Development News

Jean-François Flechet opened Taste of Belgium in Findlay Market in 2007; four years ago, he expanded his restaurant venture to Columbus’s North Market, and a year and a half ago, he opened a full-service Belgian bistro on Vine. In the next few months, there will be two new Taste of Belgiums in the Cincinnati area—a full-service restaurant on Short Vine near UC, and a waffle counter at Friendly Market in Northern Kentucky.
 
The Short Vine location is on the first floor of a brand new building that includes 120 apartments. The waffle counter at Friendly Market is the only food vendor in the first phase of the market. It’s right on the edge of phase 2, which is ideal for future expansion, Flechet says.
 
Taste of Belgium on Short Vine will have a menu very similar to the one on Vine Street, says Flechet. But it will have more affordable options at dinnertime, such as chicken and waffles and bar food.
 
“There will be a bigger focus on the bar, with both Belgian and Belgian-style beer sourced from local breweries,” he says. Flechet wants to attract the college students who live around Short Vine, which is a different demographic than his customers at the bistro and Findlay Market.
 
Taste of Belgium is slated to open in early May at Friendly Market, and on Short Vine during the first week of July.
 
Flechet isn’t going the traditional route for financing his new business ventures. Instead, he’s working with local crowd-sourcing start-up SoMoLend to raise a portion of the funds for the restaurant. He wants to promote crowd-sourced funding as a viable alternative source of financing for small businesses.
 
“When I opened Taste of Belgium on Vine, it was hard to get financing,” says Flechet. He wasn’t able to obtain a loan from the bank, but the building’s landlord got one through 3CDC. In turn, the landlord charges high rent to recover the loan. The North Market location was financed by a loan from a small business lender who Flechet has been working with for four years.
 
SoMoLend connects small business owners who are in need of a loan with investors who are looking to make a return on their investments. The organization allows borrowers to get loans from customers, friends and family members. It allows lenders to make a difference on a more local level.
 
“SoMoLend has been promoted on a national level, but not much on a local level,” Flechet says. He’s trying to get the word out to his customers that he’s using SoMoLend and bring more users to the lending service.
 
The Taste of Belgium crowd-sourcing campaign launches March 11. If you want to contribute to the campaign and are a customer, friend or family member, sign up on SoMoLend’s website.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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The City of Cincinnati has taken out the back-and-forth that can occur when residents try to reach them to report issues in their neighborhoods. At the Neighborhood Summit on Feb. 16, Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls announced that the Cincinnati City Hall mobile app is available to the public.
 
With the app, residents can look up trash, recycling and street sweeping days, and set reminders; locate and report problems by address; bookmark locations for quick reporting; and track the status of reports. City Hall mobile also has GPS, so users can report issues, even without an address. There’s even a searchable map with property owner information, which enables residents to see if a property is occupied or vacant.
 
A few years ago, residents had to use the Yellow Pages to look up the number for city departments to file complaints, says Kevin Wright, executive director of Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation. The city then implemented a hotline for all complaints, but residents never knew the status of their reports.
 
“It’s amazing how comprehensive the app is,” Wright says. “If you see a broken window, pothole, graffiti, hanging gutter or anything else that is physically wrong with your neighborhood, street or community, you can report it in an instant. It’s a great tool for neighborhood redevelopment.”
 
The app can also be used as a community-organizing tool, Wright says. For example, if there is a property owner who historically hasn’t taken care of his or her property, social media can help organize a community and target the property to enforce codes until the property is fixed, which is what neighborhood councils and organizations like WHRF do.
 
“We’re really putting power in the hands of the citizens of the neighborhoods,” he says.
 
As with most tech programs, the app has room to grow, too. In the future, it could be linked with Facebook or Twitter, so your friends and followers will know who reported problems and where they are.
 
