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Small Bites
August 1, 2024
Creating opportunities to support & amplify Vermont products to buyers in the northeast & beyond through regional relationships while loaded also sharing insights affecting local food sales applicable to regions outside the state.
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Promote Values & Mission
Andy's Dandys is a Small Biscuit on a Big Mission. They were imagined into life in 2008 from Andrew's passion for exploring creative healthy recipes & his devotion to Rosie, the family's beloved canine companion, to ensure he'd have a fun place to work as an adult.
For folks with Down syndrome like Andrew, finding a meaningful job can be a real challenge. While they've since grown into a commercial bakery space baking thousands of treats a week, they are still hand crafting tasty & crunchy biscuits with all the delicious homemade goodness of those early days, packed to the brim with delicious flavors & 100% human grade ingredients.
This business has a mission-alignment with many of our coops, inde & farm & garden stores. Find all the best sellers here to stock your store or farmstand to serve the pooches. Contact Andy's for wholesale info & participate in our local economy multiplier effect.
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The Genny, the pulse of Craftsbury, has been looking forward to this week for a long time! A new produce cooler is being installed to meet the demand but also to help maintain the proper conditions & to make the produce easy to shop. They sell loads of local produce with an emphasis on organic, including from neighboring farm Pete's Greens.
This independent store works to meet its diverse customer base, they make decisions to maintain product integrity, & budget for equipment upgrades. As anyone knows who has done a big reset, there are snags to juggle, lots of product to move around, but ultimately these tasks are worth it. The upgrades pay off in the long run for improved sales through merchandising, better quality product, & maintaining standards.
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Selling Organics in Stores
Retail establishments are not required to become certified, however, they may voluntarily seek certification. They have the legal responsibility of preventing commingling & contamination of organic products with prohibited substances. Stores are responsible for keeping records that show products marketed as organic have been correctly handled from production through delivery, and to the customer. They are also required to comply with specific labeling requirements.
| Local products have been selling well this summer despite many closures of roads wiped out from both the July 10 & July 30th storms. Here, Lesser Distribution, based in Waitsfield with distribution down to Londonderry, Michael wheels in loads of VT products to City Market. | |
Something Cool: LA Bound
Savoure is a small batch, woman owned fruit & herbal based soda & seltzer company. They are going to Hollywood. OK, maybe not the big screen, but they are shipping by the pallet to LA. Over the years production has been based in Bristol, but not all that long ago they began to expand production & are using a VT based co-packer helping to make "big" sales happen. YAY Savoure! Local stores & farmstands have loved this company & now the west coast gets a taste of Bristol's unique handcrafted thirst quenching blends.
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And...News from Rogers Farmstead where "the taste rises to the top". A recent rebranding & repackaging of their premium 100 & pure Jersey, organic milk products will help them expand sales.
Jump on board & sell their cream-top chocolate milk which if you aren't aware has a tik tok-like following. Sales are off the charts at Hunger Mountain Coop. You too can increase your sales with this one-of-a-kind pint-sized refresher. Then get pumped up for their seasonal eggnog which is a winter version of the cult-like following.
In addition to a new revamped website from Sarah Hettinger Design, & a fresh new label, they expanded their DSD to reach more stores along the ACORN Food Hub & the Pumpkin Village Foods truck routes. Find all the yogurt & milk products & the range of sizes here.
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Patrick’s Artisan Bakery, was a featured vendor for July at Hunger Mountain Food Coop is top of the line for hand-crafted, uniquely flavored granola. Read how he grew to become one of our favorite breakfast cereal companies as “World’s Finest Granola”. Each batch is sweetened with Vermont organic maple syrup & each bake-day starts with coffee, tea & the crew catching up with one another. This element of care is the basis for great flavors!
In addition to the granola, they craft amazing soft pretzels available to select outlets including Lawson’s Finest Liquids in Waitsfield
His products are available through Lesser Distribution & can be found at stores throughout the NE area through online shipping.
