Belleville business owners bringing new life to former Smithton market
A 10,000-square-foot Smithton building that was vacant for nearly 18 months will provide much-needed space for a growing Belleville-based business.
Katelyn and Tyler Jennings recently acquired the former Smithton Kountry Market to expand operations for Busy Body Meals, where customers can get breakfast, lunch and dinner. The meals come prepared, pre-cooked, packaged and ready for pickup or delivery.
The business has locations in Belleville and Edwardsville that offer healthy meals. Customers can also enjoy coffee drinks made to order in each location’s café.
The new Smithton location will mainly serve as a production facility for the existing business, the owners say.
More room to maneuver in Smithton
Tyler and Katelyn weren’t interested in opening a new location but went to look at the Smithton building and found a fit.
“We were loosely in the market for something else,” said Tyler.
When they pulled up to the site, he had a “Wow!” moment. The building has an existing kitchen/production area and plenty of space for storage and an office.
Tyler and Katelyn have a shared office in a small storage room at the Belleville site, which is still also used as a storage area.
Katelyn looks forward to having a “nice office to ourselves” in Smithton.
“It was laid out well,” Tyler said of the facility, adding he’d be proud of what they could build there.
The Smithton location is nearly 10 times larger than the Belleville site, providing much-needed space to store, prepare ingredients and cook meals.
At the Belleville location, meals are cooked and then packaged in a small assembly line in the kitchen’s limited work area. Having more room in Smithton will allow space to prepare more meals at a time, according to Tyler.
In time, the business will be able to accommodate walk-in customers. They are still brainstorming ideas and hope to open the storefront by the end of the year.
Making meals for busy bodies
Busy Body Meals offers pre-cooked, serving-sized meals high in protein for all three meals of the day. The nutritious meals are made with fresh ingredients and contain “no artificial preservatives, fillers, or unnecessary additives,” according to the website.
They’re also great for folks on the go who may not have the time to prepare meals.
Recent menu offerings include simple breakfasts of bacon, egg and sausage burritos and apple pie French toast with bacon and more varied meals like the Big Country Breakfast of scrambled eggs, hash browns, flank steak and sausage gravy.
Lunches and dinners include fish, chicken, turkey, steak, all served with veggies, pasta or rice.
The menu changes monthly, Katelyn said. Fan favorites remain available, and changes are made based on seasonal items and new ideas. A fall menu revamp is coming soon.
The menu is available on the Busy Body Meals website.
Customers can stop by the Belleville and Edwardsville locations to select available grab-and-go meals, or they can place orders online for pick-up by location or home delivery.
Meals delivered to homes will be packaged in a reusable cooler bag (deposit required) to maintain freshness. The deadline to order for Saturday and Sunday home delivery is at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.
Café beverages can also be ordered online by location for curbside and in-store pick-up, and they can be ordered in advance.
Each location’s food and beverage menu is available on the business’ website.
Striving and thriving over the years
Tyler and Katelyn started Busy Body Meals as a home-based operation in 2018.
They acquired the Belleville property — the former site of Hicks BBQ — in March 2022.
New to business, the couple learned first-hand what owning a brick-and-mortar business would entail. Necessary building improvements were made, including the installation of a new exhaust hood, all of which took time as well as a toll on the owners.
The doors in Belleville didn’t open until January 2024. Tyler said the whole experience was difficult, sometimes making it harder to find the energy to open another location.
That didn’t stop them from working hard or keeping business from growing, and the couple opened the Edwardsville location in March.
“It’s been a journey,” said Tyler.
When they took ownership of the Smithton site, Katelyn said they’d hoped to keep things quiet until they officially closed on the property sale. But Smithton’s a small town, and word spread quickly as people spotted their branded business vans at the former market.
“The small town vibe is just so different, a good feeling,” said Kate.
They’re already receiving a lot of support from the Smithton community.
“Of course that feels good,” she said.
About Busy Body Meals
The new Busy Body Meals production facility is located at 620 N. Main St. in Smithton. The building previously housed Smithton Kountry Market — a “grocery store on steroids” — which opened in October 2022. The business closed in March 2024.
Busy Body Meals in Belleville is located at 609 S. Illinois St. Hours are 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.
The Edwardsville location is at 1010 Enclave Blvd., Suite B. Hours are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.
For more information, call 618-920-5849, visit busy-bodymeals.com or follow the business on Facebook.
