Society Fair Celebrates One Year Anniversary

Society Fair recently celebrated its first anniversary and co-owner Meshelle Armstrong spoke with DC Eater about the restaurant’s first year in business.

The S. Washington Street endeavor is a combination bakery, butcher shop, market and tasting room.

It opened with a "soft launch" in January 2012 after the Armstrongs took out a lease at 277 S. Washington for the project around December 2010.

Armstrong said it took some time to find a big enough space in Alexandria to accommodate her vision, along with that of her husband, Chef Cathal Armstrong.

“…You hear about places, you wait and see, get a feel for a place. This space had ample sidewalks, which is hard to find in Alexandria,” Meshelle Armstrong told DC Eater’s Missy Frederick.

“I think the biggest challenge for us was that I didn't realize how different a project this was. It's really a different bird than the restaurants,” Armstrong said. “If you open a coffee shop, the coffee has to be great. If you open a bakery, the bread has to be great. We had to have all of these things. We also learned signage was key. People would walk into the place, stand at the front and say, 'What do I do?' Europeans would walk in, they get it."