mind-blowing just
the level of service you get andhow familiar you get seeing the
faces behind the line, thefolks that are bringing the food
out to you, making your drinks.
(10:55):
They're all the same people dayin and day out, which you don't
get in most parts of thecountry.
Tell me a little bit about that.
So how do you get these?
Not the word loyalty is kind ofa BS word, but just getting
folks to love what you're doingand to like equally share in
that with you.
Chef Matt Cooper (11:10):
So I think that I think that, like Conifer
was born from all of us wantinga place to to live and survive,
like the concept of what Coniferis goes back to the concept of
why we created it.
Like this, this restaurant youknow, this is extremely hard, we
were just talking about it isextremely hard and demanding,
and so we wanted to createsomething that was truly
(11:30):
different.
Like other restaurants focus onthe most amazing food or the
most, and that's great, andthat's that's wonderful, and we
need that.
We're really true to what we doand we're not a restaurant for
everyone, right.
Like you know, we use groundlamb from Hannah Lamb because,
you know, everyone else wantsall the other cuts and we've
used their ground lamb productforever, like when we could
order whatever we want.
(11:51):
But we choose to do that so theyhave a successful business
model, right, and it's justharder for us to create
different things with that.
We'll do meatballs, we'll dobolognese, we'll do meatloaf,
we'll do sausages, we'll dodifferent things like that.
And the people that come inthis amazing community of
support, where people understandthat what they're getting, we
charge what we need to, becausewe have to support our local
(12:11):
people and we have to supportour people in the restaurant.
So by no means are we therestaurant for everyone, nor do
we want to be.
Biju Thomas (12:19):
All right.
So on that note, every stop wemake and visiting with our chefs
and friends in town, they'regoing to make us their
interpretation of a grilledcheese, based on what their
restaurant does.
What do we got here, chef?
Chef Matt Cooper (12:31):
So what we got here is we're doing our cheddar
, biscuit, cheddar and chivebiscuit, and then we've done so.
We've got prairie breezecheddar, which is a sweetest
sauce, uh, cheddar.
We've got pecorino romanocheese.
Um, that was london, live at ac.
That was london, my executivesous chef who's been with me for
almost got very shy almostalmost 20 years is it really?
Biju Thomas (12:54):
yeah, open five six restaurants for me, london.
Chef Matt Cooper (12:58):
thank you, chef.
And so yeah, cheddar biscuiteggs.
So this is like probably what Ieat every morning and obviously
we're gluten free, so we don'tmake a gluten free like quote
sandwich bread.
So this is kind of our versionof that.
We let all the crispy bits fromthe cheese melt into the pan
and we put them back in thesandwich.
Biju Thomas (13:16):
We've got a little bit of chili crunch and aioli.
That is beautiful.
You can smell the chili crunchand the cheese coming through
and for folks that are visiting,the grilled cheese might not be
on the menu, but the cheddarbiscuits are always on the menu.
They're ridiculously good.
They bring you out a littlebasket of it.
Order it.
Order a few.
They're incredibly good.
Okay, While we're eating that,I want to hear a little bit
about you know you talked aboutyour love for places like
(13:36):
Portland and other places you'vebeen able to live and work.
When you hear from folks thatare coming to Bentonville for
the first time, what are thethings you tell them, whether
it's food, places to go visit,things to do, what sort of
things do you tell them?
Chef Matt Cooper (13:47):
I tell them that, like, not only do we have
like an amazingly bustlingrestaurant scene where people
are passionate, like I said,people moving off and coming
back, and that's how you reallyrelate to people, it is a
community.
So they're like I'm like whereare you from, Where'd you come
from?
And they're like oh, I camefrom Beijing, or I came from
Austin, or I came from Denver,or I came from Vail or places
like that or LA.
(14:08):
And what I love hearing is thatthey'll say I didn't realize
that there was so much going onhere.
Like I didn't realize arestaurant like this could be in
a place like this, and that'syou know, and that's always
great to hear.
But in the same aspect, ofcourse, it can.
Okay.
Biju Thomas (14:24):
Yeah, you know, I was telling you earlier, I think
of this as fine dining.
You shot that down instantly.
This is not fine dining.
It is not fine dining.
Right, like that was instantlya no-go because, coming from I
come from Denver I've beenfortunate to travel.
Chef Matt Cooper (14:35):
I come from Portland and Austin and places
like that that have a reallybeautiful fine dining scene.
Yeah, and I'm not saying finedining, I don't love fine dining
.
I'm opening a fine diningrestaurant our next restaurant
and I think it's reallyimportant to understand that
everyone defines food and theirexperience differently.
(14:56):
All we want to define as ourfood is we want you to be able
to come in shorts, t-shirt,however you want to come, as
long as you're wearing clothes,and enjoy what we offer.
It's a shared experience.
That's why the kitchen'scompletely open.
It's not to put our chefs onshow.
It's to show that we're humantoo, and it's also to show that
(15:18):
we're not more special than you.
You're not more special than us.
This is a community togetherwithin this restaurant.
Biju Thomas (15:25):
So if we're busy and we're getting our butts
handed to us.
You're going to see it.
Yeah Right, it's not a mystery.
Chef Matt Cooper (15:28):
No, you can sit at the bar and you can see
every mistake that we make, oryou can see every triumph that
we make.
Right and the same thing.
I can see everyone out here, Ican see your facial expressions,
I can see.
If something's wrong, I can see, and then and that's you know,
that's one of the things welearn as chefs is non-verbals
man that was one of the beingable to see people.
Biju Thomas (15:44):
You're like wait, yeah, something's wrong with
table 23 and they're like no,that's just their face and
you're like okay, that's fine,you know, but yeah, it's, you
know, every I.
