Locavorious has enjoyed some solid growth in the last year and is preparing to staff up for the 2013 growing season with half a dozen new hires.
The Ann Arbor-based business preserves the produce created at local farms by freezing it in a community freezer. That food is then sold on a subscription basis so customers can capture local food at its peak freshness. More money stays in the local economy and less food is trucked in from the other side of the continent.
Locavorious' subscriptions were up 12 percent to 265 over the last year, and the 6-year-old firm's goal is to cross the 300 threshold by next spring. Last year it faciliated the sale of 14,000 pounds of food and it's looking to do even more this year by widening more channels to supply fresh local food to the Ann Arbor area.
"We are doing a lot more retail on top of our subscriptions," says
Rena Basch, owner of
Locavorious. The company became a Whole Foods-certified seller last year and the store near the Ann Arbor-Saline Road is carrying six of its products.
"I am talking to two other stores," Basch says. "We will hopefully put more products into our retail channel."
Basch also wants to expand Locavorious' coverage area beyond the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area. The Plymouth area appears to be a likely candidate for expansion.
Source: Rena Basch, owner of Locavorious
Writer: Jon Zemke
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