Cincinnati residents can download the app in the Apple App Store or download it through Google Play.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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The brightly lit restaurant welcomes customers when they walk in. Mismatched coffee mugs, cookbooks and a mural—which was done by chef Renee Schuler's sister, Michelle Heimann—above the lunch counter add a homey feel to Eat Well Café and Takeaway, which is exactly what Schuler was after.
 
“I wanted the restaurant to be like a living thing, which is why there’s so much green,” she says. The café seats about 35 people, and is described as fast casual—instead of table service, customers order at the counter and take a seat or, if they’re in a hurry, take their food with them.
 
Eat Well Café opened Jan. 9 in O’Bryonville in the old What’s for Dinner? space, between The BonBonerie and Enoteca Emilia.

“The neighborhood is full of positive energy,” says Schuler. “There are so many creative people doing what they love in this area, and I wanted to be part of that.”
 
When looking for restaurant space, Schuler searched all over Cincinnati. She decided on O’Bryonville because the community is interested in feeling good and living well, and that’s what food is about, she says.
 
Before opening her catering business, Eat Well Celebrations and Feasts seven and a half years ago, Schuler spent years working in restaurants and catering in New York City. When she came back to Cincinnati, she worked as the executive chef at Murphin Ridge Inn in Adams County for three years.
 
“It was a huge change,” she says. “I went from living in the city to picking out what types of cabbage our gardener would grow for the restaurant.”
 
She loves to help people plan events and create something dramatic (her second major is in theater), but she also wanted to create something accessible to people on a daily basis. Eat Well Café allows her to see some of her regular customers outside of planning events.
 
Eat Well Café’s menu was created with everyone in mind, Schuler says. There are vegetarian and vegan options alongside items like the Dr. Meat, which is a braised beef short rib sandwich. The menu will change seasonally, with spring items set to be added in two or three weeks.
 
“America is a melting pot, and American food is influenced from all over,” says Schuler. “Our menu is a mix of flavors to create something new.” Vietnamese summer rolls and pesto pasta are both menu staples, along with salads and soups.
 
The “takeaway” menu changes daily, and is based on Schuler’s mood, the weather and what she thinks would be good to eat that day. On dreary days, items like soups are takeaway staples.
 
Schuler tries to source most of Eat Well Café’s ingredients from local farmers. She uses a local, family-owned company who gets eggs for the café from an Amish farm in Northern Ohio; the bread is from Blue Oven Bakery; dairy products come from Snowville Creamery; Eckerlin Meats at Findlay Market supplies chicken and other meats. 
 
“I try to keep it as local as that makes sense,” she says. “It’s a constant challenge, especially this time of year.” Schuler’s dream is to have an Eat Well greenhouse down the street to grow all of the restaurant’s salad greens and herbs, but that’s a ways down the road.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Residents of Columbia Tusculum have pride in their neighborhood, and to showcase that, they hold the Columbia Tusculum Home Tour every two or three years. This year, the tour will be held Oct. 6 and will feature about 15 houses, a handful of businesses and a few historic buildings in the neighborhood.
 
Columbia Tusculum was established in 1788, making this year its 225^th anniversary. It’s a relatively small neighborhood that thrived in the 1700s, but has seen its share of decline and dilapidated and run-down buildings.
 
“Columbia Tusculum has been in a state of transition over the past few decades, and residents have made it a mission to restore the beautiful homes,” says Janette Yauch, the chair of the home tour.
 
Yauch and the tour want to showcase the work and beauty of the original houses and the effort the homeowners have invested in ensuring long-term sustainability of their homes.
 
Most of the houses in Columbia Tusculum were built between the late 1700s and late 1800s, and are Victorian (also called “painted ladies”) in style. As of now, there will be one craftsman style house included in the tour. The houses included in the tour aren’t for sale, but Yauch is looking into partnering with local realtors to include a few open houses.  
 
The tour includes homes throughout the neighborhood. All of the houses are within walking distance, but there will be a trolley running for those who don’t want to climb the steep hills, Yauch says.
 
