*Click on each title to jump to the company’s website.*
Artisan Beverage Co-op
Presenter: Garth Shaneyfelt
Artisan Beverage Cooperative is a worker co-op formed in 2013 from the merger of Green River Ambrosia LLC and Katalyst Kombucha LLC. We craft our beverages with love and care and a mind towards supporting our local communities and other co-ops. Local inputs include: honey, cider, schizandra berry, ginger and, of course, our fine co-owners and employees. Regionally and globally we strive to source ingredients from smaller farms (blueberries), other co-ops (sugar), and US manufacturers (bottles). Our meads (honey-wine) and Ginger Libation are primarily self-distributed in Massachusetts, while our Katalyst Kombucha brand is regionally distributed both locally and throughout the East Coast. We are a strong team of friends and neighbors and have great plans for 2014.
All Things Local Cooperative Market
Presenters: Bernard Brennan (Board President), Alan Sax (Store Manager), Bill McGinnis (Board Treasurer)
All Things Local Cooperative Market provides a marketplace for locally produced goods in the Pioneer Valley. All Things Local is like a year-round, indoor farmer’s market and crafts market, where producers receive up to 80% of the retail price they set for their products.
Provender
Presenter: Caithrin Rintoul
Provender is an online marketplace for farmers. Our platform empowers sales from small farms to businesses through technology to improve margins for farmers, monitor and maintain best practices on-farm, and to disintermediate the conventional supply chain, adding value for both parties. Launched this year in Canada and backed by some of the countries’ highest profile angels, we are growing into the US market in 2014.
Santa Oaxaca Taco
Presenter: Neftali Duran
The menu for S.O. Shop will feature the flavors of chef Neftalí Durán’s native state of Oaxaca, as well as local ingredients, specializing in tacos de canasta (braised meats) with a local meat option. S.O. Shop will be committed to buying local and regional ingredients, and supporting regional growers, while balancing cost factors to ensure business viability. Our goal is to create a viable socially responsible business that will cultivate awareness of Oaxacan cuisine and it’s importance to the foods of the world, as well as use real and accessible food as a catalyst for farmers, artists, and community members to engage in healthy dialogue and cultural exchange. Since 2003, Neftalí Durán has been running El Jardin Bakery, an artisanal bread bakery and cafe in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. His work has been featured on Food52.com and on Man Fire Food on The Cooking Channel.
Tregaverne
Presenter: Shannon Nichols
Tregaverne is a start-up creamery business in the Pioneer Valley. It is a project that will help consumers in the valley find local, healthy cultured dairy products while also supporting a local dairy community in finding a sustainable alternative market for their milk. Tregaverne will use traditional recipes and cultures to make various cultured dairy products. Milk will be sourced locally from farms that feed non-GMO feeds in collaboration with existing creameries in the valley as a way to balance their milk supplies.”
River Valley Market
Presenters: Rochelle Prunty and Dorian Gregory
River Valley Market is a consumer-owned retail food co-op located in Northampton, MA. This business was opened in 2008 with the support of 2,000 member-owners from the community. Their primary mission was to create a store that would support local farmers and the development of a vibrant local food system. The co-op constructed it’s 17,000 sq foot facility to meet silver level LEED green building criteria and includes a 35+ KW photo voltaic electricity generating system on the roof. After 5 years of operation the co-op is approaching $20 million in annual sales, employs over 100 people full time, serves over 1,300 customers daily, has over 6,100 member-owners, and purchases $3.2 million annually from local producers.