Chef Matt Cooper (15:54):
I do get amazed at at the people that in
this town, town that are comingin and out Like Bentonville
flexes by 40,000 people a day,oh my God, yeah, and I think
those were the numbers like twoyears ago, so imagine what they
would be right now.
But you know people coming infor commerce, people coming in
for meetings.
The vendor community is amazing, which really does like the
micro environment that thebusiness in Bentonville really
(16:15):
allows us to do all the thingsthat we do.
The business in Bentonvillereally allows us to do all the
things that we do.
It allows us to be dohealthcare for our people and
and hopefully 401k soon and paidvacation and pay them really
really well, and these areunheard of things across the
board and independently ownedrestaurants.
Biju Thomas (16:31):
It's, I mean, it puts huge amount of effort and
burden in your lap to be able todo that as a small operation.
Chef Matt Cooper (16:35):
Yeah, and if there's anything we are going to
brag about, is is like we makeour mistakes just like anyone
else.
Right, like I'm never sayingyou know, we don't, we don't,
but you know we, our people, arehappy and and, um, even when we
have to say goodbye to someone,which has only happened a few
times, like still love them,care about them.
It just might not be the God.
You were dead to them, it wasover, it was just over.
But you know, if I can't lookat my people and think about
(17:03):
them as who they are and wherethey want to be in the next 10
years and set them on that path,whether they know it or not,
like that, I'm not doing my jobas a chef.
I don't let people I didn'teven let people call me chef
until years ago.
And I still really don't preferit.
I don't care.
I just want you to respect meand understand that there's
respect between both of us,right?
You can learn something fromanyone.
(17:25):
I can learn sometimes more frommy dishwashers than a celebrity
chef that comes in here andstuff like that.
Biju Thomas (17:30):
It's understanding.
I always love to tell peoplethat if the chef's having an off
day, if the chef has to call insick, the restaurant's going to
be fine.
That's right.
If the dishwasher is missingthat day, the restaurant will
100% shut down.
Chef Matt Cooper (17:40):
It's over.
Biju Thomas (17:40):
It's over the restaurant comes to a grinding
halt and it's over.
All right, chef, I have acouple more things I wanted to
ask you, one being, you know,for folks that are visiting,
it's Bentonville.
It's a small town.
Most restaurants are closed onSunday.
A lot are closed on Monday.
This is one of the only placesopen seven days a week.
Seven days a week, you can comein and have an amazing dinner.
That's right, right here.
(18:02):
Why did you do that?
Why'd you do that to yourself?
Chef Matt Cooper (18:05):
Well, it's a lot easier, actually.
Okay, there you go.
It's a lot easier to keep thetrain rolling.
Yeah, and honestly, as anindependent restaurant, with me
being the only owner with nomoney behind us, if we keep the
train rolling, I get to sleep atnight.
There you go, and that's honest.
I don't think that enoughpeople talk about the trials and
(18:27):
the struggles of the restaurantindustry and what that means in
a community that is verysupportive but also struggling
in a lot of ways.
Biju Thomas (18:35):
Yeah, Right To grow .
So keeping seven days a weekopen for those of you that are
thinking about opening arestaurant, you never have to
completely shut it down and thenreopen again.
You're just always you neverhave to worry about losing
product.
Chef Matt Cooper (18:45):
Yeah, you're always fresh.
It's like running You're justused to it.
You get up every morning andyou do it and it's not hard.
You're in that rhythm and stufflike that.
It's just so much easier.
It makes perfect sense.
Biju Thomas (18:56):
All right.
So now coming down to the lastcouple of questions I've got for
you, because I know this is areally condensed version of your
story.
I could sit with you for a fewhours and we have, but we need
more hours.
So what have you got coming upnext?
I've been able to ride by andsee this gorgeous space just on
the periphery here, but what isgoing on there?
I've never seen anything likeit happening this part of the
(19:19):
country.
What?
Chef Matt Cooper (19:20):
is that I'll try to make.
I'll try to make it quick.
So for ever since I was a kidor decided that I wanted to be a
chef, I always wanted arestaurant on a farm.
Like I wanted to groweverything that we do.
The idea of what that would behas kind of morphed and evolved
over the years and, just likeyou were saying, a lot of people
think that this is fine dining.
Like I do believe that there issomething missing from
(19:42):
Bentonville and we're going totry to fill that gap and so
we're building our farm.
The high tunnel's up right now.
The Rose Alley Inn will haveplants in the ground in the next
few weeks.
The restaurant should be openaround May.
The name of the restaurant isgoing to be RYN RYN and it's an
acronym for what my grandmotherused to always say, which is
remember your name.
We talked about it beforeRemember your name.
(20:03):
Everything has to be meaningfulfor me, because I think if
people have meaning behind thevisions that they do, then they
always have a drive to haveownership of that meaning and it
just puts so much energy intoit.
And plus, people in communitieslike this that are small and
tight knit, they understand.
Everyone can relate tosomething in their past.
They can relate to somethingthat their grandmother said that
(20:24):
has stuck with them for howevermany years, and I think that's
really important.
But that'll be 26 seat tastingmenu.
10 course tasting menu.
Everything that we grow on thefarm is going to be there.
We're not trying to competewith anyone.
We're trying to narrow what wedo here at Conifer support even
smaller farmers that because weburn through so much local stuff
here that we burn them out andthen we don't have anything left
.
So the farm is not meant tocompete or to do things better
(20:46):
than anyone else.
It's.
We're still using all thefarmers that we use here.
We're growing things andhopefully we'll do.
