Frankie Martin’s Garden, a new food truck plaza in St. Charles County, is set to open July 1.
The garden sits on a 2.74-acre site at 5372 St. Charles St. in Cottleville. Developers announced plans for the garden earlier this year.
Frankie Martin’s Garden comes from the backers of 9 Mike Garden, a food truck destination in Affton.
Co-owners of the project include Larry Chapman of Seneca Commercial Real Estate and Brian Hardesty, managing partner of both food truck gardens, along with Jeff and David Kolb of Kolb Grading LLC, Tom Mohan of Chapman Ventures LLC and Michael and Kate Reiter from Cottleville Ventures LLC. The group hasn’t disclosed development costs for the project.
“Opening Missouri’s first food truck garden with 9 Mile Garden to now being able to open a second one in the heart of Cottleville has been an exciting experience,” Hardesty said in a statement.
Frankie Martin’s Garden features an expansive LED wall for guests to view sports games, as well as a 2,400-square-foot beer pavilion, a pickleball court, a sand volleyball court and a wine and whiskey bar. Shaded picnic tables, pergolas and pavilions scatter the garden, and are available for guests to rent to host private events and gatherings, as are the wine and whiskey bar.
The new plaza is named for the late Cottleville resident Frank Martin, in whose former 130-year-old home the wine and whiskey
bar are located.
Frankie Martin’s Garden will be open seven days a week with lunch hours from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. for dinner. The
daily lineup of well-known local food trucks like Beast Craft BBQ, Zia’s and Lion’s Choice, among others, will be posted to the garden’s social media channels by 10 a.m. each day, according to a statement. The garden also will feature offer trivia on Monday and Thursday nights, and live music on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights.
Hardesty was one of the St. Louis region’s first food truck operators, partnering with Joel Crespo in 2011 to open Filipino-
American food truck Guerrilla Street Food. They added the concept’s first brick-and-mortar restaurant in 2015, growing to six
locations before shuttering all but the Webster Groves store by August 2020. The Webster location closed April 30 after the partners were unable to find a buyer.
Hardesty teamed in 2019 with Seneca’s Chapman on 9 Mile Garden, which opened in July 2020 at 9375 Gravois Road in Affton after a $4.5 million investment.