Like last year, the tour committee hopes to partner with the Riley School of Irish Music and have live Celtic and Irish music in every house. Day-of ticket sales are sold in front of the Green Dog Cafe, and the committee hopes to partner with them to create food specials for tour-goers.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Imagine the walls from Professor Dumbledore’s office in the Harry Potter movies—space covered with framed photographs. That’s what the four walls of Over-the-Rhine’s newest business, Frameshop, will look like, but they’ll be covered in framed posters, neon signs, taxidermy and other oddities.
 
“We want customers to get creative, and we’re trying to do that with a more creative space,” says Frameshop co-owner Jake Gerth.
 
Frameshop happens to be across the street from Gerth’s apartment. “I wanted a business that would be part of the community,” he says. “We want to let Cincinnati know that people are moving to OTR, that it’s a good place to be.”
 
The storefront was in pretty good shape when Gerth and his business partner, Jake Baker, rented it—the floors, walls and hand-painted ceiling tiles are all original. The front of the store is the retail floor, where Baker and Gerth will showcase their talents, and their shop is in the back of the building.
 
While Frameshop isn’t quite finished, Gerth and Baker are excited for their Final Friday opening Feb. 22. They’re going to have a grand opening party that night, and start taking framing orders from customers.
 
The two Springdale natives have been friends since first grade. After college (Baker went to Ohio University; Gerth went to AIC College of Design in Springdale), they decided to open a business together. They had lots of ideas, but their experience in framing lead them to Frameshop—Baker worked in retail framing for a brief time; Gerth has a creative background.
 
“You can’t get what we do at Michael’s,” Gerth says. For example, they have an OTR print in a black wood frame made from 100-year-old reclaimed wood from OTR.
 
All Frameshop pieces will be custom, and the owners plan to turn around orders faster than a typical frame shop that takes about two weeks to complete a job—Baker and Gerth will have orders finished in about an hour.
 
“Our goal is to have customers come in, drop off a piece, go have dinner and then come pick it up,” Baker says.
 
Frameshop opens at 6 pm on Final Friday. There will be a DJ, food and tours of the store. Plus, customers can start placing orders that day.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Russian-based Unipack Group, a full-service glass container decorating and packaging company that has served the alcohol beverage industry since 1995, is expanding into the United States. Westpack, a new branch of Unipack, will soon have a plant in Covington.
 
Currently, Kentucky is home to about 420 internationally based companies from 30 countries that employ about 80,000 people.
 
“With decoration plants in Russia and Europe, expanding into the U.S. market was a natural next step,” Westpack Managing Director Simon Mnoyan said in a press release. “And selecting the right state for our production was a function of customer logistics, business operating costs and quality of life. The Commonwealth of Kentucky provided and met all three requirements for our expansion. We would like to express our gratitude to the Commonwealth and the City of Covington for guidance and support in our endeavor.”
 
Westpack will mainly serve bourbon, spirits and wine producers, and the perfume and cosmetic industries, but the company will also produce promotional tumblers and other items for the tableware industry, according to Sam Popianksy, director of business development for Westpack, in a press release.
 
The company’s services include screen printing, etching and frosting, electrostatic and liquid organic spray coating, automated hot stamping, PSL and decal application.
 
Unipack’s expansion will create 63 new, full-time jobs and will represent a $4.49 million investment in Northern Kentucky. The 126,000-square-foot facility at 200 W. 43^rd Street in Covington’s Latonia neighborhood isn’t on the riverfront, but in a residential area with retail and other industries.
 
Not only is Westpack creating jobs, but it’s making use of an existing, vacant building. “The redeveloped building will hopefully attract new companies to the area and breathe new life into the market,” says Karen Finan, senior VP at Northern Kentucky Tri-County Economic Development Corporation.
 
Construction is to begin on the Westpack plant this spring.
 
