365 Small Business Circle: Joyce Green on bridging communities, bringing people together

Featured Small Business: Bridges Craft Pizza & Wine Bar; BreadWorks by Bridges; TapHouse Burgers; The Wine Merchant

Businesses that invest in their community can increase their brand’s value, strengthen customer loyalty and create a meaningful work environment for their employees. United Way of Central Indiana is proud to partner with and support small businesses — which is why the 365 Small Business Circle was created.

The name of Joyce and Judson Green’s first restaurant – Bridges – carries special meaning.  

“A bridge is a connection,” Joyce Green said. “Our underlying theme is always connection. Can we connect people? Can we connect the community and the university? Can we just bring people together to talk and share ideas?” 

Over the last seven years, Green and her late husband have opened a community music space and a series of restaurants that are changing the landscape of downtown Greencastle. Today, their restaurant group, The Green Fields Group, employs about 115 people.  

Through it all, the idea of connection sits at the center. The restaurants connect DePauw University students and their families to Greencastle – and local residents to downtown.  

“And I love the fact that it also supports the community,” Green said. 

The Greens met as DePauw students in the 1970s and have been major supporters of the university’s School of Music. The performing arts center there bears their name.  

Judson Green was a longtime executive with Walt Disney Co. – he was president of Walt Disney World and Disney’s theme parks internationally – and later led NAVTEQ Corp. in Chicago. He died in 2020.  

The Greens’ work in downtown Greencastle began with Music on the Square, a music storefront that offers lessons and performances. The concept grew from a conversation the Greens had with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, whom the couple sponsored as the creative consultant for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.  

Ma told them about a music storefront in Rhode Island that became their inspiration, Green said. With the idea of connecting the school to the community, Music on the Square opened in 2015, and the Greens donated it to DePauw.  

The Greens envisioned a wine bar nearby for music patrons to enjoy, so when the storefront next door went up for sale, the Greens bought it, turning it into Bridges Craft Pizza & Wine Bar.  

Since then, they’ve opened TapHouse Burgers, The Wine Merchant and a bakery, BreadWorks by Bridges. 

A second location of BreadWorks recently opened in Broad Ripple, and baked goods from the Greencastle bakery are sold to schools and restaurants, including Butler University, Indiana University, Wabash College, Cunningham Restaurant Group and Huse Culinary, which includes St. Elmo Steak House.  

We recently spoke with Green about philanthropy and building strong communities.  

(This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.) 

As a business owner, what role do you play in bettering the community? 

Our first idea was to have a great place to eat along with some nice performances. But as we opened Bridges and started interviewing and hiring people to work for us, we realized that now we’re connecting with the community by offering people employment. It does support the community in that way also.  

That maybe was not our first vision, but as we go along and we are meeting people and helping people develop, we have the opportunity for them to experience a pretty wide variety of choices of employment. If they’re interested in becoming a chef, there’s a path for that. If they’re interested in becoming a baker, there’s a path for that. There are management opportunities, and a few of the people who have stayed with The Green Fields Group are moving up and becoming managers.  

We’re actually looking at trying internships. If you’re interested in one area of the company, you could intern for six months or a year and have that experience, and that goes on your resume.  

We made the decision three years ago to offer employee benefits, which is unusual for restaurants. That in itself is a benefit to us because it attracts employees that want to work in the restaurant business, and it helps them to feel like they want to stay.  

What philanthropic causes are you particularly passionate about and why? 

Judson and I were both involved in music, so we are passionate about supporting the performing arts. We have supported the Lyric Opera in Chicago; I was on the board of the Chicago Symphony; I am now on the board of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando.  

Our main focus here was the (DePauw) School of Music and supporting it in a variety of ways: its physical building, the curriculum and performance.  

We feel that music is important in everyone’s life. Anywhere you go in the world, you’re going to find some type of music. It is an international language in a sense; it is a way to communicate and express your feelings, emotions. We feel that this is important throughout the world.  

United Way of Central Indiana’s mission is to address poverty in our communities. How do your values as a business owner align with United Way’s mission? 

We have many opportunities in our various restaurants that we can offer a starting position and would offer development as long as they’re committed to staying with this type of business.  

I do value donating to the United Way because it is looking at various organizations in each community. I’ve also given to the United Way in the Orlando community because they are trying to solve the poverty problem and help people move forward with their lives so they can be stable and secure.  

In giving to the United Way through The Green Fields Group, we like the fact that United Way is looking for organizations and looking for specific ways to support what is important to people in the Putnam County community.  

Why did you decide to join the 365 Small Business Circle?   

One of my managers who was involved in the community came to me and suggested this is a great way to support what (United Way) is doing in the Putnam County area. I totally agreed and am on board.  

I certainly hope that the poverty situation in Putnam County can improve over time. The whole world has gone through the pandemic, which has not helped anything. Moving forward, it’s important to have organizations like the United Way, and we will certainly continue to support what the United Way does in Putnam County.

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