We're funneling everything fromeducation to community events,
to it's part of a much biggerhumanitarian approach to food
and dining and small farmsacross America than than we
would ever have time to talkabout today.
The first step is a smallrestaurant that is reservation.
(21:08):
Only that'll do.
That'll offer something trulyunique a hundred percent gluten
free.
Again, it'll be something likeyou know it's an historic home.
We're going to tell the storyof that home and it'll be.
You know that was a pre-CivilWar home in the Valley, in Price
Coffee Valley.
We've completely renovated itand kept some really beautiful
accents to what the originalhouse was and, yeah, we're just
(21:29):
really excited.
Biju Thomas (21:30):
So for those of you that are here to ride bikes and
whether it's road, gravel,mountain bikes it's just north
of town, price Coffee Road,which is one of the most popular
stretches of road.
You ride out You'll see thisgorgeous stone building on the
right, a big red barn, a coupleof greenhouses behind it, a
little garden popping up.
Yesterday I saw the greenhouse.
The high tunnel's going up.
Chef Matt Cooper (21:49):
Yeah, it'll be done today.
Biju Thomas (21:50):
So is that barn going to?
Are you going to have is that adairy situation?
Are you going to have littlecritters in there?
Chef Matt Cooper (21:55):
So we're only going to do plants.
Again, we're not trying tocompete with any of the people
that raise amazing animals here,so we'll use all those
purveyors.
The red barn will be a farm,will be a farmhouse that has a
farm stand.
Oh nice, where we will kind ofexpand, because we've kind of
shut down our little farm standhere in Conifer for a little
while until construction's done,and we'll push everything over
there.
So we'll all the local farmers,everything that we grow, local
(22:18):
makers that make everything fromlittle koozies to things like
that, and then we'll holdcommunity events out there.
We'll have outside seating forbike riders that come by Nice,
and that's open.
Because they do yeah all thetime, so you'll be able to have
different type of events andthings like that.
So lots to happen.
Biju Thomas (22:35):
All right, tell me about the staff that you're
going to have there.
Who's going to be running theshow?
Is it going to be you?
What's happening, yeah?
Chef Matt Cooper (22:42):
So we've got, you know, london.
You see London back there.
He's been with me forever.
London and Jacob Burrell, who'sour executive chef now
alongside London, will be takingover the helm as I get that
transitioned and open.
And then, of course, I'llalways be back and forth cooking
.
If I don't cook at least threedays a week, I'm going to go
crazy, but we'll get that up andrunning, just like we always do
(23:02):
.
We have an amazing executivechef that will work alongside me
Brandy Barnes, my sous chef,christine Irwin, danny Burke,
and everyone will come overthere with me.
So we've had all those peoplestaffed here for about three
months, just just the peoplethat haven't worked with us,
just to have them there and, uh,so that they can kind of absorb
our culture, how we are, whatwe are, and so we're one big
(23:24):
family by the time we go overthere and execute that.
Biju Thomas (23:27):
And you were saying that's primarily, uh, a
women-led team over there.
Chef Matt Cooper (23:31):
Yeah, Uh it, it just kind of happened.
Biju Thomas (23:33):
Nice, that's good.
Chef Matt Cooper (23:34):
And I'm really excited about it.
That's good to hear man, yeah,um.
So next to me the entire staffof that restaurant, uh, and the
farmers, dude, it's an all women.
That is so cool, it'll be anall women led restaurant uh
minus myself.
And then when I jumped back andforth, obviously but just to
have, I think it's.
You know that's another, that'sanother topic, but I think it's
time for amazingly talentedwomen to be able to be at the
(23:58):
forefront of some reallybeautiful projects, and not that
they're not I just given theopportunity.
Why wouldn't you?
Biju Thomas (24:04):
Yeah.
So, that's brilliant.
I love hearing it.
I'm really excited and lookingforward to seeing it in action.
I mean, like I said, I'mfortunate in that I get to ride
by it all the time, so I've seenall the little stages of it.
You were telling me about thislike a year and a half ago when
we were having a dinner at afriend's house.
So it's cool to see it comingtogether.
And it's coming togetherquickly because it's like it's
(24:26):
little chunks of it expandingthe barn.
Chef Matt Cooper (24:28):
Five years of craziness trying to get because
we're the first restaurantthat's done anything like that
in the state, you know.
So we're out there in themiddle and it's in Bentonville
proper but it's in the county sowe're on septic.
You know we've had to do allthat.
I mean just the systematics andthe physiology of trying to get
the restaurant ready.
Yeah, you know, people werehaving to rewrite things just to
(24:49):
do that so long process.
Biju Thomas (24:51):
Well, chef, really appreciate you taking some time
today with us.
We got a tiny little snippetinto what's happening here at
Conifer, what's soon to behappening at RIN.
Chef Matt Cooper, please, whenyou come and visit Bentonville,
make a stop here, even if theplace is packed.
Just come up to the bar, have aglass of wine, say hi to the
lovely folks here.
(25:11):
You will not regret taking anextra few minutes to come say hi
and check out this incrediblespot.
Chef matt, thanks brother.
Chef Matt Cooper (25:19):
Thank you, sir yeah, this has been a great
time you actually get to eatduring the day no, I eat this if
I come in, because it's alwaysprepped right biscuits from the
day over, because the best onesare like the ones that are like
left over.
Hey everybody, welcome to Dining Out
Bentonville with me, Biju, andI'm coming to you today from one
of our favorite little spots inBentonville Conifer.
We're going to sit down withChef Matt Cooper of Conifer to
hear a little bit about hisjourney into opening up this
incredible spot that we have allcome to love.
Ah, chef Matt Cooper, how areyou, buddy?
