“We’ve done this for many, many years, but this is one of the first using our marketplace after our certification,” said Beth Flippo, CEO of DEXA, a FAA Part 135 certified drone logistics company formerly known as Drone Express. “We’re hoping that other retailers and other people that want to deliver things come to us.”
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
Delivery is available 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday through Saturday within a one-mile radius of the restaurant at 1222 E. Stroop Road. They do have plans to extend hours and distance in the future.
“We deliver somewhere between 75-80,000 deliveries a year,” said Jim Dunn, who founded TJ Chumps in 2002 with Terry Brill. “We have a partnership with DoorDash and they’ve done great for us, but we know that the future of the delivery business is going to be with drones.”
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
Customers interested in ordering TJ Chumps to be delivered via drone should download the DEXA NOW app, an online marketplace similar to DoorDash or Instacart.
WATCH: DEXA demonstrates how drone delivery works at TJ Chumps
***
Poppets Coffee & Tea to open cafe, retail space in Kettering
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
When Michael and Karen Thomas started Poppets Coffee & Tea in 2020, they were operating out of a 10-by-16 foot shed in their backyard in Riverside.
Now, they have a roastery off of Linden Avenue in Dayton, a permanent spot in 2nd Street Market and plans to open a cafe and retail space in Kettering.
Poppets Coffee & Tea is planning to open on Oct. 13 at 1006 E. Dorothy Lane in the former space of Creative Flags & Poles and The Ohio Wine Company.
“This year has been an interesting ride,” Michael said. “We had no plans of opening a cafe this year. It was not on the radar. Our plan was to expand the roastery to do more wholesale, to get into grocery stores and stuff like that.”
READ MORE: What to expect at Poppets Coffee & Tea in Kettering
The Sweet Retreat in Dayton has new, brother-and-sister owners
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
The Sweet Retreat, an ice cream shop located about 10 minutes from downtown Dayton, has a new set of owners.
“We’re from here. This is where we grew up,” said Jacob Hoerner, who owns the ice cream shop with his sister, Jaimee Clark. “We were coming here when it was a Dairy Queen.”
Customers can expect the same 34 flavors of soft serve ice cream including KI Blue,19 hand-dipped flavors, Dole Whip, sundaes, cyclones, milkshakes, ice cream nachos, slushies and artic blasts.
Something new they’ve added is an ice cream flight with six hand-dipped flavors and four toppings served with waffle chips or a waffle cone ($20).
WATCH: Meet the new owners of The Sweet Retreat
Ritter’s will have week of National Frozen Custard Day deals
Speaking of ice cream, Ritter’s Frozen Custard is offering several days of deals leading up to National Frozen Custard Day on Aug. 8.
- Aug. 4: Buy any signature sundae and get a free kids sundae
- Aug. 5: 20% off any quart or pint
- Aug. 6: Upgrade a cone, dish or sundae to a free plain waffle cone or bowl
- Aug. 7: Buy any size glacier, get the second for 50% off
On National Frozen Custard Day, customers can ger a small dish or cake cone for 99 cents.
READ MORE: What to expect at Ritter’s Frozen Custard
Quick Bites
🍴 Jollity to close in Dayton: The restaurant’s last day of service is Aug. 30.
🥯 Biggby Coffee opens in Troy: The drive-thru coffee shop is owned by local chiropractors Juan and Whitney Fernandez. READ MORE
☕ Dunkin’ opens in Beavercreek near The Mall at Fairfield Commons: Here’s how to get free coffee for 100 days.
Liberty Center movie theater debuts new menu
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
CMX CinéBistro at the Liberty Center in Butler County is serving moviegoers the highest quality when it comes to food with its latest menu.
“It is completely revamped from your traditional movie theater food and snacks,” said Michael Thomas, an employee at the theater.
His favorite items on the menu include:
- Braised Short Rib Rodeo Burger (house made pull apart short ribs, smoky BBQ, bacon, fried onions and white cheddar on Texas toast) $19.99
Credit: Natalie Jones
Credit: Natalie Jones
- Nashville Hot Chicken & Waffles (fried chicken tenders, house made hot honey tabasco and pickles sandwiched between waffles) $17.99
- Short Rib Cheesesteak (braised short ribs, queso, peppers and fried onions on an amoroso roll) $21.99
CLICK HERE for more items on the menu.
Here’s what I’ve been eating 🍴
My husband and I finally made it to the Ohio State Fair to try the deviled egg flights. We ended up creating our own flight which included (left to right starting with the back):
- Columbus Pizza
- Dill Pickle
- Maple Bacon Crunch
- Hot Honey Everything
- Buffalo Chicken
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
My favorites were the Columbus Pizza, Buffalo Chicken and Dill Pickle. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough deviled egg was odd...
Other food we had at the fair included the BBQ chicken nachos from Dre’s Place and crack-n-cheese (a bowl of macaroni and cheese topped with turkey BBQ, turkey cracklin’s and BBQ sauce) from Hickory Tree Turkey BBQ.
READ MORE: Ohio Poultry Association launches new deviled egg flavors for 2025 fair
‘But First, Food’: Local chef shares about the food on a trip to Chicago with kids
Columnist Whitney Kling is a recipe developer who lives in Southwest Ohio with her four kids, two cats and is creating a food memoir that’s ever-nearing completion.
Over the weekend, she packed up her kids and drove them to Chicago.
“Eating with kids on vacation can be a parent’s worst nightmare,” Kling wrote. “While I have put in almost two decades of work creating non-picky eaters (by the way, I still have one despite my efforts) I always follow some very basic guidelines while eating with kids on vacation.”
CLICK HERE to read more about Kling’s Chicago experience and advice on how to expand a kid’s palette.
Thank you so much for reading my weekly newsletter! If you see a new restaurant opening or are wondering when an establishment is expected to open, feel free to email me here, and I’ll check it out.
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