Tower to Table: Tower Garden at Restaurants

Troy Poole, owner of TidePoole’s in sunny Newport Beach, California, is going above and beyond to ensure his customers are served the best possible ingredients. 

The specialty SoCal restaurant uses produce picked straight off their rooftop Tower Garden units to make delicious pizzas, salads, and sandwiches. Troy’s ‘Tower-to-Table’ recipes keep customers coming back for more, cementing himself in this bustling beach town. Read more about Troy’s journey with Tower Garden below.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got involved in the restaurant industry.

I'm 25 years old and started in the industry when I was 18 at In-N-Out. A year later, I moved on to other restaurants around Newport Beach and San Francisco. After helping manage a few awesome places, I wanted to change up my path and see what else was in store for me. I moved to a farm in Northern California where I found a new passion for growing plants of all types! 

What is the history of TidePoole's and when was it established?

My oldest brother Blake passed away in December of 2018. He was my biggest fan who always told me to follow my dreams regardless of societal norms or expectations. I knew I had to do something to carry on his legacy and bring my family together at the same time. I decided to open a small restaurant where I could go back to interacting with awesome people daily and have my family beside me while working toward the same goal. It's been about 8 months since TidePoole's opened, and I don't see it going anywhere anytime soon!

What made you start growing with Tower Garden?

Having a restaurant and a passion to grow produce, it was easy to make the decision to combine them. I own four Tower Gardens and love the response I've gotten from having them.

Your Tower Garden units are placed on the roof of your restaurant, viewable from the street in the heart of Newport Beach. How do customers and locals react to seeing your gardens?

Customers have said on multiple occasions, "We love your Tower Gardens and even use them as a landmark when driving down PCH to find your restaurant! It's the building with the rooftop garden." Customers have also been excited and seemingly more interested when told about the produce being grown right above their heads.

What are some of TidePoole’s recipes that use produce grown on a Tower?

While harvesting, we use the lettuce for all sandwiches and salads. There is a night and day difference when comparing store-bought produce to the produce grown right on our roof!

How has your accessibility to fresh produce impacted your restaurant? Also, why would you recommend growing with a Tower Garden to other chefs and restaurants?

The impact it's had on our restaurant has been awesome and exceeded all the expectations I had. Not only do we have the best produce, the Tower Gardens also serve as a great marketing tool while helping us stand out from other restaurants. I recommend Tower Gardens to other restaurants to help keep food costs low and give their kitchen the edge it needs to stand out from neighboring competitors.

Learn more: Troy Poole, troy@rcghome.net, (202)-517-4922