At Emerald Heart, the word growth means more than just the cultivation of plants; it means personal growth, community growth, business growth and—lately—menu growth.
The Murfreesboro dispensary, hemp retailer and grow room has recently expanded its offerings even further, now adding a full kitchen to its Jackson Heights location, turning what was already a countercultural community hub into something even closer to a full-service hangout.
Emerald Heart’s soft-opening menu isn’t cannabis-infused (yet), but the plan is laid out and coming to fruition: sandwiches, wraps and smoothies now; handcrafted mocktails, desserts and hemp-infused creations coming soon.
Co-owner Matt Minks says the new kitchen represents the next natural step in their “seed-to-shelf” philosophy. The kitchen, he admits, has taken a while to complete, but the team has built that—as with everything else at Emerald Heart—thoughtfully and deliberately.
“If anything’s worth doing,” Minks says, “it’s worth doing right. Right?”
Current offerings from the kitchen include a club sandwich served on an everything bagel, and a custom craft pizza known as Christina’s Bee Sting, amplified with a drizzle of a special honey, sriracha and balsamic reduction on top. Christina Minks, Emerald Heart co-owner and Matt’s wife, raises bees whose honey is used in this drizzle and other items at the new restaurant. Customers can also purchase jars of the local honey at the shop.
This is just a piece of the “vertical integration” that the Minkses envision at Emerald Heart, with full commercial cannabis cultivation, as well as extraction and processing, on the horizon.
Emerald Heart aims to control every step of the process so its customers can know exactly what they’re getting.
It’s a constant work in progress, but the kitchen is open for business and has scored a perfect 100 on its initial health inspection—a badge of pride for a team.
Coming soon, Minks says to expect some high-protein, low-fat offerings that should appeal to those coming from the nearby Olympus gym, as well as cannabis-infused cocktails and coffee along with an expanded menu.
Other fantastic options include garden salads, meat and veggie pizzas which customers can customize to their liking, and a killer side of mac and cheese.
Minks, who also serves as president of the Tennessee Growers Coalition, straddles the cautious Tennessee political climate around cannabis and the day-to-day work of operating a small business.
Matt and Christina met while at MTSU and, after a stint in California, returned to Murfreesboro in 2018, among changing Tennessee laws and attitudes regarding cannabis.
“The market became flooded,” Minks explains. “People that had no idea about growing cannabis at all, grew a ton. Most people who grew couldn’t even get it all harvested or dried or prepared.”
He said he expects societal attitudes to change toward marijuana once it’s moved away from its Schedule I classification.
“Those of us who are passionate about it know that marijuana should have never been in the same classification as heroin and LSD,” he says. “There are admitted medicinal properties to it, but we haven’t been able to do any research as an industry or as a society really. . . . You cannot get through the guidelines and DEA certifications in a lab or scientific setting to gather data, form a hypothesis, or publish any white papers. If it were rescheduled to Schedule III, that’s the difference.”
But Emerald Heart has already built a successful place for people who care about health, about cannabis culture, and about local community, according to team member Rylee Thomas.
“If you come here and you eat a sandwich, you’re supporting a culture change,” Thomas says.
It’s become a true cafe environment, one where a customer might order a sandwich, CBD seltzer or coffee while conversing with other locals.
And Minks says he is honored that Emerald Heart’s customers trust the shop enough to buy their products there, “because you could literally buy CBD, THCA, Delta products all over the place, but you never really know what [quality] you’re getting.”
And he expects their “seed-to-shelf” approach to promote the broader goal of “setting the standard” for Tennessee hemp operators.
“We don’t say that with ego,” he adds. “But you’ve got to have enough pride to push yourself to be the best.”
Stop by the Murfreesboro store sometime, located at 810 NW Broad St., #212, and check out Emerald Heart’s unique blend of stoner culture and health consciousness.
Emerald Heart
810 NW Broad St., #212
emeraldheartboro.com