Interested in working at Westpack? Send your resume to: sunny.saloman@west-pack.com.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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University of Cincinnati graduates Greg and Ryan Geisting didn’t find jobs after graduation; Greg, 29, has a degree in criminal justice, and Ryan, 24, has a degree in sports administration. So they decided to stick with what they knew: pizza.
 
The brothers started working for Mio’s in Mt. Washington when they were in high school. They have 20 years experience in the restaurant business combined, and when they couldn’t find jobs, they decided they would go into business together and open a Mio’s franchise in Blue Ash.
 
“We love the product Mio’s offers,” Ryan says. “We also really like the neighborhood atmosphere of Mio’s. When we worked in Mt. Washington, we had regular customers who came in on the same night every week.”
 
The Geisting brothers want to become a staple in the Blue Ash community, Ryan says. Although this is the 10^th Mio’s location in the Cincinnati area, they don’t want to be seen as another chain. Greg and Ryan plan to sponsor a few of the Friday night concerts at the Blue Ash Amphitheater, which you can see from the restaurant’s patio.
 
Before they found the location in Blue Ash, Greg and Ryan bid on a location in Northern Kentucky, but they lost it to another bidder. After a week, they heard about the location in Blue Ash opening up (it used to be the Cactus Pear), and by the end of the week, they had it.
 
To make the restaurant their own, Greg and Ryan repainted the dining area, put up new decorations, installed a new whiskey barrel floor, reupholstered the seat cushions, and replaced a wall mural across from the bar with a rock wall that accents the whole restaurant, Ryan says.
 
The restaurant has become a family thing. Their father helped rebuild the inside, and their uncle, Howard Cohen, has done marketing and will be tending the bar once the restaurant opens March 4. Two of their sisters and their brother-in-law are going to help out, and their aunt might be making all of the desserts they serve to help start her own business, Aunt T’s Treats.
 
In the long run, Greg and Ryan can see themselves opening another Mio’s location, and maybe a bar. “There’s a full bar at the Blue Ash location, and it’s definitely a stepping-stone to opening a bar,” Ryan says.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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With a new business name, a liquor license and sole ownership of S&J Bakery Café in Findlay Market, Stefan Skirtz is about to get even more creative with his offerings. Which is saying something for a baker who already serves a blueberry pancake cupcake with maple buttercream icing and topped with a garnish of chocolate-dipped bacon. Mmmm, bacon.

As his storefront nears its third anniversary at the Over-the-Rhine landmark this May, Skirtz remains dedicated to keeping things local and making a stop at his flourishing shop just one part of a varied market experience. 

“The reason why I wanted to come to Findlay Market was to strengthen the Findlay Market experience,” says Skirtz, 44, who grew up in Clifton Heights. “I go out every Saturday and buy our produce for the week.”

Skirtz, who opened the shop with a partner, reports that they spent 96 percent of the capital costs for the business within the 45202 zipcode. After making it through the first year in business, sales doubled in year two. He’s hopeful about the prospects for year three, during which he opened a second location—the S&J Café in the Main Library downtown.

“The sales have been very strong,” Skirtz says. “It’s given us an opportunity to constantly adapt and adjust.”

Adapting and adjusting comes naturally to the entrepreneur who started his working life far from a kitchen. He worked summers at Kings Island, then stayed with the park as its owners shifted from Kings Productions to Paramount and Viacom, where he produced live shows and planned events. 

But the Cincinnati native, who once again lives in Clifton Heights, grew tired of constant travel. He decided to pursue his lifelong love of cooking at the Midwest Culinary Institute, where he could turn his hobby into a career.

Skirtz’s theme park background makes him particularly sensitive to his customers’ feedback, which he has already incorporated into his business plans. For example, the dining room section of the Findlay store was intended for storage, but customers enjoyed having a place to sit and enjoy breakfast and lunch so he made the cheerful space permanent.  

