Community Highlights: Meet Jimmy Hooper of Hometown Cafe

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jimmy Hooper. 

Hi Jimmy, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I began my culinary career with The Tavern Restaurant Group when I was 16. I worked my way up from being a busser at DeSha’s to eventually being a line cook at Nicholson’s while I attended UC. After UC I decided to further my culinary training and attended the Culinary Institute of America in New York. From there I worked as a cook and then banquet chef at The Fairmont Hotel in Chicago. 

After our daughter was born, my wife and I decided to move back to Cincinnati to be closer to family. I continued my culinary career as the Executive Chef at Ivy Hills Country Club in Newtown. When our son was born, I decided I needed to cut back on my nights and weekends. I did this by working as a corporate dining chef for Derringer. I enjoyed being home with my wife and kids every evening and weekend and decided I didn’t want to go back to working long hours. Instead, I launched a catering business to have more control over my schedule. 

This led to the search for a commercial kitchen. I discovered there were no commercial kitchens available to rent near where we live in Loveland. Around the same time, my brother-in-law was opening a new coffeeshop and juicery called Fresh Press. He offered me a job managing the shop along with the ability to use the kitchen during off-hours for catering. 

Fresh Press was in the building Hometown currently occupies. My brother-in-law and his family did a gut renovation of a 100+-year-old house. The result was beautiful, but the juicery concept was short-lived. When they decided they wanted to sell I jumped at the opportunity to create my own concept. We rebranded as Hometown, keeping the Deeper Roots coffee and house-made cold-pressed juice from Fresh Press, but redesigning the menu and adding some additional elements to the concept. Such as offering our kitchen as a commercial kitchen rental to other chefs, selling local packaged food items like jams, honey, and granola, and showcasing a rotating display of local artwork on our walls. 

We’re now a favorite spot along the Loveland bike trail for breakfast sandwiches, smoothies, and more. We recently expanded the menu to include hot lunch items. I really enjoy being in a location with so many other locally owned small businesses nearby. The community has been so supportive of all the local spots all through the pandemic and just in general. 

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We have been in business for 4 years, so we had just started to get established when Covid started. While there were definitely struggles with staffing and days with only one customer, we weathered it better than we could have hoped. Our location along the bike trail is such a bonus because as people were sticking close to home, they were taking advantage of the trail more than ever. Since we are a fast-casual concept, we could easily adapt to carry out orders, and we have a large patio where people can eat outside. 

We knew going in that our location would cause us to be a seasonal business, but it is important to us to not close over the winter. We want to be a year-round spot that people can count on with consistent hours. It has been difficult to correctly stock and staff the cafe through the slow winter months. As each year goes by we get better at this. 

Now we are dealing with the same struggles as many other restaurants. Supply chain issues, raising cost of food and paper goods, and staffing struggles. Our customers keep coming back though, so I am optimistic that we will get through this too. 

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Hometown Cafe?
Nestled along the Little Miami Scenic Trail in historic downtown Loveland, Hometown Cafe is the perfect spot for a relaxing break. Savor coffee and espresso brewed with locally roasted Deeper Roots beans. Enjoy a made-to-order breakfast sandwich. Refuel with a real fruit and veggie smoothie or cold-pressed juice. Fill up with from-scratch soup, salad, or panini. The cafe is stocked with local treats, snacks, and products like honey, granola, jam, and energy bars & bites. Kitchen rental is available for makers who need a commercial kitchen to produce their goods. After the café closes, Hometown holds special events like kitchen takeovers and is available for event rental. 

What sets us apart from others is that we make so much from scratch and we put a lot of care into getting quality ingredients. For example, our sweet potato chips, cold-pressed juices, and soups are all made from scratch in-house. We try to lean to the healthy, natural side of foods. We don’t add any artificial sugars or fillers to our smoothies. 

I am proud that our Hometown brand means that we do our best to support all things local. We brew Deeper Roots coffee which is roasted in Cincinnati. We stock tea made by a local farmer. Along with jam, honey, granola, energy bites, and more made locally. Some of them are made right in our kitchen as the business owners are part of our kitchen rental program. We love to help promote local artists and other small business owners by hosing pop-up shops on our patio. 

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
When I think about “our city” I think ultra-local – Loveland specifically, more so than Cincinnati. I love that Loveland supports small businesses, puts a lot of emphasis on enjoying nature through the Little Miami River and the bike trail, and our chamber of commerce along with the city put on great events that bring everyone out to the area. Some favorites are Christmas in Loveland and the Fourth of July. Running a cafe in this town means that I run into my customers all around town. At my kid’s sporting events, the school recitals, and at Kroger. Living in working in the same spot is a lot of fun. 

What I like least is the conflicts that arise as Loveland grows from what it looked like 25 years ago to what it will be in the future. Everyone loves the quaint small-town feel, but how do we maintain that with a growing population and all the traffic and parking woes that come with it. 

Pricing:

• Average receipt for 1 person = $10
• Breakfast items average $7
• Lunch items average $10
• Smoothies are $6.50
• Cold-pressed juice is $8

Contact Info:

• Website: hometowncafeloveland.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hometowncafeloveland/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hometowncafeloveland