Chestnut Tree offers community and collaboration

By Kristen Watson

The bell attached to the Chestnut Tree’s door dings once again and owner Valeree Clegg perks up as she sees the new customer. Her eyes light up and a smile creeps to her face as she gets up to greet the new arrival.

Clegg opened the Chestnut Tree with her mother in 1994. The Chestnut Tree started out as a teahouse or tearoom with seven tables and today is a full service restaurant that offers over 30 teas and a full food menu to her customers. 

“My mother and I opened the business and were 50/50 partners,” Clegg said. “She passed away in April. It will be two years in April. Family owned businesses are going by the wayside. There’s just not that many anymore and I think that’s what makes me special.”

The Chestnut Tree doesn’t have an average customer, Clegg said. With customers ranging from young adults to a 96-year-old customer that’s been coming for 20 years.

Terri Guthrie has been a Chestnut Tree customer for over 10 years and considers it her go-to place to bring out of town guests. 

“I do know Valeree personally and I always speak to her when I come in and see her smiling face,” Guthrie said. “I think she’s done a great job with this place. She keeps it really trendy and the food is always delicious.”

The restaurant bakes their own pies, cakes and cookies and serves them in a glass case in the front. Clegg said the thumbprint cookies and chocolate pie are some fan favorites.

Before opening the Chestnut Tree with her mother, Clegg held an office job that didn’t allow her to socialize much.

“My favorite part about owning the business is getting to meet the people I get to meet,” Clegg said. “I had an office job before this and it never really gave me the chance to meet the customer base, it’s not just the customer base, it’s the community. You get to meet the people in the community and you get to know people in the community that I would never have otherwise.”

This attitude is one that keeps her longtime customers coming back. Clegg mentioned that a group from Austin was coming to Denton the following weekend just to come to her tearoom.

Suzanne Johnson is the Chestnut Tree’s chef and before that was a longtime customer of the restaurant. She loves working in the kitchen and thinks one of the coolest aspects of the restaurant is their collaboration with other small businesses.

“We have a server named Ryan, who’s known Scott from Audacity for many, many pears,” Johnson said. “So, when they came into town and wanted to open a brewery, she introduced us to him and we’ve developed a friendship.”

The Chestnut Tree offers growlers, empty beer bottles, that can be filled up with one of their local beers on tap and taken home. Clegg loves the fact that her business is a small business that is family owned and takes every opportunity to assist others in the area.

“We had a beer dinner with [Audacity] in December and we roasted a pig and paired their beers with our food and that sort of thing,” Johnson said. “So, we have a friendship, a partnership, but more than that, we are local businesses taking care of each other.”