Illustration by Mike Dougherty
Where did the idea for ETC come from?
My husband [ETC co-owner Estevan Chavez] and I were both in the restaurant business for most of our lives, and we knew we wanted to start a business together. We really hated what we were doing, and we never got to see each other so we quit our lives! We sold everything we owned and learned how to work on organic farms, we learned how to work on conventional farms.
Why did you choose to settle in Cincinnati after all that?
That’s where my husband’s family is from. We looked at more than 150 properties and finally found something in Felicity, Ohio, an amazing, magical property. I loved Martha Stewart, so I started buying chickens from the same place she buys her chickens. I think we had 600 girls on pasture at one time.
When did you make your way down to Findlay Market?
We started at the farmers’ market in 2017. We baked everything to fill our table, picked flowers and herbs, and had eggs. Findlay Market saw what we were doing and happened to have a primo spot right by the entrance, so we opened ETC Produce and Provisions in August 2019. We were doing home delivery, too. Then COVID hit and we started to get over 300 orders a week. My lettuce farmer, my other egg farmer, my mushroom farmer—I got to write huge checks weekly.
What prompted you to expand to the new Walnut Hills location?
We wanted to bring what we were doing at Findlay Market to Walnut Hills, which had no grocery store. We believe in Walnut Hills and giving this community fresh groceries is almost like a dream come true. We have a full range of products, from local/organic to conventional. There’s a coffee bar inside and a huge freezer section. Grab-and-go items that are hot and ready to go, as well as beer and wine and a massive prep food section. It’s friggin’ awesome.
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