Chef Matt Cooper (00:22):
Good to see you.
Biju Thomas (00:23):
Thanks for doing this.
Oh man, you got a knife off theknife wall for us.
Yeah, look at this thing.
Chef Matt, thanks so much fordoing this.
We're doing this lovely littleshowcase of some of our favorite
spots here in town, brought tous by the lovely folks at Visit
Bentonville.
Yeah, we wanted folks to get achance to get to know you a
little bit.
Yeah, we wanted folks to get achance to get to know you a
(00:44):
little bit.
I know you personally as theoriginal Preacher's Son, which,
as far as I can remember, I'mguessing you're still a
Preacher's Son, still aPreacher's Son, but the man
behind the restaurant that wasthat is the Preacher's Son,
which was the originalrestaurant that really people
started thinking about as alittle bit more of an elevated,
(01:04):
more of an experience, more of anight out.
Is that kind of how youremember it?
Chef Matt Cooper (01:07):
Yeah, I mean, we were definitely, you know,
next to what Matt McClure wasdoing at the time at the Hive we
were definitely something thatwas really coming in, that was
really unique that old renovatedchurch and things like that and
we kind of yes, I think thatthe team really did set the
stage for what was kind ofhappening at the time, for sure,
yeah, and that was early on, soit was a little bit before what
(01:29):
we have now, which is anexplosion of great places and
more on the docket to come up.
Biju Thomas (01:33):
Oh yeah, so many places now.
Right Like all these awesomeplaces.
So what got you into that?
I mean, I know a little bitabout your history, but what
made you want to do Preacher'sSon to start?
Chef Matt Cooper (01:41):
with I had been.
I had been in Portland, oregon,for quite some time, cooking all
over the city and sous chef andworking odd jobs here and there
as well, just because theeconomy was crazy, and I really
wanted to take everything thatI'd learned from everything that
I'd learned from growing up andbuilding communities and things
like that, as well as like allthe wonderful farm to table
(02:02):
movements that I'd learned inPortland and there were just so
many chefs there doing like somany chefs doing the same thing
and it just I just couldn't makea difference.
So I really wanted to move backand be able to make a difference
in my Arkansas community andtake everything that I'd learned
, and I think that's what reallydefines a space is.
There's a lot of people here inBentonville that have gone away
(02:22):
, taken the things that they'velearned, brought it back to this
community so they can thriveand grow all together, and so I
think that's really what Ithought about doing as well.
We moved back to Arkansas in2010, moved to Little Rocks, and
I'd lived there before thisplace called Cash that you were
doing there.
Yeah we built a restaurant namedCash, based on the Cash River,
(02:43):
not cash money.
Biju Thomas (02:44):
Oh cool, yeah, yeah For rush-harding, Hence the
spelling yeah, yeah, this isvery important.
Chef Matt Cooper (02:48):
on the spelling Cash sounds silly but
we, yeah, we built that.
And then I had been at a fewother restaurants.
I was executive sous at ChenalCountry Club and executive chef
of a little place called Lulav,which was at the time this
really cool little place on 6thand Louisiana here in town.
Fine dining in Little Rock.
Biju Thomas (03:04):
Oh, nice yeah.
Chef Matt Cooper (03:05):
I started hearing these whispers of some
people had been wanting me tocome up for quite some time and
really check this out.
It was right after I built Cash.
Yeah, the object was always tohand over that restaurant to the
owner's son.
So, and then you know, my nextsteps would have happened and I
just I kept getting calls fromRob Apple.
Nice, I love that man, man,he's like you really need to
(03:27):
come up here and check this out.
Biju Thomas (03:28):
His name comes up a lot.
Anything cool that's happenedhere, his name comes up a lot
100%.
Chef Matt Cooper (03:32):
He's a great human and I kept getting these
calls and I was like, okay,finally I came up to check it
out because I had lived here 20something years ago when I moved
back from Austin at the timeand it was a very different
place, to say the least.
I was here for about a year anda half and and in Rogers area,
and I came up here and my wifeand I took one look and you know
(03:53):
we just decided it was time,like we moved up.
I mean that and the premise of,you know, building a
hospitality company that wasthat was that was focused on
community and building, buildingthe community, which is all my
morals and then being able tohave a restaurant that was named
and designed around me and thenthe community, and then be able
to have control of thatrestaurant For sure, without
(04:14):
really and full creative control, and it'd be 100% gluten-free,
which not only is significantfor the time and the place.
Yeah, that's a whole thing, butto be able to be a gluten-free
restaurant of that caliber inthe state of Arkansas at that
time, which just really speaksto what what people were doing
at the time.
Biju Thomas (04:32):
So when Preacher's Son opened, it was all
gluten-free also.
And cause I mean?
Now it's just a regularrestaurant with a regular menu
across the board.
And for folks that haven't beento Conifer, which is this
beautiful space we're sitting in, 100% gluten-free and not that
most people would never know thedifference between is it
gluten-free, is it not?
But for folks where it actuallymatters, the fact that you've
taken gluten-free to a wholeother level of just thought and
(04:55):
concern for each ingredient, theplating is beautiful, the food
is all just so ridiculously good.
All right, so, chef, you weretelling me about you know, being
able to create a gluten-freerestaurant here in addition to
what you were doing there, beingable to build that in this
incredible space and there's somuch happening, and I was asking
this before we even started thepodcast.
You know about the wood artaround the space, and then you
(05:21):
were talking to us about thetables.
There's a story behindeverything happening in this
space.
That's right.
Tell us a little bit about that.
Chef Matt Cooper (05:27):
The story is community right.
