Hen House provides farm to table option in Howard Park

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- “When we first talked about the restaurant, we wanted to make it alive, so we really wanted special things like this that really interacted with it so that is where this came from,” says Kristina Tressler, Director of Operations at South Bend Chocolate Company.

The South Bend Chocolate Company preparing their almost ready to open up restaurant in Howard park with a unique twist for their dishes. The Hen House is full of 50 different hens producing eggs which will directly provide for the new Public House restaurant. The house is located in the middle of the park and welcomes families to stop by to visit the hens and learn more about the benefits of hens and their surrounding environment. Tresller says that the hen’s eggs not only will add flavor to the restaurant’s menus, but also educate the youth on the nutritional value of farm to table.  

“And the eggs benefits -  that’s what we really want to teach that is a good thing to tie into the restaurant, we really want to teach everyone the color, the everything about how nutrient and rich these eggs are coming fresh from the hen right to the restaurant and so I think the park is a beautiful place and people can come and enjoy it all safely as well.,” says Tressler.  

The hens are originally from a family farm in Michigan, and while they do well with the cold, they are kept safely inside a heated room every night. But what about the snow? As the weather gets colder, Tressler says the hens will go back home to Michigan and hopefully return to South Bend come spring time. For South Bend resident, Joe Becherer, the addition of the hens to Howard Park is a positive one.

“I think it is fantastic. It gives people the opportunity to be in connection with something more rural, and I think for young people to know eggs don’t come from Meijer or Martins and that there’s other people involved in the production,” says Becherer.