"Would he have gone over to Over-the-Rhine to have breakfast? I don't think he would have walked from Fourth Street to Over-the-Rhine. "I thought about if my dad were still alive, where he would have eaten," she said. Gross said a number of people tried to persuade her to expand to Over-the-Rhine, but it ultimately came down to what her father would do. It's a very fancy store … we would walk through there and there were these silver boxes with purple bows." "And there was this store called Gidding-Jenny. "As a child, as a treat, we would go down to Fourth Street and have ice cream at Graeter's," she said. Gross' father and grandfather used to work on Fourth Street, and she admitted to having a "soft spot" for the street. But the strongest reason may go all the way back to Gross' childhood.
Gross and Kroner chose the Central Business District for a number of reasons, including the appeal of being in the Downtown core and the accessibility to Northern Kentucky. "It's going to be more of a large-scale glass installation that ties into the bee theme," she said. Gross hinted she's creating a glass flower chandelier at her studio for the Downtown location. For the Blue Ash restaurant, Gross said, "we had everybody come to my studio and we did a bee line out of glass." The community artwork for the Oakley location included neighbors painting bees on canvases, which were then displayed on the restaurant wall. "It's part of the (Sleepy Bee) mission to incorporate and bring the community into it and make it their restaurant." "Community is really important," Gross said. She's still finalizing the details but is planning on a community artwork project with other Downtown businesses. Not unlike the other two ventures, Gross leads the design of the decor and implementation of artwork in the Downtown restaurant. "We are also going to have a cooler with a few ready-to-go items intended for folks who want to pick up something for later." "To speed up service, we will have a separate line for all carryout orders and anyone wanting just a coffee," said executive chef and co-owner Frances Kroner. It is designed with agility in mind, making it more "business-friendly." The Downtown restaurant will seat about 110, including a full bar along with a coffee bar. The Oakley location had been vacant for three years before it was transformed into the first Sleepy Bee restaurant, and the location in Blue Ash had been boarded up for about 10 years. Sleepy Bee has consistently lived up to that philosophy. "I would hope we can always do that and lessen our environmental impact by just going into spaces that exist." "Bees do that, you know, they go into old trees and give them new life," she said.
Gross, who is also an artist with a keen interest in the environment and sustainability, likened the renewal to the behavior of bees. The restaurant will breathe new life into the Fourth Street building, which, according to co-owner Sandra Gross, had been vacant and boarded up for roughly 15 years. The owners have since been hard at work to make this their flagship restaurant. The transformation of the space is now entering the home stretch, and if all goes according to schedule, Sleepy Bee projects it will open its third location in June. E. Fourth St., it immediately created a buzz Downtown. CINCINNATI - When the owners of popular breakfast-and-lunch eatery Sleepy Bee Cafe initially announced they planned to open a location at 8.
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