Emily Fournier

So nice to meet you! First off, what’s your name? Tell our readers a bit about yourself—where you’re from originally and where you live now.

My name is Emily Fournier. I grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, raised my three sons in Austin, Texas, and moved to Greenville, South Carolina, in 2023 when my youngest graduated high school.

Tell us one thing you love about where you live now.

The walkability and trails in Greenville. I am within walking distance of my sister and my business, and a short bike or car ride to my parents.

Tell us a little more about what your company does and how it started. How does it help your customers?

I opened the Pantry by Emily’s Table in October of 2025. The original vision was to be a gourmet bodega specializing in farm-fresh, seasonal takeaway foods and locally sourced gifts and souvenirs. Over the year, we have evolved into a cafe and gift store where our regulars love to get coffee and lunch several times a week and really enjoy sitting in our cozy atrium area or at our sidewalk tables. We are much less takeaway than we thought. We really have become part of the community, and I love getting to know my neighbors and the visitors of Greenville.

The biggest change is that we have tried our hardest to really protect against the top 9 allergens, and we now can adapt our entire menu to meet many dietary restrictions. Through this process, we have met guests with severe allergies and very restrictive dining needs and have learned a ton. While we cannot guarantee we can adapt every menu item to every allergy, we pride ourselves on being able to bring most everyone to our table.

If someone wants to start a business, what advice would you give them?

Be willing to get smarter every day. You will have curve balls thrown at you along the way. Learn to pivot and to adapt, and remember to follow your passion and joy.

What is one piece of feedback from a happy customer or client that you won't forget?

A little girl had just learned she was celiac. Her family, who had no gluten issues, brought her in to show her that she would still be able to eat out, because she had been so upset about her diagnosis. She was elated to learn that she could eat everything in our pastry case and that she could order anything she wanted from our menu. After lunch, she brought me a sticker from her sticker collection, hugged me tightly, and told me it was her favorite day. I will never forget her or how I felt after she enjoyed our food.

Where do you see your company in the future?

We are opening our fine dining concept in three weeks, and I hope to bring this same comfort and joy to a whole new level. I would like to grow our catering, pre-order, and bakery business to allow more guests to bring our allergy-friendly food home with them. In addition, I pray that the flavor and quality of our food is so amazing that it brings even those without allergies back again and again.

What is the biggest misconception about your industry?

That it is easy and anyone can do it.

What has been one of your biggest struggles building your business, and how did you deal with it?

No good deed goes unpunished. While we try our hardest to accommodate guest needs, there are some allergies we are not familiar with or need to do some research on to see how we can accommodate them.

In addition, labeling by some of our vendors has been a huge challenge. We do not want to use seed oils in our recipes. However, many labels allow a percentage of seed oil into their products without having to disclose the contents. We can do all of our research and order everything seed oil free, and then get our order and discover that it contains traces of canola oil or grapeseed oil. It is so frustrating. We have had to throw away a lot of ingredients due to false labeling.

What was your favorite music artist and athlete growing up?

I loved a local band from New Orleans called Cowboy Mouth (still do, actually), and as a tennis player, I loved watching Chris Evert, John McEnroe, and Björn Borg.

Any shoutouts you want to make?

To my Executive Chef and business partner, Jimmy Norris. I could not do this without his genius in the kitchen.

Where can our readers learn more about you and your company?

Town Magazine did a really nice write-up on us when we opened, and DineGVL just did a really amazing video interview of us. We also try to keep our socials up to date with what is going on at the Pantry and Emily’s Table. You can see all of our concepts at emilysgvl.com.