It is said that necessity is the mother of invention, and one of Findlay Market’s newest addition, Juniper Seed, is living proof of that. The business was created by a vegan to address gaps in the vegan food market and bring accessible, nourishing and delicious plant-based food to customers.
Juniper Seed’s storefront at Findlay Market opened on Sept. 6 at 1809 Elm St. as a member of the Findlay Launch Storefront Accelerator program. The Findlay Launch program primarily focuses on women-, BIPOC- (Black, Indigenous and Person of Color) and immigrant-owned businesses and aims to diversify the Cincinnati food scene and promote small businesses. A first of its kind in the region, the residency-based program provides a nine-week course on aspects of running a business, such as branding, equipment, mentorship and industry connections, the space for a business to find its niche and a 15-month lease in a storefront.
Juniper Seed initially opened in 2022 as a fully vegan meal prep delivery service (which is still operating) as a solution to the often prep-heavy nature of creating vegan meals at home, but the goal was always to open up a brick-and-mortar store and be the first fully-vegan brunch service in the Cincinnati area. Findlay Launch was an essential part of that journey. Owner and founder Alecia Petroze found the process of integrating into the Findlay community easy, as she had already pulled produce from ETC Produce & Provisions and had a relationship with the owner of Harmony Plant Fare. She also had a deep personal connection to Findlay Market, as she and her 15-year-old daughter have both been going there since childhood.
Though options are more varied and plentiful than they once were, anyone with a dietary consideration of any kind (such as this author, a lifelong vegetarian) knows the feeling of reading a restaurant’s menu and seeing only a small handful of viable options, if any at all. Petroze is no different; she went vegan five years ago in an effort to lessen her carbon footprint and make a positive impact on the world and the environment. Though she said she “went all in and haven’t looked back since,” she quickly realized that good, varied vegan breakfast options were harder to find than options for lunch and dinner. This was a problem because breakfast is Petroze’s favorite meal. Juniper Seed is Petroze’s way of being the change she wished to see in the world.
“Typically at most places, you’re going to find a tofu scramble or an avocado toast, but really anything outside of that is not in the mainstream,” Petroze said. “I want to be able to provide options for people like me, so that way they’re not limited to one or two things.”
Everything at Juniper Seed is vegan, so anyone with a vegetarian, vegan or dairy-free diet can order any item off the menu. Any dish that is not inherently gluten-free has a gluten-free option. The offerings at Juniper Seed include breakfast options, such as Belgian waffles; vegan goetta; breakfast burritos with tofu scramble and Impossible sausage; grab-and-go options such as a kale Caesar salad and vegan cheesecake; and staple side dishes like buttered toast, fresh fruit and party potatoes (which this author highly recommends). The party potatoes, Petroze’s favorite menu option, are a riff on her aunt’s recipe for funeral potatoes, a cheesy potato casserole well-known in Utah and the Midwest. (She calls them “party potatoes” because parties are more fun than funerals.)
“When I first went vegan, I was like, ‘I cannot go the rest of my life without eating those,’ so I had to learn how to make them,” Petroze said. Juniper Seed’s party potatoes are made with chao cheese (a fermented tofu-based vegan cheese), a cashew-based cream, hash browns and a cornflake topping.
In addition to being the owner, Petroze is the recipe developer for Juniper Seed. As cooking and developing recipes have always been things that she enjoyed, that aspect of creating Juniper Seed was a challenge easily accepted and one of the most exciting parts of going vegan.
“I have always enjoyed cooking and testing out new recipes at home, so the transition was fairly easy for me,” Petroze said. “Initially, there were some challenges finding good substitutes for how I was used to cooking, and my options at restaurants were limited, but the market has changed tremendously in the last five years.”
In addition to accessibility, sustainability and affordability, community is a primary focus of Juniper Seed. Local collaborators include Mad Cheese, Farmer Nate’s Hot Sauce, McGlasson Farm, Sixteen Bricks, Rose Hill Farm, Fox Tail Farm and others. Even the furniture in the restaurant is made locally by Cincinnati Wood Collaborative. One notable collaboration is the exclusive pistachio lavender cheesecake, developed between Juniper Seed and Love Thy Desserts.
“I told her my vision, and she somehow created the flavor profile that I had in my brain, which is awesome,” Petroze said.
Juniper Seed also aims to give back to the community that is so important to her. One way of giving back is the “Just Eat” wall. Customers can buy a card and pin it to a corkboard on the wall. Anyone can take a card off that corkboard and redeem it for one breakfast burrito.
“I’d say, for me, it’s really being able to nourish the community through my food,” Petroze said. “I love to cook and I love to serve people, and I love to have the opportunity to provide accessible options.”
Currently, Juniper Seed is open Thursday-Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with plans to expand hours in the coming months.
Juniper Seed, 1809 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine. More info: juniperseed.net.
This story is featured in CityBeat’s Oct. 16 print edition.
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This article appears in Oct 2, 2024 – Oct 15, 2043.