By Jacob Lange
NKYTribune intern
The Friendly Market of Northern Kentucky is home to eight businesses focused on providing customers with local products.
Beginning Aug. 1, Yesterday’s Café and Tea Room relocates from its site on Main Street, adding a ninth outlet to the market. In addition, a Farmers Market operates until Oct. 31 offering local fruits and vegetables.
“This whole thing has been a learning experience,” said Jack Berberich, owner of the Friendly Market. “The beauty of the market is that it continues to evolve.”
The market opened in Florence in 2013. Each business offers its own unique products to shoppers, including locally grown foods and drink, as well as spices, olive oil, fish and more.
Afishionados Fresh Seafood Shop was voted the best seafood market in Northern Kentucky by Northern Kentucky Magazine in 2014. It features a variety of fresh fish. John LaFontaine, who has owned or operated food stores for the past 30 years, owns Afishionados.
Butcher Betties is a gourmet food company, offering high quality meats, cheeses and natural ingredients. The owner, Allison Hines, is a veteran of the Navy and had worked as a chef for six years before opening the store.
The shop sells beef, pork, poultry, cheeses and more from around the state including Boone, Kenton, and Henry counties. The store has also sold eggs from Petersburg.
The Colonel’s Creamery provides the Friendly Market with a homemade ice cream shop for customers. Created by Dan Lambert, the hobby-turned-business makes its homemade ice cream in batches of 1 ½ gallons and offers a variety of flavors.
Colonel De’s Gourmet Herbs and Spices is home to more than 500 spices and serves a wide variety of businesses in Northern Kentucky. The herbs and spice shop ships to businesses across the United States and Canada, with over 60 chefs and bartenders using the colonel’s selections.
The Flying Olive is home to more than 50 different olive oils and vinegars from around the world. Favorite combinations include Blood Orange Olive Oil and Cranberry Pear Balsamic Vinegar.
The Friendly Market is also home to a Kentucky Proud store. This one-stop shop carries a variety of items from across the state. Some of the items sold are jams, jellies, candles, barbeque sauces and corn chips made in Kentucky.
Smokin this and That BBQ is a freshly made barbeque shop owned by Guy Cummins. Smoked daily outside the Friendly Market, Smokin This and That BBQ features its all-star BBQ rub for beef, chicken or pork.
Unbridled Spirits provides Friendly Market goers with a one-stop liquor store filled with a variety of bourbons, wines and more. Of the products sold in the shop, 95 percent are made locally. The shop features bourbons from the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, Kentucky-made wines, and beers brewed in Cincinnati.
The market is in the process of opening a new shop. Yesterday’s Café and Tea Room, formerly located on Main Street in Florence, will be opening August 1. Susan Schultz started her business in 2004.
The Friendly Market is also home to a Farmer’s Pavilion. Open April 1 through Oct. 31, the pavilion gives shoppers another option of locally grown products.
The Friendly Market of Northern Kentucky is located at 10050 Norbotten Drive in Florence, off of Mt. Zion Road, east of I-75. The market is open Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday is 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Jacob Lange is a journalism senior at the University of Kentucky