“People instantly started coming down and starting their Findlay Market experience with us,” Skirtz says. Regulars bring their own coffee mugs, cloth napkins and silverware. Some stop in for the same menu items every Saturday at 8 a.m. sharp; others make S&J a midway break during their trip; still others end their shopping with a leisurely lunch. 

“It’s really about listening to your guests,” says Skirtz, who works with a wide range of market and local vendors, from Coffee Emporium (which created a special blend for S&J) to Bender and Eckerlin Meats for sandwich fillings.

Feedback has also led Skirtz to sell his bread in demi-loaves—customers told him that whole loaves were too big for them to finish. He’s also expanding the shop’s weekday hours to 6 p.m. to accommodate a second baguette baking in the afternoon; baguette-lovers pushed for an option to stop by S&J on their way home from work to buy a warm loaf.

Skirtz was also granted a liquor license this month as part of the newly formed Findlay Market Entertainment District, and is deciding how to incorporate it into his plans for rebranding, which will include a new menu, brunch, special programs and live entertainment.

One thing is for certain: Skirtz will continue to see Findlay Market as a “destination attraction,” reminiscent of his theme park days. “My goal is that anybody who comes in my door and eats my food, I want them to go into the Market House and start shopping,” he says. 

By Elissa Yancey
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Northside is known for its eclectic mix of restaurants and shops, but new projects focus on on adding to the population as well.
 
“New developments are critical for the health of the city so that there is a stable population that supports small businesses,” says Cincinnati Northside Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation’s Executive Director Stefanie Sunderland. “There’s also a potential to increase business investment and generate increased tax revenue.”
 
Two houses in the neighborhood will soon receive national attention on the HGTV program “You Live in What?” The program focuses on people who live in buildings that were originally built for other purposes, then converted to single-family homes, Sunderland says.
 
One of the houses, located at 1760 Hanfield, was built in the late 1800s, and records indicate that the first business to occupy the building was a tinner. The redevelopment of the Hanfield property was done by CNCURC. The other house at 1615 Springlawn Avenue used to be Hogan’s Meat Market and was recently converted to a single-family home with a three-car garage. (There’s another house in Cincinnati on McMillan that will be featured on the program as well.)
 
The biggest future project in Northside is a three part development that includes the Myron G. Johnson & Son Lumber Company site and the old Mergards Bowling Alley at Hamilton Avenue and Blue Rock Street, American Can Lofts at Blue Rock and Fergus, and a tract of land north of the lofts at the corner of Fergus and Knowlton.

The Johnson building has been vacant since 2005, and the City recently awarded an RFP to Indianapolis' Milhaus Development for the project. Plans include a mixed-use development of several three- to four-story buildings on Hamilton that will provide retail or commercial space on the first floor with apartments above, several apartment buildings, possible town houses, and the redevelopment and repurposing of the historic railroad building in the area. In all, the project will yield up to 140 rental units.

The American Can Lofts project was the conversion and development of a large, historic manufacture building by Bloomfield/Schon + Partners, which includes up to 110 apartments, with a long waiting list. There's also three large retail or commercial bays on the first floor of the building. The third piece of the project, which is owned by Bloomfiled/Schon, will provide 54 senior housing units and amenities, and is designed by the Model Group.
 
CNCUR is also working on converting four rental properties on Witler into single-family homes. One of the houses is finished, and the other three are close to completion.
 
“Our goal is to reduce blight through the redevelopment of vacant houses,” says Sunderland. “We’re working in areas that are seriously depressed, and have been impacted by foreclosures and abandonment.”
 
With the near-completion of the infrastructure and road improvements along Colerain Avenue, the Virginia Place development will start to fill up, says Sunderland. The project includes 40 single-family suburban and neo-traditional houses that are being completed by a handful of builders.
 
