How business 'matchmakers' are creating local food networks
A small but growing number of developers are expanding the local food movement by finding and connecting risk-taking entrepreneurs who are ready and able to innovate.
A small but growing number of developers are expanding the local food movement by finding and connecting risk-taking entrepreneurs who are ready and able to innovate.
How do you grow your local food economy? It may not require, as many imagine, building an entire distribution company or food processing facility.
A growing group of economic developers accomplishes it by finding and connecting risk-taking entrepreneurs who are ready and able to innovate.
One of these local food economy matchmakers is Todd Erling, executive director of theHudson Valley Agribusiness Development Corporation聽(HVADC).
One match resulted, for example, in a new distribution network for farms in his upstate New York territory. Erling helped put it together by introducing two businesses with some complementary assets and opportunities.
One is聽Red Tomato, a local food venture that鈥檚 been sourcing and marketing fresh produce from farms across the Northeast for 19 years. The other is Ginsberg鈥檚 Foods, a century-old family business, and the last independent food distributor in upstate New York鈥檚 capital region.
The innovative twist in this pairing is that Ginsberg鈥檚 offers聽specialized food logistics without the typical distributor step of taking small farm products into inventory. That鈥檚 where overhead costs get prohibitive and farm-to-table customer service gets disjointed.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been looking for this,鈥� says Laura Edwards-Orr, Red Tomato鈥檚 executive director. Wholesale customers increasingly want to work directly with Red Tomato, not through a third party distributor. The Ginsberg鈥檚 partnership cuts overhead and puts Red Tomato back in the driver鈥檚 seat.
鈥淣ow we can say 鈥榊es!鈥欌�� to those customers,鈥� she says.
Finding a distributor who would say 鈥測es鈥� was essential. That鈥檚 where locally owned and motivated Ginsberg鈥檚 Foods comes in.
鈥淚 grew up on a dairy farm and although I didn鈥檛 continue on that path I鈥檝e always wanted to find a way to help those who have,鈥� says Ginsberg鈥檚 Foods vice president John Brusie. 鈥淏eing an independent distributor we can make decisions locally and do more of what we want.鈥�
Read more聽HERE.