ASHLAND – Food was a dominant theme Monday at the Ashland Area Economic Development’s press conference highlighting area businesses.
Four local businesses — 3 of which are food related — which are expanding, relocating or opening were featured during the event at Mitchell’s Orchard Monday afternoon.
Buffalo Wild Wings’ franchise owner Ken Brown announced that his restaurant will close its Claremont Avenue location at the end of business on Sunday, Dec. 4. After a week to clean that location, the BW-3’s team will undergo training for a week at the new East Main Street location near Wal-Mart before opening on Monday, Dec. 19.
The new BW-3 location is 7,300 square feet, seats 284 and has an outdoor patio.
“We’re going to be able to do a whole lot more things for the community,” Brown said.
When Brown opened the Ashland location, it was the 43rd BW-3 in the country. Brown now owns six other BW-3s, including Ontario, Wooster, Canton, Mentor, Willoughby and Avon Lake, and there are more than 1,100 BW-3 locations in the United States.
Brown built a new building in Ontario two years ago that was just around the corner from where he previously was located and the business took off, growing 60 percent in the first year at its Lexington-Springmill Road location.
“I’m not expecting that here but I would be very happy if that would happen,” Brown said with a chuckle. “But we think there’s really great possibilities here. We think we have a great future where we’re at and we’re looking forward to the additional development out there.”
Crazy Monkey Baking has grown from being made in a local mom’s kitchen seven years ago to being sold in more than 500 stores in five states, with another 300 stores set to add the product in the new year.
Owner Teresa Humrichouser has always had a passion for baking and the Ohio University grad had had a baking business on the side for years before creating the product she sells through Crazy Monkey Baking.
“I was trying to come up with something as a stay-at-home mom for my kids that was a little different,” Humrichouser said. “I came up with the idea because I loved granola but didn’t like that it was so crumbly and made such a mess when I had it with the kids so I kind of made that link between a cookie and granola and my kids loved it.”
After several friends loved the product, Humrichouser started selling it at the Ashland Farmers Market and sold out every weekend for two years. At that point, she moved her manufacturing from her kitchen to space at the Bailey Lakes General Store. For the past two years, Crazy Monkey Baking has been located in the Commerce Center on East Main Street.
After the first of the year, the business will be moving into the back half of the former Aldi building on Claremont Avenue. The front part is occupied by The Caddy Shack.
Crazy Monkey Baking products can be found locally at Home Hardware, Local Roots, Mitchell’s Orchard, and Buehler’s, and is also in all Giant Eagle, Heinen’s, Acme and Drug Mart stores. Her goal is to have the product available nationwide in the next five years.
“There have been many challenges and I’ve wanted to give up several times, but I have an amazing staff that helps me get along and I also think, I look at my kids and I think I could be home with them or I could say it got too hard and I want to quit or I can rise up and continue doing what we’re doing,” Humrichouser said.
Located on East Main Street in the former First Merit Bank building, Tim Hortons will offer a wide range of products and services when it opens Wednesday, Dec. 7. Steve Hill, one of the owners of the Ashland Tim Hortons, said the chain means different things in different places. In Canada, they are known for coffee. In Columbus, people would say they are donuts, Timbits and muffins.
“In small towns, we’re a little bit of everything. We’re a lunch destination. We’re a meeting destination. We’re a dinner destination. And that’s what makes it exciting,” Hill said.
The Ashland location will seat 50 people and be open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
“We start baking fresh product at 3 a.m. and we have fresh product all the way up to 10 p.m.,” Hill said.
Old Elevator co-owner Keelie Wurster is opening Tin Can Chandelier, a functional space for seasoned artists or workshops.
“I love the aspect of creating things,” Wurster said. “I’ll walk into something and be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can make that.’ Well I can’t make that flower I tried, a thousand times. But there are people around here who can.”
Wurster wants to open up the space at Tin Can Chandlier for artists to work, but also for creative people to teach classes so others can embrace the art.
Wurster hopes construction on the building, which is located next to the Old Elevator, is completed by the middle of December
Donna D’s Family Pizza and Mohican Appliance were also scheduled to share their stories but were unable to attend due to business demands.
