By Chanda Temple
On a recent February afternoon, Tina Liollio is outside her market in Homewood, AL, taking advantage of the unseasonably warm weather.
As she wipes down the furniture on the patio, she talks about her life in the restaurant business. For Tina, food and hospitality have never been just a business. They’ve also been a way of life.
“The first place I was taken after the hospital was my family’s restaurant,’’ she said.
The staff at her family’s restaurant on the Florida panhandle was so excited about her parents’ only child, that they couldn’t wait to meet Tina. It was love at first sight. And pretty soon, Tina became a regular fixture at the restaurant.
When her family later moved to Birmingham’s Glen Iris neighborhood, Tina’s education in the kitchen blossomed. Around the corner from their Glen Iris home lived Tina’s great-grandmother, who taught Tina how to cook at the age of 7.
With each cooking lesson came a pure appreciation of food and family.
“For me, it was more about spending time with family and learning the traditions and culture,’’ said Tina, now 41.
Today, Tina runs Tina’s Market across from Homewood Park, where she sells dishes influenced by her family’s Greek and Sicilian roots.
The cheese. The sauce. The frosting. They are all rich with taste and history, which is what you will find when you walk past that patio furniture and through the front doors.
“There are a lot of different hats that go into (running a business),’’ and I enjoy learning all different sides of it,’’ she said.
To understand how Tina got to where she is today, you have to circle back to her family.
When her father, Paul Liollio, moved Tina and her mother, Mary Liollio, to Birmingham in 1990, he also brought the restaurant, Liollio’s, and ran it for a short while. Then, he started working with Jim ’N Nick’s Bar-B-Q Restaurant. Tina followed her father, working at Jim ‘Nick’s. She started as a hostess in high school. In college, she worked as a waitress and in the drive-thru.
After college graduation, Tina worked with the restaurant’s catering division, handling catering and sales. She was there from 2007 to 2019.
“I’m the type of person who likes to be out and about and doing different things every day,’’ she said. “It just fit really well with my personality.’’
In 2019, she started the business Local Link to help manage logistics with food and beverage at events. But in 2020, the pandemic hit and events halted. Without events to handle, Tina turned to her kitchen, leaning again on her family recipes.
Word about her cooking spread to friends and family, and they wanted in on the home cooked meals from Tina’s kitchen. Soon, she started a weekly email to let people know what was on tap for the week. She filled orders and delivered them to people’s homes. She did that until the end of 2020.
Even though she was making it easier for others to enjoy a home cooked meal without the fuss, she also used the time to hone her cooking skills.
In 2021, she started working as the food and beverage coordinator for the World Games in Birmingham, which took place in July 2022. After the games ended, she continued to run Local Link and started thinking of her next step: operate a small storefront.
In November 2022, she opened Tina’s Market in a very small storefront on Petticoat Lane in Mountain Brook, AL, providing grab-and-go home cooked meals. She began to grow, and in March 2024, she moved into a much larger space on Central Avenue in Homewood.
What was once a music shop, became the heart of Tina’s catering services and freshly prepared meals that were powered by her talents and love of family.
“I took a lot of things I learned (from my family) and tweaked them,’’ she said. “The Italian sausage balls, for example, are a spin on a traditional sausage ball.’’
The market’s popular pumpkin bars were influenced by Tina’s Sicilian grandmother. However, Tina put her own spin on the recipe, adding different components to give the bar a cheesecake-like feel to it. Depending on the time of year, Tina also offers strawberry bars, CinnaRoll bars, a caramel apple spice bar and blueberry bars.
For Valentine’s Day, Tina is offering different options to please the palate. Tuesday, Feb. 11 is the deadline to order. To order, visit: https://tinasmarketbham.square.site/.
Valentine’s Day Cakes Known as Little T’s – Available in packs of two, six or 12, these heart-shaped cakes covered in pink or white icing, are reminiscent of the Little Debbie cakes usually found in a child’s lunch box. “Little Debbie was always something I thought was a really cool treat as a kid,’’ Tina said. “I would say more adults than kids get really excited about the Little Debbie cakes. It’s more exciting and meaningful for adults.’’
Meal for Two or a Family Style Meal – Meat lasagna, mixed green salad, Greek Ranch salad dressing and Little T’s heart-shaped Valentine’s Day cakes.
Breakfast Special – Brunch pitas that consist of a breakfast casserole containing Conecuh sausage, eggs, cheese and herbs that are wrapped in a puff pastry; five cinnamon rolls from Rolls Bakery; and four, heart-shaped Little T’s Valentine’s Day cakes. Feeds four.
ValenTina’s Gift Basket – Large bag of the market’s No. 1 selling Chex Mix; cheese straws from Twisted Cheese Co.; Date Bites, which are dark chocolate and peanut butter dates topped with sea salt; and two, heart-shaped Little T’s Valentine’s Day cakes. There is an option to add a gift card to the basket.
As Tina talks about her store, a customer enters and Tina takes a brief pause to ring up a sale. The shelves are lined with locally-made goods and the refrigerators are stocked with homemade meals. Behind the counter, the area hums with warmth as a staff member works on Valentine’s Day cakes.
It’s a happy place, where Tina’s passion for food and fun is felt at every turn.
“I think a lot of what I do is based off of what I love and what I think is unique and fun,’’ Tina said. “Our social media account shows we don’t take ourselves too seriously.’’
And that’s exactly what makes Tina’s Market more than just a place to grab dinner. It’s a little slice of community, flavored with personality and heart.
Savor This! Tina’s Market is located at 3027 Central Ave. in Homewood. They are open Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and closed on Sunday. Their website is http://www.tinasmarketbham.com.
Chanda Temple is an award-winning writer living in Birmingham, AL. She blogs at http://www.chandatemplewrites.com. If you have a food story idea, email her at chandatemple@gmail.com. Follow her food postings on Instagram at @chandatemple.
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