by REBEKAH PIERCE
Sponsored by Visit Central Florida
Just a mile from Lakeland city limits and tucked between industrial warehouses, you might not expect to find a u-pick farm and market. Yet that’s right where fresh flavors and family tradition thrive.
Fancy Farms Market, born from four generations of Florida strawberry farmers, offers a profound farm-to-table experience exactly where it’s needed most. Offering everything from fresh-picked strawberries to homemade Cuban sandwiches, the market is a testament to resilience, faith, and the power of community.
Although the market itself is relatively new, its roots run deep in Hillsborough County soil. Fancy Farms Market represents a much-needed bridge between an established agricultural legacy and a fresh, community-focused future.
Kristi Grooms Barnes, president of Fancy Farms Market, is proud to share that legacy: “My family [is] farmers,” she says. “My mom and dad started Fancy Farms in 1974. This is our 53rd strawberry crop this year. Before that, my father farmed with his dad, and my grandfather farmed with his dad. We have generation after generation of farmers here in Florida.”
But that tradition almost skipped a generation, she notes, as her life path originally led her to spend 18 years in the marketing and advertising world. In 2019, after nearly 20 years away, Barnes returned to the family farm to help her father and brother, Dustin. Together, they decided to create something new that uses their fresh crops in the kitchen and shares their love of local produce with the community. This led to the birth of Fancy Farms Market.
Opening a farm is always a risk, but the unique location of Fancy Farms provided a strategic edge. Perched just outside the Lakeland city limits in Polk County but backed by the Hillsborough County farm, Barnes and her brother found a hungry audience right on their doorstep.
“We offer a full menu of lunch items and the area that we’re in, we’re smack dab in the middle of all these industrial warehouses,” Barnes notes. “There’s not a lot out in our area that’s fresh foods and good lunches. Most of these folks have to go to McDonald’s or a convenience store for a hot dog.”
In addition to the location, the timing also played a surprising role in their early success – which was ironic, given that their opening date happened to coincide with the COVID-19 pandemic. “When we first opened in 2020, smack dab during COVID, it was the best decision ever,” Barnes explains. “Some businesses didn’t have that luck but we absolutely did, people wanted to get out to the farm, be outside. [We had a] huge success opening during that time.”
Rather than offering a static menu year-round, Fancy Farms Market rotates its flavors based on seasonality. Pumpkin dominates the fall offerings, followed by strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, and peach. This dedication to seasonality and freshness is something customers notice immediately.
“We get tons of compliments, [like], ‘We can taste the strawberries in your items,’ ” Barnes says. “It’s because we don’t use frozen product. We’re using strawberries picked every day. We are processing them daily for all those recipes.”
The market has also recently expanded into canning, preserving family recipes Barnes’ mother served up herself for other customers to serve to their families. From strawberry jam to candied jalapeños, the kitchen stays exceptionally busy. They even perfected a Tampa-style Cuban sandwich that’s scored rave reviews from customers.
Beyond the food, Fancy Farms Market embraces agritourism in the fields, too. After the strawberry season comes to a close, 12 acres are planted with zinnias and sunflowers. Visitors can pick flowers and take photographs to connect more deeply with the land.
Throughout all this, the family remains grounded in their core values, crediting their organic growth and continuous expansion to their strong spiritual foundation. “That’s front and forward at our market when you come in,” Barnes says. “I want people to see, meet the employees, meet my family, leave here going, ‘there’s something different about that family.’”
There’s something different, indeed. Here, beyond the warehouses, family stories shape each recipe, and a real taste of Florida finds a lasting home.