Beans and Greens Farmstand has new owners

GILFORD — For the first time in 32 years, Beans and Greens Farmstand is owned by someone not named Howe. The landmark agricultural business has been sold, but the new owners don’t expect any longtime customers to find reason to be disappointed.

Andy and Martina Howe grew the farm into a destination farmstand for many tourists, seasonal visitors and year-rounders, who appreciated fresh vegetables produced locally and by people they trusted. That value was only highlighted in 2020, when the pandemic made some consumers wary of supermarkets and food grown far away and handled by people they’d never meet.

Last year was a banner year for the Howes, yet, in August, they announced that they wanted to take a step away – if only a baby step – by putting the farmstand and greenhouses on the market, but retaining more than 300 acres of farmland and woods.

“The best circumstance is that someone would buy it and continue to run it as a farmstand – that would be our dream,” Andy said last year. That dream came true in the form of Brian McCauley and Chris Collias, business partners and friends who purchased the farmstand property.

Collias was at the farmstand on Friday, preparing for the season opening this weekend, and he said that everything that people like about Beans and Greens will be continued if not improved.

Collias, who is from the Boston area, said he and McCauley first heard about the property through a real estate advertisement, and they liked what they saw when they started their fact-finding.

“We like that it’s a vital part of the community,” Collias said. And as someone with the track record of a serial food entrepreneur, he saw opportunity.

The new ownership team plans on bringing in some new people to beef up the prepared food offerings, specifically by adding “grab and go” items and introducing “farm to front seat” via a food truck.

Collias said he would also like to extend the business’s retail season through Christmas, and expand the agritourism aspect of the business, such as by welcoming children’s birthday parties in the open-sided pavilion.

“Kids and farms go together like peas and carrots,” Colinas said.

The Howes, who will continue to run the agricultural production side of the operation, built a business worth investing in, Collias said.

“We love what Martina and Andy built, and we want to continue their core values: family, farm, food and fun,” Collias said.