The growing season at Ohio City Farm is just over two months away, and this week, farmers with Refugee Response are starting to plant the seeds for the ninth year on the six-acre farm—offering up the harvests to more than 20 local restaurants and members of the farm’s CSA program.

Carina Grenier opened Sipt in February to give customers a healthy, fresh option for fueling up in Beachwood's fitness plaza.

Beer and wildlife conservation might seem like an unlikely duo, but the new partnership between Cleveland's Terrestrial Brewing Company and the Cleveland Zoological Society (CZS) is proving otherwise.

March is the season to sample new menus in Northeast Ohio as two Restaurant Weeks kick off.

Cleveland and Pittsburgh may have a legendary rivalry when it comes to football, but Matt McMonagle and his wife, Lisa, are taking that rivalry to the condiment arena. As supporters of locally-owned businesses, Matt and Lisa noticed that everyone in Cleveland was serving Pittsburgh-based Heinz ketchup. “We saw a lot of [local] mustard, hot sauces, and barbeque sauces," says Matt. "But why are we buying ketchup from a Pittsburgh company?” 

Pablo Lopez and Farris Khouri just completed their college degrees last year, but they're already making waves in the business world with Ohio’s first farm-to-cup coffee company, Mocina Coffee.

Step into Lakewood-based Play Grounds, and you’ll see all the trappings of a neighborhood coffee shop—tasty pastries, cozy sitting areas and tables, and whirring machines ready to whip up a hot cuppa Phoenix Coffee upon request. But explore a little further, and you’ll come across “The Fort,” a kid-friendly haven replete with play kitchen, dollhouse, train table, and plenty of other things to keep pint-sized sidekicks occupied for a while.

Ever since Brandon Chrostowski opened EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant Institute on Shaker Square in 2013, he has had his eye on bigger things for both his graduates and the Buckeye neighborhood.

On Thursday, Dec. 13, Chrostowski will take a second big step forward in that vision when he opens EDWINS Butcher Shop at 13024 Buckeye Road, just steps from the $1.3 million EDWINS Second Change Life Skills Center campus he opened in 2016.

Helping make a dent in local food crises while dramatically reducing food waste—all with a minimal time commitment—sounds like a dream for many busy people stuck in the daily grind who still want to make a difference. With Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland’s new Food Rescue app, it’s a reality.

As shops and restaurants continue to open their doors at the new Van Aken District, James Beard Award-winning chef Michael Schwartz has announced that he will open his Miami-based Michael's Genuine Food & Drink in the space originally planned for his Genuine Pizza chain at 3427 Tuttle Road in Shaker Heights.

A cupcake bouquet can make anyone's day—but, for some, it can make a world of difference. Enter Abolition Bakery, the brainchild of Old Brooklyn resident Rita Ballenger. Celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, the home-based bakery operation donates a portion of its proceeds to help combat a devastating issue: human trafficking.

The average distance an Old Brooklyn resident travels to visit a grocery store is 4.2 miles, and Save-a-Lot is the neighborhood’s only true grocery store within boundaries. For these and other reasons, Old Brooklyn is considered a food desert, where one-fifth of the residents report choosing between food and housing in terms of affordability. So beyond the burgeoning dollar menus of the neighborhood's abundant fast fooderies and not-so-abundant grocery stores, how does one navigate this food desert?

After four years of planning, Western Reserve Distillers is set to take its spot as one of just a handful of certified organic distilleries in the country. The family-owned business—run by husband-and-wife team Ann and Kevin Thomas—celebrated its grand opening in early September.

In honor of the Browns playing the Steelers, chefs at JACK Cleveland Casino made Pittsburgh’s well-known smiley face cookies—with the cookies in Browns colors smiling and the Pittsburgh colors frowning. Rounding out the offerings were other favorites like wedding soup and chipped ham BBQ on pretzel buns (along with Yuengling lager, naturally). The Pittsburgh-style feast kicked off the casino's new "Cook the Competition" menu, which will highlight the opposing teams' hometown fare.

Like a trail of cookie crumbs, Vicki Kotris’ whole life has essentially been leading up to this moment—from making Food Network cupcake recipes at age eight to that time she traveled to New York just to try the Cronut. Now she and her husband, Steve, are preparing to launch Cleveland’s first mobile cookie dough business: the CLE Cookie Dough Co.

Where chocolate and cheese intersect, there are always plenty of foodies to be found, and this weekend’s joint pop-up between Lilly Chocolates & Confections and Old Brooklyn Cheese Company was no exception. It’s fitting these two businesses would team up at this moment in time—after all, both are poised to do big things in Old Brooklyn in the near future. 

Cleveland's small business community is buzzing with the opening of Beauty Shoppe, a 24-hour coworking and office space designed to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses, and the accompanying Foyer coffee shop. Both entities are located in the burgeoning Seymour Building, which was originally constructed in 1876 and now springing back to life via the Snavely Group.

Chefs from Saucisson, Salt, Green City Growers, and more are headed to NYC for a special "Cleveland Rocks" dinner at the James Beard House on Tuesday.