Conifer was built on thepremise of planting the seeds of
community, which is kind of apremise of my life as well, and
how I was raised Like my familywas all about community building
.
My father's side of the familywere all Methodist ministers,
hence preacher's son Mother'sside of the family were all
(05:48):
Methodist ministers, hencepreacher's son Mother's side of
the family all foodtechnologists M&M, mars, uncle
Ben's Rysland Foods.
My grandfather started the foodtechnology program at U of A
and then went on to Texas A&M.
My uncle followed in hisfootsteps.
So food and science andcommunity and building community
(06:09):
have been a huge, the pillarsof not only my family.
In fact, the new restaurantwhich we'll talk about, ren,
remember your name is based onthat premise as well, literally
built on the premise of.
You know, we are a reflectionof those who came before us and
those yet to be, and we can onlyevolve, strive and grow
together as a community,together, and that's really
important and that's how we goabout everything in our lives.
So to the gluten-free thing 30%of people nowadays have some
type of sensitivity to somethingright.
Most restaurants are gearedtowards whatever their vision is
(06:31):
right and, as far as the foodgoes.
Our vision for here isliterally to be a hundred
percent gluten-free, because I'mceliac and I couldn't cook in
restaurants or kitchens anymorethat that had gluten it was just
making me sick and killing meand to be able to have the
opportunity for anyone to comein and say I'm allergic to
peanuts, wheat, eggs, dairy.
We literally know that if youput it on the reservation
(06:53):
beforehand and we'll talk to youand you'll have a menu.
We don't want to isolate anyone.
Biju Thomas (06:57):
And it's not an afterthought, it's not like, oh,
we're just going to put tofu onthere.
No, it's not.
It's not, it's a beautifulcomposed dish that you're going
to get, yeah, regardless of whatyour dietary restrictions or
concerns are.
Chef Matt Cooper (07:07):
And some of these concepts really exist in
other places.
But honestly like I, I've goneto New York and LA and all those
places too, and in Denver andeaten places and been like I'm
celiac and they were like, hey,you can have the salad.
Biju Thomas (07:18):
Yeah, you know.
So it really doesn't it reallydoes happen.
Chef Matt Cooper (07:21):
So what we're doing is really significant, not
only for the area, but for thenation as well.
Biju Thomas (07:27):
That's incredible, man, because I'm very fortunate
and I live really close by, so Iget to come here a lot.
Come here to sit at the bar,meet friends either way, to have
a beautiful plate of food, aglass of wine and to know that
whatever issues I might bepersonally dealing with or any
of the guests, it's never goingto be a concern for the kitchen
(07:47):
and to know that the food isstill going to be beautiful and
delicious and all the things youknow, and not an afterthought,
like I was saying.
It's not like, oh okay, justleave the bread off.
No, it's actually going to be abeautiful dish which is really
something special and very rarefor people to get.
Which, also, looking at yourmenu and going back to your
Portland days, for folks thathaven't been to Portland, it's
one of the most esoteric likeout there restaurant food scenes
(08:11):
where, like it's just crazy tosort of see little bits and
pieces of that coming in in thedesign work?
No, it definitely is.
Chef Matt Cooper (08:14):
My mother grew up in Oregon, so going going
back there was definitely likeme, connecting to my roots with
my mother and things like thatand and especially Oregon and
Portland in general will alwayslike feel like second home to me
.
Um, and that's why you see allof the, you see that very well
represented in this space, theknife wall being one of those
things.
Biju Thomas (08:34):
It's like such a cool thing.
Chef Matt Cooper (08:35):
Definitely one .
This was one of the ancientblacksmiths uh, last practicing
ancient blacksmiths um in theUnited States passed away a few
years ago and I was.
I had the pleasure of being afriend of his and I have all of
his knife blanks and stuff likethat, all from Swedish saw steel
where they used to cut down thetrees and he used them now to
create things.
Biju Thomas (08:52):
So anyway, and you can see it on the back wall
there.
Chef Matt Cooper (08:55):
There's always a story behind everything,
right, and I think that's why itwas really important when I
transitioned from my lastrestaurant to here.
It was time for, and that wasalways kind of the plan anyway,
is to get that company up andrunning and get it to where it
was really successful andsustainable and then be able to
come and open my own restaurant,me being the only owner having
full control of of the, thevision and and the control.
(09:16):
You know I can't say controlenough, it's just really
important Now, that being said,I have about a hundred and
something years of peopleworking for me in this
restaurant you know, and andthat really speaks to what we do
Like talking about.
You know, one of the things thatwe talk about is very different
than some things, like how wesupport our local farmers.
We're always going to talkabout, like, what's local right
now?
What can we order from ourpeople right now?
(09:38):
Not only that, what can we getfrom them that maybe other
people are not using, so we canhelp them create sustainable
business models, right?
And then the second andparallel conversation has always
been how can we take care ofour people, because they're our
family.
Biju Thomas (09:51):
Right.
Chef Matt Cooper (09:52):
So full coverage, health care for all of
our people.
You know, paid vacation for allof our people, including
servers.
We do fun things likeeducational vacations, so if
someone wants to go and learnsomething somewhere else, I'll
send them and connect them, getthem out there and we'll pay
them when their time off.
So we're really trying tocreate what a small business
sustainable model looks likethat can be profitable, and
(10:12):
sustainable is the word right.
Biju Thomas (10:14):
And for folks that you know from outside.
We're getting a lot ofattention from all over the
country, from all over the world, folks that you know from
outside.
We're getting a lot ofattention from all over the
country, from all over the world, folks that want to come and
visit Bentonville, as it were,and folks that are looking at it
don't realize this is really asmall town.
