Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
Northern Kentucky Tribune
Gary Holland’s newest restaurant, Spear Ridge Cafe, will feature ‘home-cooking” scratch menu
17 hours ago
User-posted content
By Patricia A. Scheyer NKyTribune reporter
Florence officially has another sit-down restaurant. Spear Ridge Cafe held a soft opening this week with a ribbon-cutting. The restaurant, which touts a scratch menu, will bring back home-cooked meals to compete with the vast fast food market.
Florence Mayor Julie Aubuchon presented Gary Holland with a Florence Ya’ll bobblehead. (Photo by Patricia Scheyer/NKyTribune)
“I felt like this was something that was missing,” said restaurant creator Gary Holland of One Holland. “We used to have places like this when I was growing up in Northern Kentucky, and they are pretty much gone now. I just thought I could do something special and bring that Kentucky diner back to Northern Kentucky.”
The new restaurant is about 3000 square feet. It’s design is a horse barn.
“I saw this barn in a horse farm in Augusta, Georgia, and I just thought, we have to have that here,” Holland said. “This will be one of two. We will also be building one in Independence at the Downs of Nicholson. This is an appetizer to what we are doing in the Downs of Nicholson. The restaurant First Watch will be open in November, and the rest of the development will be open in the summer of 2025.”
Holland said this is the area where he grew up, and he nostalgically reminisced about his upbringing.
“I worked in this industrial park, my dad worked 27 years in this industrial park, my mom worked 20 years in this park, my wife worked in this park and my father-in-law worked in this industrial park,” he stated. “So this is home for us.”
In addition to the opening of the cafe, Holland took this opportunity to present a check to Beechgrove Elementary PTA in the amount of $2024, because the year is 2024, and he added an amount to make the donation $2500.
“When we can we like to help them,” Holland said. “I went to school there. I grew up about a mile from here. We know that a lot of underprivileged kids go to that school, and the PTA is able to help when kids need something.”
Gary Holland, wife Heidi and daughter Katie, in from of the new restaurant. (Photo by Patricia Scheyer/NKyTribune)
Despite the fact that Holland has over 2000 businesses, when the time came to address the crowd and preview the ribbon cutting, he still was choked up when he tried to thank everyone for their contribution.
“This. . .is an exciting day,” he said when he could speak.
He asked the crowd if they agree that the building was a piece of art, with all the brass and the older-time charm, and he declared that it would be a landmark.
“Shortly after I bought my horse farm in 2006, I fell in love with all things horses, and barns, and I got inspired,” he remembered. “I thought we needed to have something like it up here.”
Interior of Spear Ridge Cafe. (Photo by Patricia Scheyer/NKyTribune)
Holland said that this is something different, and people might have to wait a little longer for their food, but it will be worth it.
Florence Mayor Julie Aubuchon was present, along with members of the administration, police, and fire, and she presented Holland with a Y’alls tower bobblehead.
“This is our key to the city,” she said, trying to be heard above the traffic sounds.
The restaurant is located at 7301 Industrial Road, across the street from the Skyline Chili that Holland built.
There are also gas pumps and a store to the rear of the restaurant, and it is not yet completed, but Holland promises it will be ready soon.
Another project on Holland’s list is a Roy Rogers Restaurant that will be located on Industrial closer to SR 42 and that will also feature a Dunkin’ Donuts.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Comments / 0