About a month ago, a popular little cafe in Soldotna got a new owner. Totally Radish is now Lucy’s Market some new faces behind the counter and some fresh paint are the biggest changes.
Lentil turkey sausage was the soup du jour when I stopped by recently to talk with the owner of Lucy’s Market, Kelsey Shields. You may have seen her muffins, sold locally under the same name. It’s kind of an inside joke with the family that a lot more people know about now.
“I supposedly talked a lot as a child. A lot. And my dad starting calling me Loose Lips, from the old adage that loose lips sink ships. And that got shortened to Lucy over time. Some close friends and family still call me Lucy.”
Shields is from Kasilof and grew up in the kitchen. The muffin business came first, with the idea of creating complete breakfasts, to go. With friends in the industry, including the owners of the market under its former name, Totally Radish, she was able to get a first hand look at what it might take to run an operation like this.
“I’d had the baking business going for about a year and had done other jobs on the side and knew I needed something a little more permanent. Preferably my own store front. I’ve always been in love with this business, for years and years. And I found out through a mutual friend that Sara (former owner of Totally Radish) was ready to do something else as well. So I jumped on it.”
And she says it’s the best decision she’s made. But it’s not just whipping up soups and sandwiches and salads for the midday crowd. The market is a market. Cured meats and gourmet cheeses are in the display case, and all sorts of not-so-easy-to-come-by dry goods and ingredients line the walls.
“And I’m trying to focus on complimentary items as well. I sell really good cheese. I should have really good crackers and olives and other charceutery items to go with that cheese.”
Getting her own business off the ground means some long stints behind the stove and the counter, but with what she calls a very part time employee and a little help from family, things are going well. Work days are still under 12 hours. And Lucy’s is one of a handful of local businesses started from the ground up with relatively young owners. Shields says she’s seen that network of young entrepreneurs grow, and it’s something she was thinking about even during her college years Outside.
“The other aspect is, I feel like in this community, there’s a huge amount of support from the older generation for people in my generation to be doing these sorts of things. So many people have told me how happy they for me, how proud they are of me and how they’re glad that I’m doing this. And I know that same same support has been received by others in my demographic. That’s really helpful and encouraging because it could be met with resistance. Change can always be met with resistance, but it seems to be fairly embraced around here.”
But it’s not without some challenges, sometimes, just sticking to a recipe. For someone who considers herself a foodie, Shields likes to cook. There’s some art there in creating new things. But customers have different expectations.
“Even starting the baking business a year ago, I used to just dump things and mix it together. Even for baked goods which kind of freaked some people out. But I had to get very standardized. I weigh things. It’s very neat and official.”
On the way out, after a sample of very tasty goat cheese, I ask Shields about the high points and low points at the one month mark.
“The high points are the daily moments where I just kind of pinch myself. Because this is my dream business and if I step back and try to take a bird’s eye view of my life, I can’t believe I’m doing this every day. That I get to. Low points would be maybe the moments when I have to bake 300 muffins and I’m until all hours of the night doing that because the public is actually enjoying the product that I’m putting out. So even the low points have had a positive twinge to them.”
And you can keep up with menus and what’s in the deli by following Lucy’s Market on facebookand instagram.