Our Founders & Owners
Our Founding Story
Our passion for quality flavors and food inspired Daniel Stribling and Robert Turner to introduce unique tastes to our local community. Driven by Robert’s past travels during school and work, he found food was richly ingrained in the cultures of the countries and locations he visited. Growing up in California, he was exposed to a multitude of cultures that used spices and flavors from around the world.
After working as a professional cook in Montana, Daniel realized the restaurant he was working in was lacking a connection with its customers. Daniel was inspired to share his love of food directly with his customers and community to improve and enrich their experience. He knew he wanted to bring this concept to his hometown back East.
Gainesville is the poultry capital of the world, filled with a diverse and vast
agricultural community. Buzz words like local sustainability is something that is
often thrown out but isn’t a reality in our local area without a lot of driving. The
goal of Grubs Market is to bring local resources to one place. Our local farmers
have an amazing offering that is not well publicized, and we want to be a part of
that change. Market research, that allowed for lots of taste testing, was an A-ha
moment of discovering that great, natural, and sustainable food from your local
area is better for you than the big box commodity foods, and your taste buds will
thank you.
Daniel and Robert have worked hard to forge friendships and relationships with
local farms that pride themselves on raising livestock without hormones,
pesticides, or any other unnatural processes. The result is a better product that
tastes better, is healthier for you and your family, supports your local community,
and is a more humane way of life.
The name for the market, Grubs, came from a term of endearment that Daniel’s
grandfather often used for his grandchildren, “Grubs.” Daniel’s grandfather came
to Gainesville in 1956 to be a part of a community. He was a founding member of The Diagnostic Clinic and worked hard to grow the medical community in
Gainesville. Many family meals were shared at Daniel’s grandparents’ home, as
food often brings a family together. This term of endearment, Grubs, just
encapsulated family tradition, community spirit, and the love of food and gathering. Plus, who doesn’t love to Grub Out?
About Daniel Stribling:
Born and raised in Gainesville, Daniel discovered his passion for food at a young age while helping his mother cook. Little did he realize it would become a passion in his life. After graduating from the University of Georgia in 2009, Daniel moved to Bozeman Montana, often cooking for 300 people a night. He soon realized this lacked the intimacy and connection with the customer that he was expecting, but never let go of his passion for cooking and great farm fresh products.
Upon moving back to Gainesville, Daniel held several different positions as an estimator in the mechanical business, inventory specialist in Orthopedics, and most recently compliance manager in the petroleum industry. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Daniel began to reassess his career path as he realized he needed to pursue his passion.
Reflecting back, he never lost his passion for food. The pandemic offered extra time to perfect oatmeal and brownie cookies, and experiment in the kitchen with his mother’s cookbooks. It was through a conversation with his brother-in-law, Robert, that they realized they could meld Daniel’s passion into a business that still maintained an intimate customer focused business that Daniel thought had been lacking previously. Thus, in the summer of 2021 Grubs was born.
As co-founder, Daniel runs the day-to-day operations for Grubs. Daniel strives daily to let his passion for people and food show in every fabric of Grubs. Daniel, his wife Carolyn, their son Wright, and dog Max, reside in Gainesville and will often be spotted lending a helping hand at Grubs.
About Robert Turner:
Robert was born and raised a little bit of everywhere, but if you meet him he will claim California and Georgia. Born in California, he has resided in Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Virginia. He attended college at Whittier, in Los Angeles. Upon graduation, he moved to Atlanta for a job at the FDA. Since that time Robert’s career has stayed in the medical healthcare sector. Robert and Susanne (Daniel’s sister) met in Atlanta, married and moved to Gainesville in 2013-a return home for Susanne and a new beginning for Robert. For those of you who you know Robert, he rarely sits still. In college in LA he was known to surf in the morning and ski in the afternoon. However, he was drawn to the community feel of Gainesville and loved that his wife still had relationships with her high school friends. While a small town takes some adjusting to, it has really grown on him. As has the idea of building something that serves his community and becomes a staple that his kids will remember as they grow up. Robert has an entrepreneurial spirit and loves the idea of starting something new, and like Daniel he loves to cook, and eat! The family joke is that Robert will never miss a family meal, and you better make extra if he’s coming. Robert also has a palette for good wine. With many trips to Napa, and an avid member of wine clubs, he is excited to be able to offer the community some new wines, favorite wines, at a variety of price points. His favorite mission is finding the best bottle that doesn’t break the bank.
Like Daniel, the pandemic gave Robert some time to slow down and reflect on what was important. Instead of traveling for work and having business dinners out, he found himself at home more, on the grill and in the kitchen. He realized that being able to grow something that fueled creativity was energizing. While Robert will continue his work in the healthcare sector and will be the entrepreneurial investor, you will still find his taste, flavor and passion at Grubs.
Robert, his wife Susanne, children Hudson and Lucy, and two dogs reside here in Gainesville and if you stop by Grubs you are likely to see one of them!
