More Than a Market: How Olive Branch Is Bringing Olive Hill Together
MaKaylen Genung has lived in Olive Hill her whole life. “I have no plans to ever move,” said MaKaylen Genung, owner of The Olive Branch Market. “I couldn’t imagine my life anywhere else.”
Olive Hill sits among wooded ridges in eastern Kentucky, with brick storefronts lining a few blocks of Main Street. The town has a Save A Lot, but residents often drive 30 minutes to Walmart or Kroger for a wider selection of groceries.
“We never wanted to have a market where people felt there were things they couldn’t afford, because we are a very low-income community,” Genung said. “We never wanted it to be, ‘Hey, you can be healthy, but only if you can afford it.’”
The Olive Branch Market stocks non-GMO and dye-free foods, local meat and produce, baked goods, prepared lunches, and products from local makers. “We kind of act as a co-op,” Genung said. “It’s a mix of a farmers market and health market together in one.”
Long before opening the market, Genung wanted to work in food. In high school, career-planning exercises kept pointing her toward culinary work, but others steered her in a different direction, advising that a culinary career couldn't thrive in a small town. She pursued social work instead, earned a master’s degree, and eventually directed a medical day facility.
At the height of COVID in 2020, Genung was directing a medical day facility. She and her husband had one child and twins on the way, and she wanted work she could fit around their growing family. “Why not start a business when everything else is shutting down?” she said.
Within two weeks of starting, Genung had 50 catering orders. She started with fruit, vegetable, and charcuterie trays and soon catered events for more than 400 people.
By the time the Genungs had a fourth child, preparing for a Saturday event could start as early as Wednesday. At the same time, customers were contacting her for smaller orders they could pick up and asking for herbs, tinctures, and other natural products.
Genung saw a way to bring those needs together in one storefront. A permanent market could keep the foods and wellness products customers wanted on hand while giving local producers shelf space of their own. It would also let her prepare food on a steadier schedule.
“If we can get a product that’s made locally, we want that product,” she said. “No matter if we’re only making 20% from it, we would rather have that product and our local vendors thrive.”
No one in the area had opened anything quite like what Genung had in mind, and there was “a lot of gray” around taxes, contract workers, vendor agreements, and health department approval. She had never taken out a loan. “The financial side was so scary for me,” she said. “I’m not the business side. I’m just the make-the-food-and-talk-to-the-people side.” Most available storefronts needed major work. A former Dollar General had enough space, but the rent and overhead were too high.
Genung learned about ECDI through a small-business advisor she’d worked with during her catering years. After Genung attended a women’s business event, ECDI staff member Bonnie Barker reached out to tell her about the organization’s resources.
Barker and Codie Oney connected Genung with health department contacts and owners of similar businesses.
“I can remember sitting on the porch talking to Bonnie and Codie about this, like, ‘Do you all think I can do this?’” Genung said. “It was like I was just talking about a big dream.”
They helped her work through pricing and the vendor mix. A $15,000 ECDI startup loan helped cover working capital, rent, utilities, and work on the building and kitchen.
The Olive Branch Market opened in December 2024 with about 10 vendors. During its Christmas-season soft opening, customers bought products faster than Genung could replace them.
Less than six months later, sewer and plumbing problems forced the market to move, just two months after its kitchen opened. The Genungs were still paying off their startup costs and had to invest in a second location. The new location lacked an on-site kitchen, so staff now prepare food at a local church and carry it back to the market. “We ain’t giving up,” Genung said.
Genung had pictured opening three days a week with a few helpers. The market now carries products from roughly 150 local vendors, from bakers and food producers to T-shirt makers, woodworkers, and 3D printers. Demand was especially strong for prepared lunches. One batch of roughly 75 lunches sold out in 12 minutes.
By then, Genung had four children and a fifth on the way. The growth also forced her to do something she does not enjoy: hand over some control. She now has two managers who can run the market when she isn’t there. “I’m horrible at delegating,” she said. “I want to do it myself, and then I can’t say no.”
Some of what Genung says yes to has little to do with selling groceries. She describes the market as the “community empowerment side of social work.” “I try to think of it more as mission than business,” she said.
Olive Hill already had several blessing boxes, and Genung wanted the market to have one of its own. The Olive Box outside the store offers free food left over from the market or donated by residents. On warm days, refrigerated donations have to stay inside. That brings in people who might not otherwise go inside the market and gives them a chance to talk with employees. The market has also hosted benefits for local families.
Olive Hill had few places large enough for birthdays, showers, and other gatherings. During her catering years, Genung helped renovate a little-used Historical Society building that went from hosting about one event a year to two or three each weekend. She wanted to create that kind of gathering space at the market, too. She turned a fenced-in piece of concrete into an outdoor gathering space with tables, chairs, and a fire pit. She hopes to own a building with a commercial kitchen and room for events indoors.
Growing up, Genung heard, “Get out of the small town, go make something of yourself.” But since the market opened, five other businesses have opened between Back Street and Main Street, including a coffee shop, a doughnut shop, and a consignment store featuring local vendors. “You can have that here,” she said. “I mean, we’ve proved that.”
