River Oaks’ favourite connoisseur grocer is switching issues up with a brand new title and a second location. Tres Market is now generally known as The Cottage Grocery, however that’s solely certainly one of many modifications for the five-year outdated market, bakery, and cafe.
The rebrand comes after founder Julie Rhyne and her enterprise accomplice Jeannine Holland determined to finish their partnership and go their separate methods. Whereas the title could also be new, Rhyne’s recipes are the identical. The shop presents about 450 objects, all of that are ready contemporary on web site and can be found to-go within the restaurant’s refrigerated circumstances, together with specialty objects, wine, and extra. Prospects have come to depend on The Cottage Grocery for heat-and-serve soups, salads, and entrees that vary from roast hen to pastas to pork tenderloin, meatloaf, and extra.
Though the shop has solely been open for about 5 years, Rhyne’s historical past within the enterprise goes again to 1989, when she began a catering firm from her dwelling kitchen. Issues received larger when she and her husband moved to Houston. The shop took off in the course of the early days of the pandemic, when close by households turned to then-Tres Marketplace for restaurant high quality meals they might warmth up at dwelling. Now the shop’s 30 cooks produce greater than 2,000 containers of meals each day, together with cookies, desserts, and different sweets for the shop’s bakery.
A Household Affair
Moderately than function The Cottage Grocery on her personal, Rhyne is now working together with her daughter, Lauren Van Wagenen, and her son, Taylor Rhyne, in addition to their spouses. The brand new title is an homage to the enterprise’ location — Rhyne refers back to the constructing adjoining to the market as ‘The Cottage’ — in addition to a nod to the household’s choice for taking holidays to cozy locations that provide consolation and respite with out being too fancy.
“Once we go on trip, the entire household goes — my youngsters, their spouses, the grandkids, the entire fam-dam-ily,” she tells CultureMap. “We love going to locations which can be laidback and relaxed. All of them have a standard theme. You stroll in and notice they get it. It’s how individuals would spend all their time if they might.”
Coming to Dallas
Van Wagenen, an accountant who labored in finance for greater than a decade, will take the lead on the shop’s new Dallas location that’s anticipated to open this summer season. She’s already made her mark on the enterprise by creating barcodes for all the retailer’s ready objects. The easy change lower take a look at instances down from 5 minutes to 30 seconds, she says.
Each Rhyne and Van Wagenen are excited in regards to the upcoming Dallas location, which can be positioned within the Highland Park neighborhood at 4919 McKinney. They see a variety of similarities between Highland Park and the shop’s authentic location in River Oaks.
“The location itself is type of an island the place three roads intersect,” Van Wagenen says. “You’ll be able to’t miss us. Once we have been trying, we needed to be in Highland Park. It’s much like River Oaks — tree-lined streets, a variety of walkability.”
Simply as Rhyne’s fixed presence on the River Oaks location assures prospects that an proprietor is maintaining a tally of the enterprise, Van Wagenen and her husband David plan to be fixtures on the Dallas retailer. As in Houston, every thing can be ready contemporary on the retailer from Rhyne’s recipes.
“It’s a two-story, cottage-looking home with these large high-rises round it,” Rhyne provides. “Everybody’s going to be trying down at us, and we’ll be on the market waving cookies at them.”
As soon as Dallas is open and working easily, Rhyne and her son Taylor, an IT specialist, will start in search of a second Houston location. Extra particulars on these plans can be revealed sooner or later.
