Owner and founder Ashley “Asha” Bland chose San Marco for The Mylkery, which she is introducing as Jacksonville’s first plant-based creamery.
Bland and business partner Jasmine Andrews hope to open in March or April 2023 at 1642 San Marco Blvd., most recently Pretty Paws pet grooming.
It is a 750-square-foot building between the Baptist Medical Center campus and the heart of San Marco Square.
“I’m looking forward to offering a bit of my childhood to this artsy neighborhood and serving my community at large,” Bland said by email.
The site will be walk-in/pickup and delivery with no seating. It also offers shipping throughout Florida and maintains wholesale accounts with local grocers and restaurants.
“I used to think going plant-based meant nothing but sacrifices,” Bland said.
“Over the years we’ve seen plant-based foods explode onto the market but companies have consistently limited the availability of flavors and textures for the food experience, often resulting in paying too much for foods that taste like cardboard.”
That is why Bland started Sweet Utopian in Central Florida in 2013.
“With six years of specialty baked goods, hot meals, and beverages that changed the way people viewed alternative foods, I decided to open a similar concept in Northeast Florida,” Bland said by email.
Bland said The Mylkery’s products will include flavored almond milk beverages, Mylkshakes, a plant-based version of ice cream, cookie sandwiches, Foxtail Coffee, bread pudding, cookie dough and granola.
“I see a ripe opportunity to introduce alternative foods to this area in the form of dessert,” Bland said.
“The dessert menu is deeply rooted in childhood delicacies from a Caribbean southerner, with ice cream and mylkshake flavors ranging from Sweet Potato Cornbread with a maple butter base to a flavor called Brookake Monstah, made with brownies, cookies, and cake with a marshmallow fluff and blue spirulina base,” she said.
“All 100% gluten free and plant-based.”
Bland said the Mylkery’s dessert menu “is a love letter” from their childhoods.
“Inspired by Caribbean and southern cuisine, we provide plant-based and gluten-free foods that support healthy neurological function while not sacrificing the experience of nostalgic flavors - a feel better and tastes like home variety of offerings.”
Bland said they will source local ingredients and limit wholesale partnerships to small to mid-sized franchises.
They also will sponsor local festivals “while bringing niche communities together who now have foods they can identify as synonymous with their culture and alternative diets.”
Bland said she and Andrews are Florida natives.
Bland said her family is of Jamaican descent, “a melting pot of Caribbean and European influence.”
Having been raised in a Jamaican household in the U.S., “my childhood is deeply rooted in hybrid value systems and experiences.”
Andrews is of African American descent. She previously worked for Bland and managed farmers markets for Sweet Utopian.
“We shared a love for unconventional flavors and a healthy working relationship,” Bland said.
Bland said her background is in international law and advertising while Andrews has a background in business operations and computer science.
Bland is a University of Central Florida graduate and found food was her conduit to “making an impact.”
She said this will be her third company, learning lessons along the way.
She has contracted with small businesses to help with media planning and buying and translated the success tactics of her case studies to Sweet Utopian.
She said that since 2019, she has held senior positions at three top-tier agencies and won an ADDY Award for an influencer campaign she did with a consumer packaged goods grand.
“I believe my background makes me a better, well-rounded founder and contributor to my company,” she said.
Bland said that while living in Winter Park, she changed to a vegan and gluten-free diet for health and ethical reasons. She spent more than $300 on specialty foods, but found it “had a terrible texture and tasted like cardboard.”
“I made it my mission to disrupt the idea of sacrificing flavor for health,” Bland said.
She started with granola and then became known for her brownies and mylk.
“I offered 30+ flavors of almond-hazelnut milk at the time,” she said.
Bland said will include popular items from Sweet Utopian at The Mylkery.
A Winter Park resident for eight years, she said she moved to Jacksonville for a fresh start after the cornonavirus quarantine and The Mylkery will be her first business in Northeast Florida.
“I’ve noticed the limited options for folks with plant-based diets here,” she said.
“For instance, Orlando’s plant-based scene is abundant in 100% plant-based QSR’s. I’d like to add to the plant-based and food-conscious collective here as well as inspire Jacksonville natives to try something new, something better,” she said. QSRs are quick-service restaurants.
The San Marco building is owned by Sheepco Holdings, whose managing members are Ryan and Erin Hiebsch. Cantrell & Morgan sales associate Kayla Deguzman represented the owners.
“I am looking forward to the transformation that this building is about to undergo,” Deguzman said by email.
“This creamery is going to help provide healthier options to all the local businesses, families, and residents of San Marco and the surrounding sub-markets.”
Bland and Andrews were represented by Nathan Waits from EXIT Real Estate Gallery.
Bland said the location “chose me.”
“I’d just left a 3-hour viewing of potential commercial spaces and felt defeated as none of them catered to what Jasmine and I wanted. They lacked personality,” Bland said by email.
“I drove down San Marco Blvd and saw this tiny standalone available for lease. Immediately, I saw my concept nestled in San Marco minutes from Riverside and Avondale.”
“A big thanks to Sheepco Holdings for believing in my concept and allowing us to share it with Jacksonville.”
