A Frankfort, Kentucky-based restaurant and produce store will open its first Louisville location in Smoketown later this year.
Locals Food Hub & Pizza Pub will be located at 822 E. Broadway. The business is taking over 6,000 square feet in a building that was formerly occupied by the John G. Epping Bottling Works soft drink company.
Locals is a grocery store and restaurant focused on products from Kentucky producers. To complement the locally sourced wood-fired pizza, salad and appetizers menu, Locals features a rotating selection of Kentucky-crafted beers, wines and beverages.
Louisville Business First previously interviewedBirch Bragg, the company’s co-owner and operating partner, in 2022 after the company received a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) specifically toopen a location in Louisville.
Bragg said it took more than a year to find a location because of the location had to make business sense and meet the USDA guidelines regarding the grant money.
“We've had to look for the ideal location that is in a legitimate food desert, but close enough to neighborhoods you can cash flow the business as well,” Bragg explained. “And so, I think that we found that perfect mix, right where we are now.”
Locals Food Hub & Pizza Pub
A food desert is an area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified Smoketown as a food desert, meaning a significant number of people live more than a mile from a full-service grocery.
In 2022, Louisville Metro Government allocated $3.5 million for the Louisville Association for Community Economics (LACE) to open a community grocery on land at Preston and Finzer Streets in Smoketown donated by the Community Foundation of Louisville, but the nonprofit has not been able to develop the store thus far.
Locals is going into a space that has been owned by the Zink family for decades. It was originally part of a group of buildings called the “Epping District,” they are now being rebranded as “On Broadway”.
Bragg said the location is perfect because it is in close proximity to the Highlands, Phoenix Hill, Shelby Park, and Germantown as well as being easily accessible by bus.
He added that Locals will use about $150,000 of the federal grant money to purchase equipment for the new location and the rest of the money will go to other expenses associated with opening the new store.
The company also received $150,000 in state money, Birch said, earmarked to purchase for equipment that will allow Locals to process greater amounts of food from Kentucky farmers to use in the restaurant and the grocery store. Birch declined to reveal the full investment Locals is making to open its Louisville location.
Although Locals will sell produce, Bragg emphasized that it will not be a full-service grocery store, so patrons should not expect to find products from multi-national brands.
"We specifically focus on Kentucky produced products in the restaurant itself. In Frankfort, we're 100% Kentucky producer sourced grocery store. In Louisville, we will be almost 100% Kentucky, but we will also reach out to Southern Indiana," Bragg said. "On the food hub side of things, we accept SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for low-income families) and we also participate in an amazing program called Kentucky Double Dollars that is through the Community Farm Alliance. Basically, anybody can walk into our food hub grocery store and spend $20, the max limit per day on their SNAP card, and we can give them $20 for free food.”
Locals will hire about 40 employees for the Louisville location, which is expected to open in October.
“It's always a moving target with that. But right now, the best information we have is probably mid-October,” Bragg explained. “We originally were shooting for a contractor target to be finished by August 1, and therefore opening September 1. But the latest revised contractor schedule that came out today was they are finished in the building on September 23.”
In addition to its restaurant and food hubs, Locals has a grocery box delivery program that benefits needy families in Louisville and Frankfort.
Through a partnership with the food distributor What Chefs Want and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA), Locals uses USDA funds awarded to the state to make bi-weekly food purchases from local producers. The products are then divided into grocery boxes and delivered to underserved families, free of charge.
Since the food delivery program began in 2023, Bragg said Locals has spent more than $260,000 with 34 producers and delivered more than 8,600 boxes with 55,000 pounds of food. Federal funding for that program runs through the end of 2024.
