Food History of Columbus

Key eras

1840s, German Village settlement

German immigrants settle the brick-paved district south of downtown through the 1840s, the seed of the German Village food culture. Schmidt's family begins meatpacking in 1886, the canonical Columbus German lineage. The neighborhood is added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

1876, North Market opens

North Market opens on the original Spruce Street site in 1876, the second-oldest continuously operating public market in Ohio after Cincinnati's Findlay. The market becomes Columbus's anchor for independent food vendors, still the home of the original 2002 Jeni's scoop counter.

1963, Donatos Pizza founding

Jim Grote, an Ohio State sophomore, buys the Thurman Avenue pizzeria in German Village for $1,300 on May 31, 1963 and renames it Donatos. He codifies the Columbus-style thin-crust square pie with pepperoni edge to edge. The chain reopens the original Thurman location in 2023 for the 60th anniversary.

1969, Wendy's opens on East Broad

Dave Thomas opens the first Wendy's at 257 East Broad Street downtown on November 15, 1969, named for his daughter Melinda Lou. The square fresh-beef patty and Frosty become a national brand. Wendy's moves the corporate headquarters to Dublin in 2006.

1993, Cameron Mitchell Restaurants

Cameron Mitchell opens his first restaurant, Cameron's American Bistro, in northwest Columbus on October 5, 1993, and through the 1990s and 2000s builds the Columbus restaurant group with The Pearl, Cap City Fine Diner and the Mitchell's Ocean Club chain.

2002, Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams

Jeni Britton Bauer opens Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at the North Market counter in 2002. The Brambleberry Crisp, Brown Butter Almond Brittle and Wildberry Lavender flavors become national signatures. Bauer wins a James Beard Foundation Award in 2012 for her cookbook Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home.

2013, brewery wave

Seventh Son opens on the corner of Fourth and Fourth in Italian Village in April 2013 and Wolf's Ridge Brewing opens on North Fourth Street downtown in September 2013. Land-Grant follows in Franklinton in October 2014 with the largest outdoor beer garden in the city, anchoring the modern Columbus craft beer wave.

Immigrant influences

• German: Post-1840s German settlement creates German Village south of downtown. Schmidt's family begins meatpacking in 1886 and opens the Sausage Haus restaurant in 1967.
• Italian: Post-1880s Italian arrival shapes Italian Village east of Short North. The Columbus Italian Festival at St. John the Baptist on East Lincoln Street runs every October.
• Somali: Columbus holds the second-largest US Somali population after Minneapolis-St. Paul. Hoyo's Kitchen at North Market by the Hassan family since 2014 makes Somali sambusas, suqaar and rice bowls visible to non-Somali eaters.
• Bangladeshi: Avishar Barua, born in Columbus to Bangladeshi immigrant parents, brings Bengali American cooking into mainstream Columbus dining at Joya's Cafe in Worthington (since 2022) and his earlier Service Bar run.
• Japanese: Kenny Centre's Japan Marketplace in Upper Arlington holds Tensuke Market, Belle's Bread Japanese bakery, Akai Hana and Sushi Ten, a multi-generation Japanese-Columbus food complex anchoring the city's Japanese cuisine.

Signature innovations

• Columbus-style square thin-crust pizza, edge-to-edge pepperoni at Donatos since 1963
• Wendy's square fresh-beef patty since 1969, founded on East Broad Street
• Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams Brambleberry Crisp and grass-grazed dairy program since 2002
• Schmidt's Bahama Mama sausage, the German Village hall signature since 1967
• North Market public hall since 1876, the second-oldest in Ohio
• Land-Grant Greenskeeper Pilsner and the Franklinton beer garden, the city's biggest outdoor brewery patio