Just about a month ago, Amy Forrest turned her passion for local fare and a former catering service into a brick-and-mortar specialty market on the square in Urbana.
In Good Taste Market, located at 12 Monument Square, features a wide variety of fresh produce, meat, flowers, and other specialty food items. The Market also provides a selection of freshly prepared foods and distinctive gifts.
“We are a small, local market with things that people can use to make their own dinners – olive oils, Balsamic vinegars, things to make salad,” she says. “But our main focus is to-go meals.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic forced many restaurants to pivot to carry-out or delivery in 2020, Forrest’s catering company began providing fresh, premade meals. Those pre-made meals remain a staple item offered at In Good Taste Market.
“I feel like the concept is starting to take off,” Forrest says. “People are realizing they can stop in downtown and grab a meal. It’s a quick and easy way they can have dinner. Meals are packaged so they can go in the oven or the microwave.”
The meal menu changes weekly and can be ordered in advance. On Saturdays the market features coffee cake and some breakfast items. The meals are single serve dishes made in the market’s commercial kitchen.
“We offer a lot of mid-west style, meat and potato stuff, and provide healthy options, too,” says Forrest.
In Good Taste has also applied for a liquor license and hopes to be offering upscale wines and craft beers in the near future.
The market prides itself on highlighting local products from Ohio and features vendors, such as
The Woodruff Farm,
Champaign Berry Farm, and
Old Soul's Farms all located in Champaign County.
“There are lots of small artisans doing some really cool things,” Forrest says.
In Good Taste Market also invites customers to bring in their charcuterie boards and have them filled.
“We have a large selection of salamis and cheeses, jams, olives, nuts, all of the components,” Forrest says. “We will fill (the board).”
Forrest says the downtown Urbana businesses have been wonderful and everyone has been great to work with while In Good Taste gets up and running.
“We’re excited to have a new retail establishment in the downtown,” says Tina Knott, president of the
Urbana Downtown Merchants Association and owner of
Let’s Eat Cake. “That building had been vacant for quite some time, and (Forrest) infused life back into that corner.
"In Good Taste brings something that we don’t have; the market is very unique. It blends farm-to-table and farmer’s market. The meals-to-go is a great piece for workers downtown and families to have a wholesome meal.”
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