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Bettina Messersmith

@bettinamarmee

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Today marks 8 years since we started following our dream by kicking down the doors of an old, abandoned McDonalds ❤️ #foodthatmakesyoufeelgood

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Soccer, Free Range and Sauna life with my mini-me ❤️ Awesome couple of days alone with my Archie while mom and the bigs do NYC. I can’t believe you guys found @ariathome 👀🤯🎤

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Late last year, Free Range almost closed.

That’s hard to say out loud. But before anything changes, we owe you the full story.

We, the original founders, have stepped back in and taken full responsibility again — to protect, strengthen, and give this place the best chance to thrive.
To do that, we’re making big changes — some of which may be unpopular. But before we announce those changes, we want to tell you the story you’ve never heard.

Before Free Range was a café, it was a family decision.

Back in 2017, we couldn’t find healthy food our kids actually wanted to eat.
So we made a choice — a scary one — to try to create it ourselves.

For two years, our family poured everything we had into one idea — time, savings, late nights, weekends, hope. With the help of family, friends, and a community that believed in us early on, we transformed an old McDonald’s into an independent, healthy café.

When we finally opened, YOU showed up. Our prayers were answered — and suddenly, we were busy.

Then, one month later, the pandemic hit.

Customers went away. Our kids came home. And overnight, everything changed.

To survive, we did whatever it took.
We added the drive-thru.
We built an online store.
We expanded the menu.
We homeschooled three kids while trying to keep a business alive.

Sales dropped — but purpose didn’t.

When we couldn’t sell food, we gave it away. We delivered meals to nurses and doctors on the front lines. We wasted nothing, because every extra meal could help someone who needed it.

We survived.

But here’s the part we’ve never really talked about:

The plan that saved us also broke us.

The “do everything for everyone” model kept us alive — but it wasn’t sustainable. Behind the scenes, complexity grew. Costs grew. Burnout grew. On the surface, we looked healthy… but our branches were getting heavy.

That’s why we’re telling you this now.

Because what comes next isn’t about walking away — it’s about giving Free Range a real chance to survive and thrive for the long term.

This is Part One of our story.
Part Two comes on Sunday, followed by some big changes at Free Range.

Thank you for being here — and for letting us share this with you. ❤️

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So so thankful to be surrounded by amazing moms ❤️❤️ Happy Mother’s Day

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Happy Easter to my favorite Peeps! #Easter #Passover #Ramadan #friends #family #love #joy #blessings #photographer #photography #🐰 #2023

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Celebrating a special birthday with a special person… 🎁🎉🎈♥️♥️ #familylove

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Happy Mother’s Day to the three sweetest souls in Maryland ❤️🦀❤️🦀

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Here’s a fun #FBF .. feel free to caption. #style #fashion #beauty #design #art #music #travel #life #culture #entertainment #model (Chad, Rori, Nicolas) with #hair #makeup @keira_lucci #photography #photographer #📸 #lovemyjob #😀

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#FBF .. #Holiday lights. There are little #black dresses and then there is this! #style #fashion #beauty #design #art #music #culture #entertainment #life #model (Rori) #hair #makeup @keira_lucci #instapic #photography #photographer #📸 #love my job

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No Power Like Mother Power 💪 For years Rori and Bettina dreamed of opening a healthy, family friendly restaurant in Hagerstown. When Bettina retired in 2019 the mother-daughter duo decided to go for it and the rest is our short history and exciting future.
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On this Mother’s Day the staff at Free Range wishes an extra special (hopefully extra relaxing) Mother’s Day to these two warriors of big dreams and big family. We are inspired by their kindness, passion and determination for this business and for their families. And even though their humble nature will try to login and delete this post, they won’t be able to because we just changed the password for this very reason 😅
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Happy Mother’s Day to Rori and Bettina, and to all of the #FreeRangeMothers in our community ❤️❤️ Hope you had a great day #freerangefamily

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Ask and ye shall receive. @theartistagency asked for tearsheets, tests, campaigns on their 35th anniversary and I’m happy to oblige on all counts. Obviously Rori was one of my favorite talents. Not a bad picture ever. This only reflects a handful of the times we were fortunate to collaborate. Thanks to so many others including @stylemakerkim @carlraymua @keira_lucci @pascale411 @webersworld for all your help in bringing these 💡 to fruition. #style #fashion #beauty #design #art #music #fashion #editorial #commercial #model #photographer #photography #instapic #camera #nikon #canon #hasselblad #fun #lovemyjob

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