What’s new at Frisco Fresh Market? The cool, open-air marketplace is so much more than fresh, locally-sourced produce, y’all. It’s homemade cakes, jams, meats, wreaths, handmade jewelry, flowers, coffee, hot meals, and more. Market Manager Michelle Anderson and Communications/Events team member Katharina Kreke joined The Frisco Podcast to tell us about the vendors, the vibe, and the visitors.
They’re family-friendly, pet-friendly, small-business-friendly, and oh-so-Frisco.
SHOW NOTES:
[00:50] What is Frisco Fresh Market?
[01:18] FFM’s unique products and vendors
[06:43] How FFM aspires to be kid-friendly, pet-friendly
[08:57] Upcoming events
[10:08] So what about this Food Hall we’re hearing about?
[11:23] The FFM blog
[14:26] How to become an FFM vendor
LINKS & RESOURCES:
- Frisco Fresh Market on Lifestyle Frisco | Website | Facebook | Instagram
Connect with Lifestyle Frisco on:
Transcript
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Well, Welcome to the Frisco Podcast. I’m Nicole Barron, your host for today. And I’m eager, eager to chat with today’s guests because they are joining us from Frisco Fresh Market, which, while they have a lot of loyal visitors, they also have a lot of first-year residents who drive by and wonder: “What exactly is going on over there? I want to know more.” So we’re going to find out more today. We’re joined with, by Michelle Anderson, who’s the Market Manager, and Katharina Kreke, who does a little bit of everything over there, Communications/Events. You’ll, you’ll definitely be in touch with her if you’re getting involved with the market. So I’m going to turn it over to you, ladies. Would you please give our audience a little overview of what Frisco Fresh Market is, when it joined Frisco, when you opened- that sort of thing?
Yes, absolutely. For starters, thanks for having us. We’re excited to be here today and we are super excited to talk to you about the Frisco Fresh Market. So we are an outdoor farmer’s market located on Main St. in Frisco. We are open every Saturday and Sunday year-round. Um, our hours on Saturday are 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. And on Sundays we’re open from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM as well. And you can come out and find all kinds of goodies, such as fresh produce, fresh meats, seasonings, olive oils- pasta, baked goods- all kinds of baked goods. Pretty much anything you can think of we will have. If you’re, if you’re doing keto, low-carb, gluten-free, um, to peach cobbler and pound cake and brownies and cookies, everything. Definitely something this week, too. The best croissants you’ll ever put in your mouth. It’s amazing. And then you can come for regular lunches too. We have, um, a Mexican and El Salvadorian restaurant there.
Um, we have, uh, a Sri Lankan place. We have barbecue. We have gumbo. We really have, we have it all. And do we have to start on the gourmet coffee? I don’t think so. It’s to die for. Best coffee, oh my gosh. It’s so good.
That’s so fun because that’s the thing that I don’t think everybody realizes, except those that have taken the time to come visit and join our loyal visitors. They may not know that there’s food. You can go and sit and walk around and actually have a meal. You’re not just going to buy, produce. The produce is awesome. Exactly. There’s so much more. Can you give a shout out to some of your specific vendors? I know you love them all. They’re all valuable to you, but like who’s kind of there that’s unique that we may be like, “Whoa, really? I’ve never heard about that. That’s fun.” You just named some of the incredible products.
Oh my gosh. Uh, yeah. I mean, Yiayia’s Coffeehouse and, uh, Yia Yia’s Bakery. I mean you do, you’re just not going to get a better cup of coffee than Yiayia’s Coffeehouse. Um, I mean, but we also have Coffee Yan & Paws. Um, they, the teas they’re, they’re handcrafted sodas. They’re um, their coffee as well. I mean, it’s, it’s, it’s wonderful and Tu Bones BBQ. Oh my gosh. Chef Mike is amazing. And Ms. Bettie’s Gumbo and, uh, Sweet Course Desserts our pound cakes. Oh my gosh are amazing. Um, and, but we also have Tell Me Something Sweet. He’s a wonderful baker. Um, and, um, Milena’s Bakery and uh, only those food Ollio Foods, the macarons, oh my gosh. We have The Gods’ Foods and their, their, um, olive oils and their pastas and their, um, cheeses. And we have, uh, candles, Lakeside Bath & Body.
