Fond of Louisville, which began as a small, carefully curated food store and restaurant two years ago at 2520 Frankfort Ave., has undergone several changes in that time. The dining spaces have been redesigned, the kitchen has been updated, and now the owner, Madeleine Dee, is planning to sell some of her products in local stores.
A line of Fond Originals will launch in October, increasing the scope of Dee’s venture that now includes a product line, fine dining restaurant and two web series. Dee said, in a Courier-Journal story, that her products are designed “to make entertaining easy, elegant and exciting.”
When she first opened, Dee sold her Fond Originals from the shop, items like jam, risotto cakes, and quiche, which soon found a fan base that outstripped Dee’s ability to keep up with the orders. To expand her production, Dee needed more capital, which she secured through the micro-lending site Kiva, getting investments from a wide range of her customers.
She’ll begin production in October at the Fond kitchen, but, she said in the C-J story, “the goal is to create multiple jobs, outgrow the current facility and move into a larger location where production can increase and we can add new products.”
Dee has plans for up to 30 products, but she’ll begin with blueberry-lemon and strawberry-ginger jams, Roma tomato sauce, risotto cakes, fig pizzas, broccoli-bacon-cheddar quiche, blueberry-lemon cookie dough and sea salt peanut butter cookie dough. The Wine Rack, The Highland Fish Market (Chenoweth Square) and Paul’s Fruit Market have put in orders for products, Dee said.
Fond serves six-course dinners to a maximum of 12 people at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturdays by reservation. The menu changes monthly, allowing her both to perfect her favorite dishes and to experiment with new items.
Dee, who once wanted to be an actress, has also produced a series of short videos of high production quality that she calls “The Seasoned Cynic’s Guide to Entertaining,” which takes a dry, witty, somewhat jaundiced look at problems hosts confront when giving parties, and suggests amusing ways to handle problems – and problem guests – that arise at parties.
To keep up with Dee’s several entrepreneurial efforts, go to facebook.com/FondOfLouisville.
