Restorative eatery promotes clean, healing life through food

Rachel Sankey

Past Staff

February 24, 2023

GREEN BAY – Healthy, fresh eats don’t have to be inaccessible or monotonous.

Lauren Posa, chef and restaurant manager of The Farmacy (2515 W. Mason St.), is working to prove that. 

The idea to open a restorative eatery in Green Bay, Posa said, was sparked through the collaboration of her and Dr. Patrick Flynn from The Wellness Way, which is located next door to The Farmacy.

Meaningful partnership
Though the connection between The Wellness Way and the Farmacy is professional today, Posa said it started out personal.

She said the folks at The Wellness Way helped her with inflammation she was dealing with due to a brain parasite she caught while living in Hawaii, which caused meningitis and a brain disease known as rat lungworm. 

“I had to move back in with my parents,” she said. “I was on tons of medication and super sick for a long time. Then I found The Wellness Way. They have a franchise in Iron Mountain, and they got me off all the medications.”

Posa said she was able to participate in a program through The Wellness Way where she did testing and helped people find the right supplements and food to heal their bodies.

That’s how she met Flynn and the idea of The Farmacy eventually came about.

“I had a private chef business while I was going through the program… (which I’ve had) for the past three years,” she said. “I met Flynn while going through the academy with The Wellness Way, and I was like, ‘do you want to open up a food business with me?’ and he was like, ‘yes.’ I moved to Green Bay, bought a house and opened the restaurant.”

The location of the restaurant was intentional – located next door to The Wellness Way.

“I know The Wellness Way – their employees and their patients – want this… and The Wellness Way people have been so helpful,” she said.

Posa is hopeful the Greater Green Bay community will be as well.

At the Farmacy, her focus is on the food, the menu and recipes, as well as training and educating.

She said payroll, marketing and other backend matters are taken care of by The Wellness Way.

Healing through food
While Posa said the Midwest is “lacking on healthy food options” for those looking to eat better.

“A lot of people are learning… and looking (more) at what’s going into their food because of how sick people are,” she said.

Especially after her health issues, Posa realized how the food she was eating was making her sick.

Lauren Posa

“It changed my life,” she said. “There’s so much sickness between cancer, diabetes, obesity and infertility – it’s endless.”

Posa said many acknowledge they need to eat healthier, but need a little help in terms of knowing what that means.

“People need help to make the food, and they need to know how to make the food,” she said. “The people who want to cook healthy food, I’ll tell them everything. I don’t have any secrets. It’s not a new invention to eat healthy.”

All options at The Farmacy are made to order, although the eatery is “grab and go,” it does take a few minutes to prepare the food.

Out of all the choices on the menu, such as liverwurst hash, sesame chicken salad and smoothies, she said the “build your own bowl” is the most popular.

“There are all sorts of bases – so, whatever kind of diet, if someone is keto or sugar-free, you can build any bowl you want,” she said.

She said The Farmacy also makes its own bone broth, and everything is gluten-free and mostly dairy-free. 

“We do have an organic cheddar option, but otherwise, we use sheep/goat cheese, and all of our dressings are dairy free,” she said. 

Posa also said many people don’t realize all the foods they’re allergic to.

“We want to be as allergen friendly as possible, which for a lot of people in the public, they’re like, ‘oh, I don’t have any severe allergies,’ but if you got your food allergies tested, you’d have a whole long list of things that are causing inflammation in your body,” she said. “We want to stay away from anything that will cause inflammation.”

Another option The Farmacy plans to start in the near future is a meal prep pick-up option – for those who want to eat healthier at home.

“You’ll be able to get meal prep for the week,” she said. “You don’t have to go to all these different places, you can get five salads for the week. You can order whatever works for your lifestyle because everyone’s on the move right now. I definitely want to be the option everyone chooses.”

For the future?
Though The Farmacy recently celebrated its opening, Posa wants to have another grand opening – tentatively set for April 15.

“We had a grand opening, but we didn’t do anything special,” she said. “It happened too quickly – we rushed it. I think the plan is for April 15, and by then we’ll have everything available.”

Posa said The Farmacy will also offer catering, cooking classes and tutorials. 

Lauren Posa, chef and restaurant manager of The Farmacy, said the eatery works to be as allergy friendly as possible with all their menu options. Submitted Photo

“In the past three years with the food business I had, I did a lot of cooking and food education classes,” she said. “I’m from a small town, but I always sold out of them, because people want the knowledge.”

Posa said she’s looking forward to being able to teach parents healthy options for their kids, so they can grow up with fewer issues.

“There’s a lot that goes into not just physical health, but mental health, which is becoming a huge problem,” she said.

“Obviously, there’s a lot that goes into mental health, but (with food) – if you don’t feel good physically, your mental health isn’t going to be in a great place either.”

In the end, Posa said her main goal is to provide healthy and accessible options for her community.

“It’s hard and it’s expensive, and we’re trying to keep our prices as good as possible,” she said. “But we also want to get the best product we can.”