Meet Daniel Stribling and Robert Turner! Daniel and Robert are collaborating together to bring a new business to downtown Gainesville; Grubs Market will be a market that specializes in local wines, unique cuts of meat, fresh seasonal produce, and many more homegrown, Georgia-based items. We want to thank Daniel and Robert for sitting down with us and sharing their vision for the new, family-owned market and their passion for the community.

Daniel, his wife Carolyn, their son Wright live in Gainesville; along with Robert who lives in Gainesville with his wife Susanne and children Hudson and Lucy.

Question: Please tell us a little bit about your background.
Answer: Daniel: “I am not a trained chef, I’ve done some culinary work and I have worked at a restaurant in Montana. Also, I’ve been in the petroleum industry and I was also in the medical industry doing orthopedics.”

Robert: “I was born and raised in Southern California and I moved to the east coast to Richmond, Va. for high school.  I went back to California for college and then I moved to Atlanta after I graduated college. I got my first job here and joined the military. I started with the FDA, did a lot of food safety and interstate commerce work with them. And then I got into healthcare, I’ve been doing it for probably the last 10 years or so. I’m kind of the backend business aspect of it (Grubs Market), whereas Daniel is the hands on and curator of everything and the operator. It’s a good yin and yang.”

Q: Why did you decide to start a business?
R: “This wasn’t a new idea. We have been talking with Daniel’s mom, my wife and his wife for probably three years about doing something. We didn’t know what it was at first. We were thinking of doing a restaurant but the restaurant industry has changed and we don’t want to get into that business. Then we went on vacation as a large family and we went into a market in South Carolina, and it kind of clicked at that moment. It was really cool. It wasn’t your regular grocery store and it wasn’t super high-end either. It was just getting different things that you couldn’t get at a Kroger or Publix that just made it unique. We’re really trying to focus on a completely different service and in a different type of market.”

D: “About that time we were on vacation is about the time when Solis was starting construction. We saw that going up and it was an interesting spot and we lucked out with a good piece of property.”

Q: What kinds of things or food items do you think people will expect to see in the market?
D: “That’s what I’ve been working on the last few weeks is laying everything out. Of course, butcher shop. So, we’re gonna have all your meats, we’ll have everything from filet to exotic meats like buffalo, ostrich, elk and we can even get some crazier items. If the customers give us a 24 hour notice, we can get things as crazy as rattlesnake or kangaroo. We’ll have beer and wine and we’re really trying to focus on local brewers to showcase the niche wineries or the small boutique wineries here in Georgia. It would be really unique wines, but having the same flavor profiles and price point of high end wines. We’ll have the gamut from expensive to inexpensive.”

Q: What are a couple of your favorite restaurants in our community?
D: “El Tepache, Atlas Pizza, Atlanta Seafood, Poor Richard’s, and many more.”

R: “All of the restaurants here are pretty cool. I just don’t have one favorite. I could literally sit here and tell you every single restaurant and I can find something that I love about each one. I love Cotton Calf, Antebellum, Scott’s Downtown, Luna’s, and Bluefin is my kid’s favorite

Q: What current local business makes you the most nostalgic about our community?
D: “The Inn Between Deli is nostalgic for me and that’s one of the places that I enjoy. I guess I’m old enough now to where one of my friends owns it.”

Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about our community?
R: “What I found was really unique about Gainesville is if you grew up in Gainesville, you inevitably stay in Gainesville or stay connected to Gainesville forever for better or for worse. Also, what I love about Gainesville the most is the community aspect of things and how ingrained we are in the community. I think everyone in the community, regardless of background…they try to help everyone out.”

Q: What is your favorite movie or the first movie you saw in the theatre?
D: “The first movie I remember seeing in the theatre was ‘Sandlot’ when I was a kid. Or maybe ‘The Rescuers Down Under,’ I remember seeing that in theater as a child, but I don’t know if that was the first but that’s probably one of the first ones.”

R: “Honestly, I haven’t been in a movie in a theatre for probably like 10 years.”

Q: What three words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
D: “Comforting, Relaxing and Safe.”
R: “Family, Love and Comfort.”

Q: If you could choose anyone (dead or alive) today, with whom would you love to have lunch? Why?
D: “Abraham Lincoln, Honest Abe. He ran our country in such a pivotal time and I’m curious how he got through that. I saw a documentary on him the other night, he’s just a fascinating person.”

R: “My mom passed away about five years ago and she never got to meet my daughter. And if I could have lunch with anyone, I’d love to be able to have lunch with her and just catch her up with what’s going on.”