Food – Can I Bring my Own

Food & Non-alcoholic Beverages 

While there is absolutely no requirement to purchase food, all food consumed on the property must be purchased from one of our restaurants or from our retail shop. No outside food allowed on the property. 

J’s Restaurant is a formal reservation-only restaurant serving exquisite foods and all of our wines, spirits, and beers.

The Knoll is our open-air restaurant where you can either purchase food from our kitchen or you can purchase food from our retail shop for consumption on our property.  We continue to add more retail food items in our retail shop such as chips, Salas, nuts, cheeses, bread, crackers, and other snack foods that can be enjoyed on-site. 

The Pavilion is our indoor function venue which serves as a restaurant from  January 1 to April 15th and as our Beverage Tasting Court from April 15th to November 30th.

Why the Change 

In August 2020, during the pandemic, we were required by law to serve food prepared by us before we could serve alcoholic beverages to customers. Customers were not allowed to bring their own food and consume alcohol on our property.  End of BYO food. and the start of a new business.

To stay open, the regulations required us to modify our operations and invest in a new kitchen with new equipment and additional staffing.  We invested thousands of dollars and hired over 20 new employees to create an outdoor restaurant which we now call the Vintner’s Knoll to be in compliance with the law.  When the restriction was lifted, we made the decision to continue operating as a restaurant since we had now invested in equipment, technology, and staff.   The change helped us survive the pandemic and is necessary for our survival.  When you look around and see our farming operations, the facilities that we have built, and the atmosphere, please appreciate that the beauty of Nashoba Valley is supported by our revenue and it has become necessary for us to survive to capture revenue from our food operations as well as from our adult beverage operations.   We truly appreciate our loyal customer who appreciates the need for business to make sound business decisions to survive.  

Historical Mandate issued on August 7th, 2020

On August 7, 2020, Governor Charlie Baker announced a number of new initiatives in order to combat the spread of COVID-19.  The new rules provide that restaurants may only serve alcoholic beverages if accompanied by food prepared on-site.  Pretzels, potato chips, and other pre-packaged foods do not constitute food prepared on-site.  For each customer, an item of food prepared on-site must be ordered with an initial alcoholic beverage order.  One or more shareable food items may be ordered, so long as the amount of food ordered is sufficient for the number of people at the table.  Consistent with these rules, Massachusetts will take measures to shut down any bars masquerading as restaurants.  Currently, bars are not permitted to be open