Christy Williams started her home-baking business, Little Chunk of Goodness, because, she said, “I couldn’t afford groceries.” Williams was working two jobs, one of which was cashiering and doing dishes at a bakery. “Customers kept coming in and asking if we had royal icing cookies. I had no idea what they were, but there was obviously a huge demand for it. So I Googled it.”
A place that relies on the downtown lunch crowd, Conestoga Grill has been hit hard by COVID-19. But owner Dominic “Deco” Vinas is soldiering onward with pasta, pizza and burgers.
With the arrival since last fall of Scratch Steakhouse & Lounge, UnHitched Brewing Co., In the Mix Bakery and the tourist-attracting Umbrella Alley, downtown Louisville has become a destination. “I definitely got here at the perfect time,” said Demond Germany, owner and executive chef of Scratch Steakhouse.
“We have a ton of regulars,” said Jacob Bruckner, the enthusiastic co-owner of North Canton Nutrition, a smoothie and juice bar that opened in February. “We help gain a healthier lifestyle and achieve fitness goals,” he said.
It certainly seemed bold and risky to launch a new bakery in April, in the midst of the coronavirus stay-at-home order. But following her longtime dream, Ashley Graham, 23, went ahead and followed her plan to open In the Mix Bakery at 234 E Main Street in downtown Louisville.
It was on First Friday in August 2012 that a downtown Canton standby, George’s Lounge, reopened with three new owners. “We’re all from Canton. We saw what was happening downtown, and we thought the location was perfect,” said Ryan McMichael, who partnered with his twin brother, Aaron, with whom he has a chiropractic business, and John Degenhardt, a friend of theirs since elementary school.
When Canal Fulton’s popular lunch spot, the Dragonfly Tea Room, relocated last fall to larger quarters formerly occupied by Canal Fulton Glassworks, it allowed for the launching of a second business. In the building behind the tea room’s new location at 215 Market Street W, where glass once was blown, is The Dragonfly Winery.
Vincent Cessna typically arrives at his Italian restaurant, Vincent’s Pastaria, around 5:30 a.m. “My day starts with (making) 4 gallons of sauce every morning. It’s the lifeblood here. It goes in the lasagna, the meatballs, the pasta dishes,” Cessna said. “My anxiety goes down when the sauce is done, right around 8:30.”
Faced with months of crippling road-closing construction outside her five-year-old bakery in downtown Massillon last year, Jamie Anania decided to take a big plunge.
Mike Cammel had plenty of experience with Italian-style food before he opened his own business, Camellone Italian American Cuisine, in December 2016.
