about
FOODE is about community, through and through. We were born in historic downtown Fredericksburg in 2011 with a simple concept: find the best ingredients the region has to offer, hire the most talented team our pockets could afford, cook the kinds of foods that make up the threads of our best memories, and most importantly, do it with love--day in and day out. From there, the community of Fredericksburg took over: they told us what they wanted and we did our very best to listen.
Today FOODE is a bit bigger. It has a hip little sister in Mercantile, and a home in the Historic National Bank Building. Our community now isn't just the folks in downtown Fred, it's the expanding crew of food lovers we staff, the growers who populate our menus, and the visitor who walks through our doors as strangers and walk out as friends. But we're still built on the same principles that got us started: do it with love and everything else will be fine.
A culinary graduate of the Art Institute of Atlanta, Crump began her home-based business, FOODE in 2009. By 2011, Crump partnered with Beth Black, transitioning FOODE to a brick and mortar in Historic Downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia. In 2014, the duo opened their second restaurant Mercantile, also in Fredericksburg. And in May of 2017 they added microbrewery 6 Bears & A Goat to their restaurant group.
Crump is an executive chef, restaurateur and property owner with over 15 years experience in Culinary Industry training and management. Crump has had the honor of appearing as a chef-testant on the Emmy Award-winning “Top Chef,” cooking at the James Beard House in both 2016 and 2017, and is actively involved in the James Beard Foundation’s Impact Programs for Food Policy, Chef Advocacy and Change.
Joy Crump
FOUNDING PARTNER
EXECUTIVE CHEF
Beth Black
FOUNDING PARTNER
Aside from a stint in Atlanta as an award-winning Producer of Television Network News, Black has been a Virginia resident since 1984. As such, she is well-versed in the culture, trends, socio-economic and political structure of the state as well as the mid-Atlantic region. With over 20 years combined experience in both journalism and the food industry, Black has a proven track record in research, management, operations, and marketing.
She owns several properties, has owned and operated three restaurants, and employed nearly 70 residents of Virginia. She is a sitting member of the Fredericksburg Economic Development Authority.