Our downtown is one tiny littlesquare, little square block so
many.
This restaurant butts up rightagainst it.
So, no matter how big the storygets, you're still running a
(10:34):
small neighborhood,community-based business taking
care of the people that livenext door to you and that you
get to see on a regular basis.
So you treat people in adifferent way and as somebody
who lives here and gets to comehere, it is mind-blowing just
the level of service you get andhow familiar you get seeing the
faces behind the line, thefolks that are bringing the food
out to you, making your drinks.
(10:55):
They're all the same people dayin and day out, which you don't
get in most parts of thecountry.
Tell me a little bit about that.
So how do you get these?
Not the word loyalty is kind ofa BS word, but just getting
folks to love what you're doingand to like equally share in
that with you.
Chef Matt Cooper (11:10):
So I think that I think that, like Conifer
was born from all of us wantinga place to to live and survive,
like the concept of what Coniferis goes back to the concept of
why we created it.
Like this, this restaurant youknow, this is extremely hard, we
were just talking about it isextremely hard and demanding,
and so we wanted to createsomething that was truly
(11:30):
different.
Like other restaurants focus onthe most amazing food or the
most, and that's great, andthat's that's wonderful, and we
need that.
We're really true to what we doand we're not a restaurant for
everyone, right.
Like you know, we use groundlamb from Hannah Lamb because,
you know, everyone else wantsall the other cuts and we've
used their ground lamb productforever, like when we could
order whatever we want.
(11:51):
But we choose to do that so theyhave a successful business
model, right, and it's justharder for us to create
different things with that.
We'll do meatballs, we'll dobolognese, we'll do meatloaf,
we'll do sausages, we'll dodifferent things like that.
And the people that come inthis amazing community of
support, where people understandthat what they're getting, we
charge what we need to, becausewe have to support our local
(12:11):
people and we have to supportour people in the restaurant.
So by no means are we therestaurant for everyone, nor do
we want to be.
Biju Thomas (12:19):
All right.
So on that note, every stop wemake and visiting with our chefs
and friends in town, they'regoing to make us their
interpretation of a grilledcheese, based on what their
restaurant does.
What do we got here, chef?
Chef Matt Cooper (12:31):
So what we got here is we're doing our cheddar
, biscuit, cheddar and chivebiscuit, and then we've done so.
We've got prairie breezecheddar, which is a sweetest
sauce, uh, cheddar.
We've got pecorino romanocheese.
Um, that was london, live at ac.
That was london, my executivesous chef who's been with me for
almost got very shy almostalmost 20 years is it really?
Biju Thomas (12:54):
yeah, open five six restaurants for me, london.
Chef Matt Cooper (12:58):
thank you, chef.
And so yeah, cheddar biscuiteggs.
So this is like probably what Ieat every morning and obviously
we're gluten free, so we don'tmake a gluten free like quote
sandwich bread.
So this is kind of our versionof that.
We let all the crispy bits fromthe cheese melt into the pan
and we put them back in thesandwich.
Biju Thomas (13:16):
We've got a little bit of chili crunch and aioli.
That is beautiful.
You can smell the chili crunchand the cheese coming through
and for folks that are visiting,the grilled cheese might not be
on the menu, but the cheddarbiscuits are always on the menu.
They're ridiculously good.
They bring you out a littlebasket of it.
Order it.
Order a few.
They're incredibly good.
Okay, While we're eating that,I want to hear a little bit
about you know you talked aboutyour love for places like
(13:36):
Portland and other places you'vebeen able to live and work.
When you hear from folks thatare coming to Bentonville for
the first time, what are thethings you tell them, whether
it's food, places to go visit,things to do, what sort of
things do you tell them?
Chef Matt Cooper (13:47):
I tell them that, like, not only do we have
like an amazingly bustlingrestaurant scene where people
are passionate, like I said,people moving off and coming
back, and that's how you reallyrelate to people, it is a
community.
So they're like I'm like whereare you from, Where'd you come
from?
And they're like oh, I camefrom Beijing, or I came from
Austin, or I came from Denver,or I came from Vail or places
like that or LA.
(14:08):
And what I love hearing is thatthey'll say I didn't realize
that there was so much going onhere.
Like I didn't realize arestaurant like this could be in
a place like this, and that'syou know, and that's always
great to hear.
But in the same aspect, ofcourse, it can.
Okay.
Biju Thomas (14:24):
Yeah, you know, I was telling you earlier, I think
of this as fine dining.
You shot that down instantly.
This is not fine dining.
It is not fine dining.
Right, like that was instantlya no-go because, coming from I
come from Denver I've beenfortunate to travel.
Chef Matt Cooper (14:35):
I come from Portland and Austin and places
like that that have a reallybeautiful fine dining scene.
Yeah, and I'm not saying finedining, I don't love fine dining
.
I'm opening a fine diningrestaurant our next restaurant
and I think it's reallyimportant to understand that
everyone defines food and theirexperience differently.
(14:56):
All we want to define as ourfood is we want you to be able
to come in shorts, t-shirt,however you want to come, as
long as you're wearing clothes,and enjoy what we offer.
It's a shared experience.
That's why the kitchen'scompletely open.
It's not to put our chefs onshow.
It's to show that we're humantoo, and it's also to show that
(15:18):
we're not more special than you.
You're not more special than us.
This is a community togetherwithin this restaurant.
Biju Thomas (15:25):
So if we're busy and we're getting our butts
handed to us.
You're going to see it.
Yeah Right, it's not a mystery.
Chef Matt Cooper (15:28):
No, you can sit at the bar and you can see
every mistake that we make, oryou can see every triumph that
we make.
Right and the same thing.
