Worcester Business Journal

14 Worcester Business Journal | September 4, 2017 | wbjournal.com F O C U S S M A L L B U S I N E S S Locally produced food finds its way from farms to restaurants and homes thanks to two small delivery companies Farm- to-table, delivered BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor F arm-to-table produce has been a trend for years, but getting it from the soil at Central Massachusetts farms to the tables at area res- taurants and homes isn't as easy as driving to a farmers market. A growing number of Worcester restau- rants feature local produce on their menus, and it's largely the job of one per- son who gets it there: Lynn Stromberg. Each Wednesday, she brings lettuce, toma- toes, flour and practically anything else grown locally to many of Worcester's most-known restaurants, including dead- horse hill, Armsby Abbey, BirchTree Bread Co. and Volturno Pizza Napoletana. "I wouldn't have moved out here if it wasn't for people like her," said deadhorse Chef and Co-owner Jared Forman, who came from Boston and New York City restaurants to open the Worcester eatery. Buying directly from farms is especially popular in Massachusetts. Despite it's small size, the state was fifth nationally in direct-to-consumers farm sales at $136 million in 2015, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey. The demand from restaurants and consumers has spawned farm-to-table delivery services like Stromberg's Lettuce Be Local in Sterling and Central Mass Locavores in Westminster, who are the early players in a startup market. Nationally, nearly half of direct-to-consumer farm sales take place at farms themselves, according to the USDA, while one-fourth are at farmers markets and only 7 percent online. Knowing the players Stromberg's job is more about creating relationships between farms needing to sell their produce and res- taurants that would buy locally if only it were easier. "The actual act of delivering produce is the last thing I do," she said. Lettuce Be Local is now five years into an operation by Stromberg's esti- mate has brought $500,000 to area farms that oth- erwise might not have happened. Farms produce enough supply they're often left looking for where to sell it, she said. When Stromberg – the founder and chief lettuce officer – worked for a hospitality company, she'd pes- ter kitchen staff about buying locally more. It wasn't so easy, she was told, but using her farm connections, she found farmers were looking for a go-between. "I thought, 'Maybe there's something to this,'" Stromberg said. Delivering the goods Lettuce Be Local draws from a few dozen farms in an area from Fitchburg to Sturbridge and Orange to Milford. Stromberg also delivers farm-to-farm, help- ing fill out needed produce for farmers markets, and to breweries needing local hops. The business, which serves to verify fresh-produce claims by farms or res- taurants, has spread entirely on word-of-mouth. Deadhorse hill has a standing order through Stromberg for greens for salads, flowers and tomatoes. "The products are here," Forman said. "They pass by Worcester and go to the larger markets, and I don't think that's a very sustainable system." There's an unquantifiable benefit to what Stromberg does, she says, like being able to sit at a restaurant and know exactly where the steak or squash came from. "That is legitimately living the dream," she said. Emily Harvey, the manager and sixth-gener- ation member of Harvey's Farm in Westborough, met Stromberg at a farmers market shortly after Lettuce Be Local began. Stromberg, 36, and her husband, Lee, 34, need- ed eggplant for a large dinner they were plan- ning, an event they hold occasionally. It turned into a partnership in which Harvey sells toma- toes, summer squash, cucumbers, herbs and other produce in a way she wouldn't have been able to before. "It was harder to fit into what their scheduled needs were," Harvey said of working with restaurants before. "Putting it together as she has wasn't really realistic for us." Stromberg empathizes with the farmers, who may often struggle with long hours and old equipment to make ends meet. "How they are able to operate every day is one of the most amazing things to witness," she said. Delivering the goods, to home Central Mass Locavore in Westminster delivers not farm-to-table, as an attentive diner might notice on a menu, but farm-to-door. Anyone can order online, and Lynn Stromberg, founder, Lettuce Be Local Tim Hildreth, co-owner of Central Mass Locavore, wants to expand his home-delivery service from North County to Worcester and Concord. Farms: 1,560 Acres: 101,808 Sales: $57,478,000 Worcester County farming, as of 2012 Source: Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources P H O T O / G R A N T W E L K E R

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