Groundwork Cincinnati was recently awarded grant money to work on the West Fork flood plain on the western side of the neighborhood. Before the grant, FEMA money was used to purchase and demolish the buildings located in the flood plain, pay for the relocation of homeowners, and naturalize the creek.
 
“I think it’s important to repurpose what you already have instead of destroying green spaces,” says Sunderland. “It makes sense to recycle existing communities, rather than affect the environment and build new ones.”
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Construction on one of Over-the-Rhine’s 19^th century buildings will soon be finished, and will open up new office space for members of the community. Rehabilitation began on the Cogswell Building in November and should be completed by March.
 
“I visited the Cogswell when it was CS13 Gallery and really liked the space,” says Pat Feghali, the building’s owner. “I used to drive by the building on the way home and saw that it was for sale, and eventually bought it.”
 
According to records, the Cogswell Building at 1219 Sycamore Street was built in the 1880s, and the first tenant was a shoe and boot store. The storefront was later converted into apartments. A bit of renovation work was done in the 1990s, but nothing major.
 
The building has been vacant since 2010, when CS13 occupied the space. Before that, it was a bar called The Cabaret. Both tenants only used the first two floors of the four-story building. When Feghali purchased the building in 2012, the fourth floor didn’t have heat and the plaster was peeling off of the walls.
 
Even though the Cogswell will have new office and conference space, all of the original detailing was kept intact, including the doors, trim, windows and floors. The first floor will have conference rooms available to those with offices in the building or members of the community who need meeting space for an hour or two, Feghali says.
 
The second and third floors will contain offices for individuals or small companies, and the fourth floor is now one room with open access for occupants of the building who need more room to spread out to do their work.
 
“I hope the building will bring more people to Sycamore,” Feghali says. “It’s a weird street, with only a few blocks of inhabited buildings. The Cogswell is on the corner, and you can see it from quite a distance.”
 
Feghali has a few tenants lined up, but she’s still looking to fill offices. If you’re interested in renting space in the Cogswell Building, contact her at p.feghali@gmail.com.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Tusculum Grille, formerly known as Tusculum Pizza, opened in May 2012. Josh Phillips, an entrepreneur with one other local business, wanted to re-establish the restaurant as a neighborhood staple.
 
“I’ve always believed in local places, and local establishments are at the heart of neighborhoods,” Phillips says.
 
The menu is chock-full of bar favorites, including pizzas, salads and sandwiches. A few of the most popular items are the steak and chicken philly and the chicken wings, Phillips sats. Tusculum Grille’s house pizza, which is topped with pepperoni and banana peppers, is a must-have, as are the specialty pizzas—basil/pesto/chicken and buffalo chicken—which aren’t on the menu, but they’re ordered often.
 
Tusculum Grille makes its own pizza sauce, seasons and rolls out the dough, slices the meat, and uses fresh vegetables. The wing sauces are also house-made, including the garlic ranch, which customers eat on everything, according to Phillips.
 
Not only does Tusculum Grille have great pizza, but it has something else that sets it apart from other restaurants in Cincinnati: a fire truck. The truck is Phillips’ personal UC football tailgating vehicle, but he built a 500-square-foot patio in front of the restaurant to take advantage of the truck’s “unusual features,” rather than have it sit in storage, he says.
 
“I’ve owned the truck for four years now,” Phillips says. “It’s outfitted with three flat-screen TVs, full bar, pull-out grill, stereo system and taps for two kegs. In the summer, you can sit outside on the patio and catch a Reds game.”
 
Watch for Tusculum Grille in the Cincinnati St. Patrick’s Day parade. They’ve partnered with the Cincinnati Emerald Society and will be rolling down the street in Phillips’ fire truck.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Did you recently buy a historic home and need help getting renovations underway? Or do you want to learn more about living green? Then NKY Restoration Weekend is for you.
 
