Scrapped the Plate Bistro has taken Vanessa Holmes' Memphis food-truck business into a permanent space at 7199 Stage Rd. The 1,505-square-foot restaurant serves soul food, Southern comfort dishes, seafood, pasta, brunch fare and signature creations, according to What Now Memphis.
The brick-and-mortar debut happened earlier this month, according to WhatNow, capping a three-and-a-half-month stretch in which Holmes and her team handled leasing, permitting, construction and hiring before the doors opened. The restaurant now employs about six to eight people. Holmes said the food truck served as the foundation for everything that came after, telling WhatNow that the mobile operation built a customer following throughout the community long before the bistro existed.
From Food Truck Stops to a Storefront on Stage Road
Holmes started Scrapped the Plate as a food truck, and the report notes that the idea for a permanent bistro took shape after she realized how much people enjoyed her cooking. She said she wanted more space, a larger menu, consistent hours and a place customers could call home — the kind of setup a truck simply can't offer on its own.
Along the way, Holmes identified what she described as a market gap for consistently available, well-prepared, flavorful cuisine in the Mid-South. Before diving into the restaurant business, she worked as a licensed nail technician and a mathematics teacher, per a report from What Now Memphis, a background far removed from professional kitchens but one that apparently didn't stop the bistro from becoming, in her words, a dream that became a reality.
What's on the Menu at Scrapped the Plate Bistro
The menu spans soul food favorites, Southern comfort food, seafood, pasta, brunch dishes and what the restaurant calls signature creations. Among the most popular items, per the same account, are the buffalo chicken egg rolls and the Cajun Alfredo — dishes that suggest a kitchen unafraid to blend classic Southern comfort with a few unexpected twists.
Moving from a food truck to a storefront changes the business's operating demands, including leasing, permitting, construction, hiring and maintaining regular service in a fixed location. Scrapped the Plate Bistro's opening also provides a point of comparison with other Memphis-area mobile food businesses pursuing permanent spaces.
Another Memphis Food Truck Pursuing a Storefront
Available reporting identifies at least one other recent Memphis-area example: According to The Daily Memphian, Cesar Figueroa opened the Addiction Smash Burger food truck in April 2025 at 610 N. Germantown Pkwy. and was preparing to move to a storefront after a year of mobile operations. The concepts and locations differ—Scrapped the Plate Bistro is a soul-food and Southern-comfort restaurant at 7199 Stage Road, while Addiction Smash Burger is a burger business that began on North Germantown Parkway—but both illustrate Memphis food operators using mobile vending as a path toward a permanent site.
Looking Ahead to the Next Year
Holmes isn't treating the opening as a finish line. Over the next year, she plans to improve restaurant operations, build a dependable team and grow the customer base while developing a loyal group of regulars. She also intends to strengthen the bistro's social media presence and expand both the catering and food-truck sides of the business.
Longer term, Holmes said she hopes to explore additional growth opportunities and eventually open more Scrapped the Plate locations, though no timeline or site has been set. She expressed gratitude for the community support that carried Scrapped the Plate from its food-truck days all the way through the bistro's opening, a thread of continuity she credits for getting her this far.
