Locavorious expands team with new business in Ann Arbor

Locavorious recently hired its first year-round employee, a move that demonstrates the food start-up is growing.

The 5-year-old company partners with local farms to freeze fresh produce and keep it in a community freezer. It then sells that produce on a subscription basis. The idea is to capture produce at its peak freshness and then save it for locavores who would rather eat Michigan-grown vegetables than those trucked in from the other side of North America and beyond.

The Ann Arbor-based firm and its team of eight people (seven seasonal workers and one year-round) has 250 subscribers and plans to expand to 300 within the next year. It has also surpassed its goal of selling 10,000 pounds of produce over the last year.

“We put out about 12,000 pounds of food,” says Rena Basch, owner of Locavorious. “This year we have a production target of 14,000 pounds.”

Locavorious has also started selling its produce to local businesses, including Zingerman’s, Beezy’s, Mark’s Carts and Darcy’s Carts. Locavorious is also looking at expanding its reach beyond the Ann Arbor area into surrounding cities.

“It should resonate in surrounding communities, too,” Basch says.

Source: Rena Basch, owner of Locavorious
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.