The second annual Restoration Weekend is from 9 am to 5 pm on Feb. 23 at the Gateway Community and Technical College's Urban Campus in Covington. The event will feature many opportunities for historic home owners, including classes and demonstrations on how to make historic houses and surrounding property more energy efficient and sustainable; researching historic homes; utilizing the Kentucky homeowner’s rehabilitation tax credit; Rookwood tile history and maintenance; historic ironwork; window restoration; plaster; masonry repair and maintenance ask the expert.
 
There will also be a vendor fair with more than 20 booths featuring craftsmen and contractors that represent all aspects of the renovation process.
 
“The weekend is about combining sustainable and green practices with historic homes,” says Beth Johnson, preservation and planning specialist for the City of Covington. “The vendors are a huge part of the event, and helps connect homeowners with good products and contractors.”
 
But Johnson says the highlight of the event is the keynote speakers, Matt Grocoff. He’s a nationally known TV personality who turned a 100-year-old folk Victorian house into net zero, which means it’s historically sensitive, but doesn’t use energy.
 
“There’s such an amazing stock of historic homes in Northern Kentucky and the surrounding area, and people need to be responsible homeowners and be better stewards of historic homes,” Johnson says. “DIY is really big, and they need to know the proper ways to do things.” 
 
The event is partially funded by the Certified Local Government grant that’s given to the cities of Bellevue, Covington and Newport from the National Park Service and administered by the Kentucky Heritage Council.
 
NKY Restoration is an unincorporated association and collaboration of businesses, artisans and craftsmen, nonprofit organizations, cities and the Historic Preservation offices in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati.
 
The event is free, but reservations are requested to ensure a spot at the keynote luncheon.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Downtown Horseshoe Casino doesn’t open until March 4, but it has a power-packed restaurant line-up sure to please casino-goers and foodies alike, including Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, Jack Binion's Steak and the latest addition, Bobby Flay’s Bobby’s Burger Palace.

Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville will have an outdoor entrance off Broadway, adjacent to that of the casino. The 14,000-square-foot restaurant will have seating for about 400, and feature an outdoor patio and Margaritaville retail store.

Named for the founder of the original Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas, Jack Binion's Steak will offer traditional beef cuts, dry-aged prime rib, American Wagyu beef, lamb and veal, plus seafood, poultry and a potato car that will have tableside preparation of sidedishes. The 200-seat dining room will overlook downtown and have a private dining room equipped with audio and visual equipment available for rent for meetings and special events.
 
The new Burger Palace is Flay’s 14^th location, but the first in the Midwest. Located on the casino’s gaming floor, the 3,500-square-foot restaurant will have seating for about 90 people, and 10 signature burgers that are inspired by Flay’s travels across the United States and his love of grilling.
 
The menu’s highlights include the Buffalo Style Burger with Red Hot sauce, topped with blue cheese dressing and watercress; the Dallas Burger, which is spice crusted and topped with coleslaw, Monterrey Jack cheese, BBQ sauce and pickles; and the Palace Classic Burger, which has your typical cheeseburger toppings (American cheese, lettuce, tomato and red onion). The menu also features a Burger of the Month; all of the burgers can be prepared with Certified Angus Beef, ground turkey or a grilled chicken breast. 
 
Flay opened his first BBP in 2008 on Long Island. “At any time of year, my favorite thing to eat is a cheeseburger,” he said in a statement. “I’m very excited to open the first BBP in the Midwest and be able to share this with the families and residents of Cincinnati.”

Flay and his business partner, Laurence Kretchmer, look for areas where they can open several restaurants and create synergy. "There is a lot of breadth in the Ohio market, and good potential opportunities," says Kretchmer. "Opening Bobby's Burger Palace in the casino is a great springboard opportunity for future expansion in the region."

Flay and Kretchmer have done business with Caesars before, and they're one of the developers of Horseshoe in Cincinnati. The team has a high-end restaurant at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and two of the BBP are in casinos.
 