I can see everyone out here, Ican see your facial expressions,
I can see.
If something's wrong, I can see, and then and that's you know,
that's one of the things welearn as chefs is non-verbals
man that was one of the beingable to see people.
Biju Thomas (15:44):
You're like wait, yeah, something's wrong with
table 23 and they're like no,that's just their face and
you're like okay, that's fine,you know, but yeah, it's, you
know, every I.
Chef Matt Cooper (15:54):
I do get amazed at at the people that in
this town, town that are comingin and out Like Bentonville
flexes by 40,000 people a day,oh my God, yeah, and I think
those were the numbers like twoyears ago, so imagine what they
would be right now.
But you know people coming infor commerce, people coming in
for meetings.
The vendor community is amazing, which really does like the
micro environment that thebusiness in Bentonville really
(16:15):
allows us to do all the thingsthat we do.
The business in Bentonvillereally allows us to do all the
things that we do.
It allows us to be dohealthcare for our people and
and hopefully 401k soon and paidvacation and pay them really
really well, and these areunheard of things across the
board and independently ownedrestaurants.
Biju Thomas (16:31):
It's, I mean, it puts huge amount of effort and
burden in your lap to be able todo that as a small operation.
Chef Matt Cooper (16:35):
Yeah, and if there's anything we are going to
brag about, is is like we makeour mistakes just like anyone
else.
Right, like I'm never sayingyou know, we don't, we don't,
but you know we, our people, arehappy and and, um, even when we
have to say goodbye to someone,which has only happened a few
times, like still love them,care about them.
It just might not be the God.
You were dead to them, it wasover, it was just over.
But you know, if I can't lookat my people and think about
(17:03):
them as who they are and wherethey want to be in the next 10
years and set them on that path,whether they know it or not,
like that, I'm not doing my jobas a chef.
I don't let people I didn'teven let people call me chef
until years ago.
And I still really don't preferit.
I don't care.
I just want you to respect meand understand that there's
respect between both of us,right?
You can learn something fromanyone.
(17:25):
I can learn sometimes more frommy dishwashers than a celebrity
chef that comes in here andstuff like that.
Biju Thomas (17:30):
It's understanding.
I always love to tell peoplethat if the chef's having an off
day, if the chef has to call insick, the restaurant's going to
be fine.
That's right.
If the dishwasher is missingthat day, the restaurant will
100% shut down.
Chef Matt Cooper (17:40):
It's over.
Biju Thomas (17:40):
It's over the restaurant comes to a grinding
halt and it's over.
All right, chef, I have acouple more things I wanted to
ask you, one being, you know,for folks that are visiting,
it's Bentonville.
It's a small town.
Most restaurants are closed onSunday.
A lot are closed on Monday.
This is one of the only placesopen seven days a week.
Seven days a week, you can comein and have an amazing dinner.
That's right, right here.
(18:02):
Why did you do that?
Why'd you do that to yourself?
Chef Matt Cooper (18:05):
Well, it's a lot easier, actually.
Okay, there you go.
It's a lot easier to keep thetrain rolling.
Yeah, and honestly, as anindependent restaurant, with me
being the only owner with nomoney behind us, if we keep the
train rolling, I get to sleep atnight.
There you go, and that's honest.
I don't think that enoughpeople talk about the trials and
(18:27):
the struggles of the restaurantindustry and what that means in
a community that is verysupportive but also struggling
in a lot of ways.
Biju Thomas (18:35):
Yeah, Right To grow .
So keeping seven days a weekopen for those of you that are
thinking about opening arestaurant, you never have to
completely shut it down and thenreopen again.
You're just always you neverhave to worry about losing
product.
Chef Matt Cooper (18:45):
Yeah, you're always fresh.
It's like running You're justused to it.
You get up every morning andyou do it and it's not hard.
You're in that rhythm and stufflike that.
It's just so much easier.
It makes perfect sense.
Biju Thomas (18:56):
All right.
So now coming down to the lastcouple of questions I've got for
you, because I know this is areally condensed version of your
story.
I could sit with you for a fewhours and we have, but we need
more hours.
So what have you got coming upnext?
I've been able to ride by andsee this gorgeous space just on
the periphery here, but what isgoing on there?
I've never seen anything likeit happening this part of the
(19:19):
country.
What?
Chef Matt Cooper (19:20):
is that I'll try to make.
I'll try to make it quick.
So for ever since I was a kidor decided that I wanted to be a
chef, I always wanted arestaurant on a farm.
Like I wanted to groweverything that we do.
The idea of what that would behas kind of morphed and evolved
over the years and, just likeyou were saying, a lot of people
think that this is fine dining.
Like I do believe that there issomething missing from
(19:42):
Bentonville and we're going totry to fill that gap and so
we're building our farm.
The high tunnel's up right now.
The Rose Alley Inn will haveplants in the ground in the next
few weeks.
The restaurant should be openaround May.
The name of the restaurant isgoing to be RYN RYN and it's an
acronym for what my grandmotherused to always say, which is
remember your name.
We talked about it beforeRemember your name.
(20:03):
Everything has to be meaningfulfor me, because I think if
people have meaning behind thevisions that they do, then they
always have a drive to haveownership of that meaning and it
just puts so much energy intoit.
And plus, people in communitieslike this that are small and
tight knit, they understand.
Everyone can relate tosomething in their past.
They can relate to somethingthat their grandmother said that
(20:24):
has stuck with them for howevermany years, and I think that's
really important.
But that'll be 26 seat tastingmenu.
10 course tasting menu.
Everything that we grow on thefarm is going to be there.
We're not trying to competewith anyone.
