About Us

Frankie and Marcel Franke, who own Staplehurst Nurseries and Frankie's Farmshop are passionate about our community and serving fresh, homemade food. You will often find Frankie's warm smile serving you or welcoming you at the door, or Marcel operating the growth of thousands of plants, there's not much they can't do! Frankie and Marcel have three children who have grown up with these businesses in their back garden! Theo, the youngest, who takes after his father by growing an abundance of fruit and veg, along with his passion for the environment. Liam, the eldest, has enjoyed exploring new flavours with every new menu, and has inherited the family liking to good food! Clara, who never had an interest in the family business, found herself thrown in at the deep end during the Coronavirus Pandemic to ultimately keep her family safe and support those in the community. 

Originally we ran as an independent nursery supplying many local garden centres and the Covent Garden Flower Market. We are well known for growing thousands of beautiful Poinsettias and Cyclamen over the Winter months, as well as Zonal Geraniums, New Guinea Impatiens, Dahlias and basket plants throughout the Spring. As an extension of this community we built and opened Frankie's Farmshop in 2012 and extended with our new restaurant in 2023. As we grew in the community we became well known for our freshly baked cakes and tasty coffee! This lead to us focusing more on our cafe and restaurant, which we are now known for. 

Frankie’s has always strived to achieve an environment that brings happiness, comfort and most importantly, tasty treats! The Covid-19 Pandemic was no different, we decided to continue supporting the community by adapting overnight into a grocery store which supplied the vulnerable with essential items. We continued to show our customers that Frankie’s will always be here for them, despite uncertain outcomes. During these times, we provided an order service by delivery or non-contact collection, this included fresh cakes, yeast and even flour! We managed to reach and help so many that never knew we existed prior to the devastating outbreak.

Post pandemic, we continue we welcome our customers, old and new, into our brand new restaurant with a brand new menu.