糖心Vlog传媒

CHICAGO鈥擳he pandemic-driven decline in dining out has had a silver lining for home cooks: The high-quality produce and meats typically destined for restaurants are increasingly finding their way to people鈥檚 kitchen tables.

Now one of Chicago鈥檚 top restaurant produce distributors is using its muscle to deliver fresh foods to consumers鈥� doorsteps, bringing a heavyweight to a growing movement to bypass grocery stores and give shoppers direct access to high-quality farm products.

Fresh Midwest, a company launched by the family that owns Midwest Foods and Edible Cuts, home-delivers fresh meat and produce as well as snacks prepared in-house and meals and meal kits developed in partnership with restaurants.

It serves ZIP codes located between Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Chicago鈥檚 Lincoln Park neighborhood but plans to expand throughout the region, south to Indiana, by the end of March.

Patrick Fitzgerald, who created Fresh Midwest with his twin brother, Mike, had been interested in selling direct to consumers for some time but saw an opening after grocery delivery pioneer Peapod shut down its Midwest operations in February.

The onset of COVID-19 a month later, which caused wholesale orders to drop as restaurant clients saw business wiped out, created a 鈥減erfect storm,鈥� he said.

Fresh Midwest hired several former Peapod employees to tap their e-commerce and consumer expertise. Tony Stallone, a 20-year veteran of Peapod who ran its fresh merchandising department, initially told Fitzgerald the idea 鈥渟ounds crazy鈥� because selling produce online is difficult, but upon further reflection he thought it made sense.

鈥淭hey have all the relationships with all the fresh purveyors, they鈥檙e cutting out a middleman, but they鈥檙e leveraging everything else: the trucks, the facility, all the people,鈥� said Stallone, now chief merchant at Fresh Midwest.

The pandemic has transformed how people buy food. A surge in online grocery shopping sent grocers scrambling to satisfy customers鈥� expectations of convenience. Whole Foods last week announced free same-day pickup for Prime members, and Jewel-Osco introduced temperature-controlled pickup lockers at its stores. Some grocers are operating customer-free 鈥渄ark stores鈥� dedicated to filling online orders.

There are also more ways for shoppers to forgo the grocery store altogether and buy fresh food direct from suppliers, as business disruptions drive farms and restaurants to seek new revenue streams.

The model predates the pandemic. Niles, Illinois-based Irv and Shelly鈥檚 Fresh Picks has been delivering food from local farms to consumers since 2006, and people for years have been able to order boxes of produce through community-supported agriculture programs. But demand has boomed as people concerned about their health and immune systems seek more nutritious food.

鈥淭here鈥檚 been a flight to quality,鈥� said Jim Slama, CEO of FamilyFarmed, a Chicago-based nonprofit that promotes a locally grown food system. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e getting product that鈥檚 just a day or two old, the antioxidant levels and levels of other nutrients are higher when it鈥檚 fresher.鈥�

Nichols Farm and Orchard in Marengo in March started delivering its mushrooms, carrots, jams and other products to customers鈥� homes. Green City Market, which failed to gain traction with a delivery service two years ago, launched the WhatsGood app in March and has since helped 25 vendors fill 5,200 delivery and pickup orders.

Village Farmstand opened a storefront in Evanston during the summer to help area farmers address a key challenge they encountered as they tried to sell directly to consumers: how to sort through and package their product into sizes meant for families rather than the restaurants they were accustomed to serving.

It works with nearly 60 farms and sells their seasonal produce, pasture-raised meats and artisan flours online, offering pickup and, as of last week, home delivery to the North Shore suburbs for a $10 fee. It also is working with restaurants to create frozen meals and meal kits. The business has 170 items in its store and serves about 300 customers a week.

鈥淭his is a new age of grocery shopping that鈥檚 way more convenient and way more flavorful,鈥� said founder Matt Wechsler, a filmmaker who connected with the local farming community through films he made about sustainability in agriculture.

Farmers who worried they would be crushed this year by the fall in restaurant orders have found a consumer audience willing to open their wallets for farm-fresh food. Village Farmstand鈥檚 prices are comparable to buying organic at Whole Foods, Wechsler said.

鈥淪ome of our farms are having their best year ever,鈥� said Wechsler鈥檚 business partner, Marty Travis, who owns Spence Farm in Fairbury, Illinois, and does the marketing and delivery for the other farms in the group.

The farms have increased production enough that if restaurants start ordering at normal levels again, Village Farmstand can continue to serve the consumer market, Travis said. There are plans to replicate the model elsewhere, including in towns that do not have grocery stores.

Slama thinks the new models are here to stay. 鈥淚t鈥檒l be a whole year of changed habits,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd people are liking it.鈥�

Fresh Midwest hopes putting fresh food on wheels helps expand food access.

鈥淲e have the ability to penetrate food deserts,鈥� Stallone said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all about bringing healthy food to people who need it.鈥�

This kind of food can be expensive, but there are cost savings in cutting out the middlemen. Fresh Midwest, which compares its retail prices to Jewel-Osco or Mariano鈥檚, offers free delivery for orders over $75 and charges a $4.95 delivery fee for smaller orders.

Fresh Midwest has logistical advantages given its association with Midwest Foods, a wholesaler that supplies cut fruits, vegetables, wrapped sandwiches and desserts to hospitals, schools and other institutions.

The company rewrapped existing refrigerated delivery vans with Fresh Midwest鈥檚 logo and shifted some workers over from the other companies. Together the three companies employ about 200 people.

Fresh Midwest operates out of Edible Cuts鈥� 70,000-square-foot facility in Kenosha. It has hired six former Peapod employees who work in marketing, meal kit development, technology, production and driving.

The service has 520 items listed on its online store currently but expects to be at 2,000 or 3,000 within the next three months, Patrick Fitzgerald said. Among them are aquaponic greens from Farm on Ogden, cold-pressed juices from Milwaukee vendor Juiced and house-made yogurt parfaits.

Fitzgerald envisions building a kitchen where chefs can design products for consumers that Fresh Midwest then delivers. The Kenosha facility, built three years ago, sits on 4 acres of a 15-acre plot of land the family owns, so there is room to grow.