Their candles are amazing and, uh, Little Shop [of] Candles, hers. Um, her candles are amazing and, uh, Designs by Casey. I get all of my rates from Designs by Casey. And if I see a rate that I like on the internet, I can take a screenshot, send it to her. And she makes that exact rate for me. Um, there is, um, Texas, um, I mean Farm to Freezer Meats, uh, Kimberly Ratcliff. Um, she is an amazing rancher and, um, just their meats are amazing. And, um, you got Mr. B’s Seafood, um- forever. You just know these off the top of your head. You love your vendors. Oh my gosh. They’re so good. And I shop with them and- her whole family shops with them. And then my whole family, yes, my whole family comes out and shops. Um, and they’re amazing. Uh, Honey Badger Crossing, The Organic Farmer. He is, um, he is so good. I, I cannot live without his carrots. I literally, I bought a bunch of carrots and then I regret not buying more carrots because I can’t stop eating them.
I love carrots. So I need to get some carrots. Okay. Yes. Well, that was impressive. I don’t know how you did that. You, I noticed, I noticed on your social media, that you all are really good about- well, in general, you’re really good about keeping us up to date on social. But also you will announce kind of who’s there that weekend and what they might have going on. And that’s always very cool ’cause I’ll see a delicious dessert, like you’re describing. There’s so many cool things that you all post to keep us up to date, like “come out this weekend.” And Pi Day recently on Pi Day – PI, right? You all have all these amazing homemade pies. And so definitely we all need to be watching your social cause it’s like-
Yes, definitely the best way to keep in touch with what’s new what’s coming. And also our newsletter is a good place to sign up for and we send out weekly updates; it gives you kind of an idea of who else is going to be there and what you can find. Okay.
That’s really good. That’s fine. Though, I will say, I know it’s about to warm up right now. The weather is so perfect for you guys, you must just be loving it. Um, well, even when it warms up though, I remember those giant fans. You guys still have those giant fans, right? I mean, it’s, it’s breezy through there. Like there’s this just natural breezeway that happens because of the way it’s set up, plus the fans, plus the delicious beverages you can buy to cool down. So nobody should ever be shy to go even in the summer because it’s just, you’ve got it all figured out where that’s concerned. La Esquina Frutas, um, she just bought a new, um, snow cone machine. So she’s going to be killing it with snow cones in there. Um, and um, all of our drinks are fresh mangonadas and pina locos and all that going to be killing it. So that’s fun. Well, you all do a lot. The snowcones reminded me: you all do a lot to invite kids into the mix too, because naturally Saturday morning, it’s a great family thing to do to go out. Parents can get coffee, get things, to get the fun stuff to cook with. Um, but I’ve noticed you do a lot to create activities for kids. Tell us about that.
Yeah, no, absolutely. We want it to be a family experience. We think it’s great for kids to kind of learn that side of business, too. That that’s how the world works a little bit, that they can see individual people and businesses start entrepreneurs making their path and, um, you know, something that maybe encourages them to look into that and be open-minded and do something themselves down the road too. So we also will have a kid’s Business Fair on May 1st at the market. So we’ll have more, um, setting up their own little businesses and selling their products for a few hours. So we’re really excited about that. We love seeing kids in the market and, um, we also love seeing fur babies in the market. So, you know, pet owners can find products for their fur babies. So pets are always welcome as long as they’re on leashes. As long as they’re on leashes, they are always welcome.
And, um, Mike at the Pet Wants. He certainly outfits my, my, fur babies with all of their needs, with their, um, dog food and treats and, um, pig ears and, um, antlers, and all the works, all the works. I mean, he just, he takes care of me is he is amazing. Knowledgeable about everything you could want for a dog.
I need to check that out and I love what you said Katharina about, uh, inspiring children to see, to, first of all, watch others working and growing a business and working for themselves, but to be inspired to be entrepreneurs themselves, maybe one day, I did not consider that at all in terms of why you all were so family friendly. Of course, you’re family friendly in terms of let’s all be together on a Saturday and find some fun and be outdoors, but that’s just an even better reason. I love that.
Exactly. And all our vendors, you know, are happy to share their story. So, I mean, they’ll, they’ll tell a kid or they’ll tell anyone shopping at the market, how they came into the business and they just love sharing that part about their lives. So it’s really great for kids to learn from them firsthand. Right.
