Refined Focus, New Expectations for Just Ripe

kefaerber — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 20:26:36 +0000

In May, we will celebrate two years open in our tiny food shop in the Daylight Building. We dreamed big and started a complex retail & food-service business to meet lots of needs for Downtown residents and workers, as well as to fulfill our excitement and passion for food. In these two years, we have learned much about our strengths and limitations, our customers’ expectations and joys, and how things change over time. Now it is time for us to refine our efforts, to emphasize the foods and processes which bring us joy, and to share them with the public in new ways.

Just Ripe is being re-invented.

We will briefly close the shop in order to make some changes to our layout, our product selection, and our services to our customers. Our last day as Just Ripe as currently known will be Saturday, April 20. We will be closed starting Sunday, April 21 to execute our re-invention. We anticipate re-opening on Tuesday, April 30.

Expect to find a new food shop and re-kindled passions for what drove us to open Just Ripe in the first place, with a more measured approach to sustaining our small business.

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New business hours will be:
Tuesday-Friday 8am-6pm | Saturday 8am-3pm | Closed Sunday & Monday

In refining our focus, our shop will emphasize the following:
Southern Specialty Foods, Handmade Baked Goods, Fresh Juices & Smoothies, Quality Snacks

We will highlight the Southern Specialty Foods (which are small-batch, artisanal products made throughout the South) currently in our shop and expand our selection to include new producers, offering increased opportunities for customers to sample these delicious provisions.

We will expand our House-made Baked Goods selection, to include a much wider variety of breakfast-y baked goods and sweet treats, including pie! Seasonal options of savory meal-appropriate products, such as quiches & tarts, will also be available for customers’ meal-time needs. We will feature a rotating selection of other meal-appropriate baked goods, as well, in a convenient Buy & Go format. An example of this is a pimento cheese biscuit sandwich, which will be already assembled for purchase.

We’ll be offering an expanded menu of Fresh Juices & Smoothies. We love to offer the convenient healthfulness that juices and smoothies provide our customers.

Quality Snacks in our food shop, such as fresh fruit, yogurt, trail mixes, dried fruit & nuts, crackers & chips, sweet treats, and bottled drinks, will continue to be a convenient resource for a quick bite for Downtown workers and residents.

We’ll also have an exciting new service! We will offer a menu of Pick-up Catering options. The menu will feature house-made baked goods for platters or buffets and our Southern cheeses with food pairings for snacking and entertaining. Our Pick-up Catering menu will offer perfect options for morning business meetings, conferences, or brunch with friends and family. The cheese platters will offer the chance to enjoy unique Southern cheeses and products with friends, and are a successful and effortless solution for any host.

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Wondering about our other housemade foods? This part is important – please read.

We will no longer offer meals made-to-order. We have faced many logistical challenges in our food service. We did not envision that our food offerings and dining area would cause our customers to perceive us as a restaurant (which seems a bit daft, in retrospect) and we were unprepared for the demand for meal service. Our space is not outfitted as a restaurant would be, and we are lacking much of the equipment a restaurant or cafe requires for efficiency of use (we do not have a stove, for example). We are pleased that our customers have enjoyed having meals here so much, and we are sorry to disappoint them. As demand has grown, the limitations of our set-up to serving growing numbers of customers have become obvious. As it was never our intention to run a restaurant, we have decided to make changes to our services, rather than figure out how to become a restaurant through making expensive changes to our facility. This means there will be no more burritos, hot sandwiches, build-a-biscuit menu, breakfast biscuit, dixie biscuit, deli salads, or soup. We will continue to make Kale Salad and Pimento Cheese (our no-cook deli items), which will be packaged as Grab & Go options.

Good News & Great Savings!

This week, you can come in and get all your favorite menu items. We’re also running clearance sales on products we won’t have in the new shop. There are deep discounts (50% off!) on lots of pantry items such as molasses, vinegar, and curry paste. There are lesser discounts on a multitude of items throughout the store. Just look for the colored dot stickers to find the savings.

We appreciate your support, patronage, and understanding. We’d never have made it this far without you, and we hope you trust in us to build a delicious future for Just Ripe.

With Gratitude,
Kristen & Charlotte

real food, locally rooted

kefaerber — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 04:44:04 +0000

Who and where our food comes from is important to our business and to our customers. It is part of our mission to constantly work with the amazing producers, distributors, and farmers in our region to give Downtown Knoxville a consistent source of the local foods that they crave. All of the items in our grocery selection and in our kitchen have been vetted to ensure that their ingredients and the business practices of their company align with our ideals.

Our passion for sustainable food systems and love for our community is baked into every scone and folded into every breakfast burrito we make. As we continue on this journey, we aim to share excitement and knowledge with our customers. Many of the products throughout the store are labeled with the following categories to help patrons understand and appreciate their purchases even more!

local & regional products

We’re excited about the unique and tasty foods of our region which are crafted by small producers who love what they do. We brought them here to share with you, and made them easy to find with LOCAL (200 miles) and REGIONAL (500 miles) designations on the shelves.

independent producers

Diversity in our food options and food supply is important to the long-term health of communities and our country. Food industry consolidation limits consumer choices to the control of a few large companies, despite the variety of brand names. We choose to offer products from smaller, lesser known companies whenever we can in order to support the viability of small-ness and choice.

cooperative ownership

A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit. Cooperatives come in all shapes and sizes, and exist to meet various economic, social and cultural needs. We believe the cooperative structure fosters the honest and responsible business practices we value and we support other cooperative businesses by offering their products whenever possible.