Flay is an award-winning chef, restaurateur and the author of 11 cookbooks. He is owner and executive chef of Mesa Grill, Bobby Flay Steak and Bar Americain, with locations across the U.S. Flay has also starred in countless Food Network and Cooking Channel shows, served as Resident Chef and Lifestyle Correspondent for “The Early Show on CBS” and “CBS Sunday Morning” for over a decade, and is a regular contributor on NBC’s “The Today Show.”

Horseshoe Casino is a $400 million venture between development partners Caesar and ROC Gaming. It will feature a 100,000-square-foot gaming floor, complete with 2,000 slot machines, 85 game tables and a 31-table World Series of Poker room.  

By Caitlin Koenig
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The Original Makers Club is a fairly new startup from Louisville—it was founded in 2011 by photographer Josh Merideth— but it already has branches in Lexington, Cincinnati and Brooklyn. OMC is an aesthetically minded brand and publication that curates, highlights and looks to elevate the culture, society and local business scenes of cities.
 
“A few years ago, Louisville was going through a similar revitalization to Cincinnati’s current one, which makes it a prime time to celebrate local culture,” says Mike Brady, managing partner and events director of OMC.
 
Comprised of design-conscious, forward-thinking local businesses, Cincinnati’s branch of OMC has about 60 members, including A Tavola, Ensemble Theatre, Sloan Boutique, 21c Museum Hotel, 3CDC, Smart Fish Studio, 5 Dot Design, Bakersfield OTR, Paolo Modern Jewelers, Japps, 4EG, MiCa, Taste of Belgium, DIGS and Jaguar Land Rover.
 
“We are less about adding anything than we are about showcasing the culture and talent that exists here,” Brady says. “We want to insure that those visiting the city get a real taste of her. We also wish that those currently living in Cincinnati are experiencing it to the fullest.”
 
On Feb. 8, OMC is hosting its launch event for the Cincinnati branch. Members of OMC will be providing appetizers, drinks, music and neat things to look at—including A Tavola, 5 Dot Design, Marti’s Floral Designs, Parlour, Christian Moerlein, Matthew Metzger and Jaguar Land Rover.
 
Besides the launch event, OMC is working on creating a mural with help from Artworks and hopes to co-host larger events like a Dinner Series, which would showcase member chefs and entertain a group of people in an exotic location in or near the city, Brady says.
 
There are only a handful of tickets available for the launch event for non-OMC members, so get them while you can.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Northern Kentucky University students across disciplines will come together for 24 hours to tackle a real-world business challenge during the first 24 Hours of Mobile Innovation Contest.

Up to 70 students are expected to collaborate in this fast-paced tech challenge, starting the evening of Feb. 8 at NKU's Griffin Hall in the College of Informatics.

The event is being organized by the College of Informatics and the Haile/US BANK College of Business in partnership with businesses TechAllies and MindCrate.

Without spilling the secret of the exact challenge, NKU Business Informatics Professor Teuta Cata says students will work to solve an actual business challenge that could be put into use. Students will get some guidance as they begin to create, design and code the mobile app. Broad guidelines for the app are that it will improve daily activity and business processes or develop a new game idea.

"There will be teams of students who are earning a lot of different degrees here at NKU, because we need a variety of skills," Cata says.

There will be a mixture of graduate and undergraduate students who'll work on everything from the back end to the interface to marketing and communications. Each team member should have the following technology skills: Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint; and experience with the Internet and different mobile devices. Each team should have at least one team member with a basic understanding of project management, database and data communication, among others skills.

They'll have 24-hours to meet the challenge. The awards ceremony starts at 6 p.m. on Feb. 9.

Cata says she got the idea for the event after watching a Cincinnati Startup Weekend event, where local entrepreneurs work for 54 hours over three days to create a startup company.

"I thought this was a great idea for students to get involved with," she says.

Outstanding students will have the opportunity to interview with TechAllies for a chance at a paid internship with the consulting company.

Written by Feoshia H. Davis
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