Well, what else do you have coming up? I know there’s a petting zoo coming up for Easter weekend. Am I right?
Yes. And then we actually have a British Car Show, um, on April 25th coming up. So that should be a lot of fun too, especially for the dads and sons out there, maybe come out and look at some really cool cars. And then, like I mentioned before, we’ll have the, um, Acton Children’s Business Fair on May 1st for a few hours in the morning. Um, and then the Frisco Fair is actually returning to the market from May 20th through June 6. So we are super, super excited to have them back. And, um, can’t wait to see the rides and the games and the food that the fair will bring in to Frisco. Yeah. That is going to be so fun. We did go the first time, but it was here and the big Ferris wheels, all of that, it was really well done. Really fun. And this will be an 18-day event, so it’s going to be the longest that it’ll’ve been in Friscoe, but I think that’s also good for, um, COVID purposes. So you don’t have to expect, you know, there’s going to be everyone going at the same day, but this gives people more days to go because it’s more spread out.
Very thoughtful. Yes. That makes very good sense. Okay. I love that very much. All right. So now I’m going to jump from events over to those signs we’re seeing about a food hall right off Main. And I know we’re all kind of like, “Ooh, what’s that? What’s that what’s happening? When’s it coming? What is it going to be?” So please tell us a little bit more about that.
Yes. So the food hall is going to be opening. Hopefully sometime this summer, we don’t have an exact date, but we’re working with the city to get permits for it. Frisco Fresh Market is not the operator. We have an outside operator coming in, but we’ll be working very closely with them. They fully plan on doing a lot of events, um, on a monthly basis as well. So we’ll piggyback off them and they’ll pay back off us. Um, and they’re going to have around 10 different food concepts. Um, it’s even more food to try. And, um, there’s going to be some bar area there’s going to be, um, some live music probably. So it should be a lot of fun. And it’s going to go really great with what we’re offering at the farmer’s market already.
We need that because I know some of us run down to Legacy Hall once in a while for that kind of experience. But oh, I would so prefer to have our own right here in our backyard, something along those lines, that’s really fun and perfect area for it in terms of downtown Frisco. And you could crawl up and down that area do all kinds of fun stuff. Absolutely, we are super excited. Can’t wait. Good. Okay. Well, the next thing that I wanted to mention, cause I noticed it, maybe you can tell me if there’s more of this to come, there’s a blog on your website. I mean, who knew? So you all, there’s so many things that people- I just mentioned, they need to follow you on social. Which is easy to find, just, you know, look up Frisco Fresh Market. Um, but also on your website, there’s a lot about the vendors about what’s coming up. And then a blog with really useful stuff. Who does that for you? Is that you?
We’re working with a company that is better at writing blogs than we are. Well, the content is good. -the topic and supply them with information and then they do a really good job of making it pretty and sound good. But no, we’d always wanted to do that since the beginning and we are finally getting around, but I think we’ve been blogging since, I don’t know, like July or August of last year. So, um, but we have monthly blog posts where you can learn anything about the farmer’s market, really. Not necessarily only ours, but farmer’s markets in general. You’re supporting the general economy of the city and all that kind of good stuff. So we’re really happy to have that up and going now and think, um, a lot more people are actually finding us because of the blog.
Well, Frisco is certainly, um, a city with a spirit for entrepreneurism and small business. And we love to support small business owners. So what you all do is very, very cool and important and very Frisco. Uh, so I applaud you and I applaud to all the creativity that you all bring, because I know at Christmas there’s beautiful Christmas trees and all the things and, and the fall, there’s all the pumpkins, which is my favorite. And you can take photos and you just come up with a lot of fun ways to engage our community and support small businesses. So what’s better than that? Exactly that’s our goal. And I do remember, um, when you all first opened, I was one of many who came out, um, on Media Day and got to kind of explore and see everything. And we did a live Facebook that day. And, um, I mean it blew up. Everybody was so excited because it was us, it was, everybody was just so excited about what you all were bringing and they could come and have fun. And, um, and I, as I said, I remember those big fans. I was just like, “Whoa.” So I don’t think any of us were really fully prepared for that week. We thought it was going to be popular, but, oh my gosh, we were blown away. I mean, we had vendors that were selling out the first 30 minutes we were open. So I mean, it was, we were really, really happy with the support that we got from Frisco and surrounding cities, too. Um, we definitely see a lot of people coming from Plano and Prosper and all around us. So it’s not only Frisco that’s supporting us, but, um, other areas as well.
