There are plenty of new lunch trucks zipping around the metro, but keep your eyes out for a different kind of fresh food delivery system.
Twin Cities Local Food aims to connect farmers with customers in a unique way: by playing middleman. Started by Josh Kelly, who left the corporate world to pursue his dream of providing fresh, healthy food to the local community, the service intends to give people year-round access to locally grown and produced food.
Farmers benefit because they can directly market, sell, and package their own products, and customers can order online weekly and then pick up their food at a location in South Minneapolis. The system has been successful in other states, such as Michigan, but hasn't been tried here before. The first orders went out just last week, and Kelly is excited to see the online marketplace grow as it becomes better known.
"This is a different kind of model, but we feel that it's needed," he says. "People are busy, and sometimes they just want the convenience of shopping for good, local food online and picking it up easily."
The service includes numerous types of products, including fresh produce, meats and poultry, eggs, honey, syrup, dairy, grains, and preserved foods.
Kelly created the company with his wife, Natalie, and he notes that they always knew they'd make great business partners. Twin Cities Local Food is fulfilling that prediction, and they're both eager to keep the orders rolling in.
Source: Josh Kelly, Twin Cities Local Food
Writer: Elizabeth Millard