We're trying to narrow what wedo here at Conifer support even
smaller farmers that because weburn through so much local stuff
here that we burn them out andthen we don't have anything left
.
So the farm is not meant tocompete or to do things better
(20:46):
than anyone else.
It's.
We're still using all thefarmers that we use here.
We're growing things andhopefully we'll do.
We're funneling everything fromeducation to community events,
to it's part of a much biggerhumanitarian approach to food
and dining and small farmsacross America than than we
would ever have time to talkabout today.
The first step is a smallrestaurant that is reservation.
(21:08):
Only that'll do.
That'll offer something trulyunique a hundred percent gluten
free.
Again, it'll be something likeyou know it's an historic home.
We're going to tell the storyof that home and it'll be.
You know that was a pre-CivilWar home in the Valley, in Price
Coffee Valley.
We've completely renovated itand kept some really beautiful
accents to what the originalhouse was and, yeah, we're just
(21:29):
really excited.
Biju Thomas (21:30):
So for those of you that are here to ride bikes and
whether it's road, gravel,mountain bikes it's just north
of town, price Coffee Road,which is one of the most popular
stretches of road.
You ride out You'll see thisgorgeous stone building on the
right, a big red barn, a coupleof greenhouses behind it, a
little garden popping up.
Yesterday I saw the greenhouse.
The high tunnel's going up.
Chef Matt Cooper (21:49):
Yeah, it'll be done today.
Biju Thomas (21:50):
So is that barn going to?
Are you going to have is that adairy situation?
Are you going to have littlecritters in there?
Chef Matt Cooper (21:55):
So we're only going to do plants.
Again, we're not trying tocompete with any of the people
that raise amazing animals here,so we'll use all those
purveyors.
The red barn will be a farm,will be a farmhouse that has a
farm stand.
Oh nice, where we will kind ofexpand, because we've kind of
shut down our little farm standhere in Conifer for a little
while until construction's done,and we'll push everything over
there.
So we'll all the local farmers,everything that we grow, local
(22:18):
makers that make everything fromlittle koozies to things like
that, and then we'll holdcommunity events out there.
We'll have outside seating forbike riders that come by Nice,
and that's open.
Because they do yeah all thetime, so you'll be able to have
different type of events andthings like that.
So lots to happen.
Biju Thomas (22:35):
All right, tell me about the staff that you're
going to have there.
Who's going to be running theshow?
Is it going to be you?
What's happening, yeah?
Chef Matt Cooper (22:42):
So we've got, you know, london.
You see London back there.
He's been with me forever.
London and Jacob Burrell, who'sour executive chef now
alongside London, will be takingover the helm as I get that
transitioned and open.
And then, of course, I'llalways be back and forth cooking
.
If I don't cook at least threedays a week, I'm going to go
crazy, but we'll get that up andrunning, just like we always do
(23:02):
.
We have an amazing executivechef that will work alongside me
Brandy Barnes, my sous chef,christine Irwin, danny Burke,
and everyone will come overthere with me.
So we've had all those peoplestaffed here for about three
months, just just the peoplethat haven't worked with us,
just to have them there and, uh,so that they can kind of absorb
our culture, how we are, whatwe are, and so we're one big
(23:24):
family by the time we go overthere and execute that.
Biju Thomas (23:27):
And you were saying that's primarily, uh, a
women-led team over there.
Chef Matt Cooper (23:31):
Yeah, Uh it, it just kind of happened.
Biju Thomas (23:33):
Nice, that's good.
Chef Matt Cooper (23:34):
And I'm really excited about it.
That's good to hear man, yeah,um.
So next to me the entire staffof that restaurant, uh, and the
farmers, dude, it's an all women.
That is so cool, it'll be anall women led restaurant uh
minus myself.
And then when I jumped back andforth, obviously but just to
have, I think it's.
You know that's another, that'sanother topic, but I think it's
time for amazingly talentedwomen to be able to be at the
(23:58):
forefront of some reallybeautiful projects, and not that
they're not I just given theopportunity.
Why wouldn't you?
Biju Thomas (24:04):
Yeah.
So, that's brilliant.
I love hearing it.
I'm really excited and lookingforward to seeing it in action.
I mean, like I said, I'mfortunate in that I get to ride
by it all the time, so I've seenall the little stages of it.
You were telling me about thislike a year and a half ago when
we were having a dinner at afriend's house.
So it's cool to see it comingtogether.
And it's coming togetherquickly because it's like it's
(24:26):
little chunks of it expandingthe barn.
Chef Matt Cooper (24:28):
Five years of craziness trying to get because
we're the first restaurantthat's done anything like that
in the state, you know.
So we're out there in themiddle and it's in Bentonville
proper but it's in the county sowe're on septic.
You know we've had to do allthat.
I mean just the systematics andthe physiology of trying to get
the restaurant ready.
Yeah, you know, people werehaving to rewrite things just to
(24:49):
do that so long process.
Biju Thomas (24:51):
Well, chef, really appreciate you taking some time
today with us.
We got a tiny little snippetinto what's happening here at
Conifer, what's soon to behappening at RIN.
Chef Matt Cooper, please, whenyou come and visit Bentonville,
make a stop here, even if theplace is packed.
Just come up to the bar, have aglass of wine, say hi to the
lovely folks here.
(25:11):
You will not regret taking anextra few minutes to come say hi
and check out this incrediblespot.
Chef matt, thanks brother.
Chef Matt Cooper (25:19):
Thank you, sir yeah, this has been a great
time you actually get to eatduring the day no, I eat this if
I come in, because it's alwaysprepped right biscuits from the
day over, because the best onesare like the ones that are like
left over.
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