The Barstool Fund - Hillside Farmacy
Up next: Hillside Farmacy (Austin, TX)
Hillside to its core is a neighborhood eatery run by two hands-on, hard-working individuals who've poured their passions into creating a nostalgic space nestled in the artsy end of East Austin, with quality, scratch made offerings.
Reader Email
Hillside Farmacy is owner operated and we consist of our executive chef, Sonya Cote, my husband, Greg Mathews and myself, Jade Mathews-Place.
Hillside had an auspicious start. Once we found our location in March 2011 we were elated. We quickly learned the building we would be leasing was previously a pharmacy of the first African American pharmacist in Austin. When we found the building, it was in shambles, even homeless were living in it. We made a promise to the African American family, that we would pour heart and soul into helping transform the building back to a beautiful building of pride to carry on their fathers legacy. We did just that. We were recognized and awarded the prestigious Preservation Austin Award but were even more honored working with the family to get the building designated a Historic Landmark of Texas.
The timing of ordered closure could not have been more horrible. We were approaching SXSW, one of the largest film and music events in Austin that hospitality business heavily rely on. We spent months gearing up with very large food and alcohol orders placed and paid for private and public events. We were so exicted! Then- we were forced to close our doors right before SXSW and lost everything we invested in ….and we continued to pay staff while we got through this… and then the tax bill came.
We go to great lengths to be contributors to our Austin community. The community is our family. We only work with local artisans and farms to source our vegetables, our proteins, our honey, having local artists use our walls for murals, a spot for local schools to sell raffles, and shelves that sell pieces that local artists created. If we shut down, we also let these local businesses down as well.
We were robbed 4 times in since March. The irony of it was that there really wasn’t anything left to steal after the last break in but the emotional toll was so profound.
We’re now into 2021 and have been fighting tooth and nail. We currently have 7 people on payroll. We put every ounce of energy, every dollar earned goes right back in. We are now covering payroll with personal savings and we do it because our staff and our community is our family.
The toll it has taken on our family alone, having to hear a 5 year old sweet angel ask if everything’s okay at Hillside is so heavy. You have to find humor in all that is going on. If you aren’t laughing, you’re crying and a laugh can go to a cry pretty quickly. Right now, we tell our daughter and each other, lets just try to get though the day. One more day, Hillside must remain, and here we are, almost with nothing.
We were speechless when we learned about the Barstool fund. We obviously aren’t counting on the government to help us out, even though they ordered closures. We aren’t counting on help from anywhere per se, but are hopeful that y’all see this application and determine that we’re a good candidate for help.
We love barstool and know a few people up there who have actually come from Austin! We are huge UT fans even though we’ve got proud aggie parents. Even hearing of the Barstool fund provides more hope than we’ve had in a while, and we’re incredibly grateful this even exists, thank you so much for your time.