Absolutely. I mean, I have customers who tell me they’re coming from Fort Worth, um, and Keller and cities as far away as, as that to come to our market to shop because they just love the venue. They, they love our-
So lastly, um, at least from my, my end, you may have something else that you’d like to share. And I welcome that. Um, how does someone become a vendor if they’re interested in that, who do we have a conversation with? What do we do?
So there’s two ways of going- well, actually three. The first is to just go to our website and fill out an application there. And we usually get back to applications within 48 hours letting you know, you know, if you’re approved or if your added to waitlist. Um, we are getting to waitlist point right now because we are getting a lot of duplicate vendors. So we don’t want two same products in the market, but, um, you know, we always welcome vendors to apply because things do change and we’ll reach out to someone as soon as a spot becomes available. Um, but so going to our website and filling out the application is one way, if you want additional information before applying, um, you can reach out to us by sending us an email to mgr@friscofreshmarket.com and someone in the team will probably get back to you within 24 hours of us receiving that email. And then, um, Michelle is also in the market every Saturday and Sunday because she is our Market Manager. So she is more than happy to answer any questions, show you around. And, um, she’ll have you thought an application then too, but you can also talk to her in person if you want to do that before you fill out an application. Absolutely. Well, thank you. I appreciate you because I’m sure there are many who are like, “Ooh, I want in, I want in, you know.” Yeah. Oh yes. Oh yes. We have. Especially over the weekends, we get a lot of applications, which is very exciting. I love coming to the office on Monday and seeing all the new vendors that want to join. I’m, like, “Yay!” Really cool. Yeah. So you mentioned a newsletter. How do we subscribe to the newsletter? Probably via your website? Yeah, exactly. You can go to the website and then on the homepage, it’ll just ask you for your email address and then you’ll be able added to our list and we send our newsletter out at 5:00 PM on Thursdays. At 5 PM. Mind’s all over the place. No, we try to keep it consistent. So it might be 4:59 or up until like 5:15, but we keep it in that window.
Also, if you’re at the market, you can come by my booth and I have a sign up sheet and you can sign up there for our newsletter and then we’ll put you in, um, during the week and we’ll sign you up that week.
Fantastic. Okay. Good. We got all covered. Is there anything else you’d like to share with our audience? You’ve done a fantastic job already of sharing all the greatness.
I think we were just excited in general to get this opportunity to talk about the market again. We just love it so much. I’m so passionate about it and hope that if you haven’t come out already that, um, you come out this weekend, cause it will be there as of 8:00 AM on Saturday. Yes. What do you do when it rains? It’s always, probably that really tough. “Do we call it? Do we not?” Like, what does it take for you to come to a close? We’re open mostly for rain or shine unless it’s, I mean, like, a complete downpour where no one is coming. Um, and if there’s, you know, severe thunderstorms, obviously there’s tornado warnings. We closed down. And we were closed during our crazy, crazy Texas freeze we had weeks ago because there’s no way anyone want it to be out there. Um, vendor wise or customer wise or on Michelle’s side. We were open that Saturday when it was coming in.
And we had our hardcore vendors who were still there, but, um, we had- uh, had a short day that day. We had a very short day that day. We called it and I think 10:30 or 11, something like that. And I mean, our faces were hurting so bad from the cold. We were like, “Yeah. Okay. We’re going to call it. And we, we did, we showed up for a few people, but we, uh, we had to call it. So I would say usually we’re open rain or shine. If it is raining, the best place to check for updates is our Facebook. Because if we are closing, we would post on there that the market is closing early. Okay. Easiest way to announce to everyone not to come out. Yes. Gotcha. Okay. That’s good. Well, I appreciate you ladies so much. You’ve really, um, shined a even better light on all the fun and deliciousness that’s happening over there. It’s definitely where should be gift shopping and hanging out constantly, going to lunch. I love it. Yes, yes. Yes. Well, thank you, Michelle. Thank you, Katharina. I really appreciate your time today on the Frisco Podcast. And I look forward to getting this message out to everyone. Have a great, beautiful, fresh day. And hope you have a great day, too. Thanks. Bye, ladies. Bye.