Jan. 16, 2020

OG Greens has expanded into an adjacent space in the Jones421 Building and is growing its business with fitness center partnerships.

The space probably won’t be used as much in the winter when traffic is slower, owner Brandon Manning said, but in warmer months it will serve as the ordering counter for the health food restaurant. It also will be stocked with grab-and-go fresh-squeezed juices and OG Green’s salads and grain bowls.

Manning is installing a long table along one wall that will offer diners another option for seating. Now, OG Greens has a couple of seats in the open kitchen, and customers can choose among several seating areas that are shared by the shops in the first-floor marketplace of the mixed-use building on Phillips Avenue just north of Sixth Street.

The new OG Greens area includes merchandise from another Jones421 tenant, MK Threads.

The restaurant opened the expanded area Saturday afternoon, and “four minutes later, we had our first order, and it was an MK Threads product, which was fantastic. And then a few minutes after that, we had our first order, he said. It was exciting because we have an opportunity to help each other succeed, and that’s super important.”

Manning envisions using the space for special events such as nutrition talks, and he’s hoping to connect with Dakota Fresh Food Hub to become a drop site for its online orders and to offer a year-round farmers market.

OG Greens recently added beer and wine, so the space could be used as a “pop-up speakeasy” sometime, he said.

Since opening in May 2019, the restaurant has added catering and a meal-prep service. Connections with other businesses are adding to OG Greens’ growth too. GreatLIFE Golf & Fitness’ Performance Center and its Harrisburg location recently began stocking OG Greens juices, salads and custom plates.

“We’ll do chicken and steak plates with a healthy amount of greens, and then we’ll have a veggie like broccoli,” Manning said. “Our juices have been selling out there, which is really exciting.”

Other locations with grab-and-go OG Greens products include Escape Float Spa, CPM Fitness and Cuong Strong.

OG Greens also is providing juice drinks for Barre3 that the fitness studio can label as its own product.

“We came up with a combination that works for them, so they have this fresh-squeezed orange juice, fresh organic carrot juice and fresh ginger combination that works really well,” he said. “I just got another order; they sold out. They were concerned on Monday, and they already sold out, they ran out, so we are restocking.”