From Johnston Soil to Your Plate: Why We Source From Salisbury Farm

There's a farm less than two miles from our front door on Hartford Ave. Most people drive past it on their way to work without thinking twice. We think about it every single day.

Salisbury Farm has been growing produce in Johnston, RI for generations. They run pick-your-own fields, sell at local markets, and do things the old-fashioned way — which is exactly why we started buying from them when we took over Wicked Fresh Cafe in June 2026.

How the Relationship Started

When we came in as new ownership, one of the first things we did was look at every ingredient coming through the back door. Some of it was fine. Some of it made us cringe. We wanted to know: where is this actually coming from, and can we do better?

Salisbury Farm was an obvious answer. They're Johnston. We're Johnston. Their growing season lines up with what we want to put on the menu. And when you taste the difference between a tomato that traveled 2,000 miles in a refrigerated truck and one that was picked two days ago a mile away — there's no going back.

We started small. A few flats of tomatoes for our grain bowls and wraps. Then peppers. Then whatever was coming in fresh that week. Now it's a regular part of how we plan the menu — we check what Salisbury has available and build around it, not the other way around.

What It Actually Changes on the Menu

This isn't just a feel-good story. It changes what ends up in front of you.

When we're building our grain bowls — the ones with roasted vegetables, scratch-made sauces, and whatever protein you want — the vegetables are doing real work. They're not filler. They're the point. And that only works when the produce is actually good.

Our scratch-made sauces and glazes are built around what's fresh. In late summer, that means we're leaning into tomatoes and peppers. As we move into fall, it shifts toward root vegetables and squash. We don't force a menu that ignores what's actually growing outside. That would be dumb, and it would taste like it.

The same goes for our smoothies and acai bowls. We're not blending frozen mystery fruit from a warehouse in New Jersey. When local berries are in season, we use them. When they're not, we're honest about what we're sourcing and why.

Why Local Sourcing Is Harder (and Worth It)

We're not going to pretend this is easy. Sourcing locally means the menu changes. It means sometimes we run out of something because the harvest was smaller than expected. It means we can't always guarantee the exact same dish week to week.

But here's the thing: that's actually a feature, not a bug. When our multigrain bread sells out by 10am, it's because we baked a real amount of it — not an industrial quantity designed to sit on a shelf. Same principle applies to produce. When something's gone, it's because it was real and people wanted it.

Our regulars from Johnston, Cranston, and North Providence have started to notice. We get questions like "what's in the bowl today?" instead of "is the menu the same as last week?" That's the shift we were going for.

Salisbury Farm: Worth Knowing About

If you've never been to Salisbury Farm, it's worth a visit on its own. They run pick-your-own operations during the growing season — strawberries, pumpkins, apples depending on the time of year. It's one of those Johnston institutions that's been quietly doing things right for decades while the rest of the food world got louder and more complicated.

You can find them right here in Johnston. If you're the kind of person who cares where your food comes from — and if you're eating at Wicked Fresh, you probably are — it's worth knowing they exist.

We're proud to be one of their wholesale accounts. And we're proud that when you eat here, some of what's on your plate started in Johnston soil.

What This Means for You

We're not asking you to care about supply chains. We're just telling you why the food tastes the way it does.

When you order a grain bowl or a wrap at Wicked Fresh, you're getting ingredients that someone grew nearby, harvested recently, and sold to us because we asked for the real thing. Our Johnson & Wales-trained culinary team takes it from there — scratch sauces, proper seasoning, real technique.

That's the whole deal. No shortcuts, no mystery ingredients, no 47-item label.

Check out our full menu to see what we're building with right now. And if you want to order ahead, you can do it online at wickedfreshri.com — we're at 1345 Hartford Ave, Johnston, RI, Monday through Friday 7am–6pm and Saturday 9am–5pm. Give us a call at 401-273-7374 if you want to know what's fresh this week.

Written by the Wicked Fresh team at 1345 Hartford Ave, Johnston, RI — based on what we actually make and serve daily.