As always with distribution info,
it is subject to change
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Retailers: Prepare for Vermont's Cheese Week
Plan ahead for September 7-15 a statewide celebration of all things cheese, including our 34 winners! Goat, sheep, cow cheese will be featured for the entire week.
More info to follow but click the dates for details to promote through your business.
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Store Support & Training Services
Main Street Market in Richford has been working with the Grocers Project to strengthen their team's skill set. This included small group merchandising "orienteering" with homework assignments for key staff to look deeply at the product mix to set new margin goals.
The store is a mission-driven non-profit & part of NOTCH, a federally supported healthcare center.
As a social grocery it provides access to resources including food & nutrition programs & jobs with livable wages & benefits. It is working to increase its support of local food producers. They welcome DSD deliveries & distributors selling VT products to contact them.
Catch this video about the store.
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Opportunity Awaits:
Food Producers
Taste of Montpelier Food & Arts Festival returns for its 4th year to the Capital City September 14th from 1 - 4pm. It is inviting all types of artisan specialty food producers from Vermont to join! Taste features local restaurants, favorite regional artisanal foods, local artists, chef demos, beer & cocktail gardens and being in Vermont, there will be amazing street performers!
Gain visibility for your products in this festive gathering. Vending details
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Defining VT Local
Ice Cream In Line with Local
In prior Small Bites, you have seen the clues about what is "local" to Vermont per ACT 129. Here is an example of a complying business:
Processed foods are broken into two subgroups. A product is considered a ‘processed food’ whenever it is not a raw agricultural product, but processed foods also include raw agricultural products that have been subject to processing, such as canning, cooking, dehydrating, milling, or the addition of other ingredients.
Processed foods include dairy, meat, maple products, beverages, fruit, or vegetables that have been subject to processing, baked, or modified into a value-added or unique food product.
Processed foods are “local” and/or “Vermont” food if:
• The majority of ingredients (meaning more than 50 percent of all product ingredients by volume, excluding water) are raw agricultural products that are “local” to Vermont;
• The product was either processed in Vermont or the food manufacturer is headquartered in Vermont (or both are true).
Sisters of Anarchy Farm to Cone line of products are local to Vermont, utilizing VT ice cream base, their own farm grown fruit, & are produced here too! Available DSD & they have expanded sales significantly to the region through the food hub network via Food Connects based in Brattleboro.
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Rain & Flooded Roads, Warehouses, Farms, & Stores: We Are All Connected
With ongoing threats, we are now thinking of infrastructure in a more comprehensive way. We are finding out again with the second significant flooding in a month the full scope of the connections between commerce, farms, roads, communities, & homes.
Just this week intense & torrential rain crossed Vermont severely damaging the northern & eastern portions of the state. Several towns with ag related businesses were also significantly flooded two weeks ago. (more storms crossed the state the last day of July too)
When our key ag businesses are flooded the impact is felt by farmers & hobbyists. One business that experienced catastrophic impact is Morrison's Feed Bag in St J. Their warehouse was wrecked with 6" of mud seen in this video. They had to toss over 20 tons of animal feed. However, with a location in Barnet too, they have available major feeds to meet the most pressing farm needs.
This farm & feed business started in 2007 is one of the many cornerstones supporting our diverse farms. At Morrison's they receive weekly deliveries of Vermont-made feeds. The staff are all about livestock & are highly knowledgeable. This is key to raising healthy animals. They make it easy to shop with bagged feed, bedding, hay, straw, & equipment for one-stop shopping. They also sell & deliver bulk feed to farms & with our many flood-related road closures this is a huge issue.
With community support from other area businesses, they are doing everything they can to get products out the door. They know many customers are dealing with their own disruptions from this round of flooding. Caring for both their customers and their animals is front & center.
When tragedy hits, as it did again this week, there are long-term repercussions. Emotions are high & uncertainty will be a presence for some time.
|  | "We have a wonderful team of family, employees and friends who have come together to start digging out. Huge shout out to All Around Power for letting me borrow their fork truck to move pallets to dry ground!" - Morrison's Feed Bag | |
Our federal legislators have posted resource summaries for farmers & overviews of compliance for support services.
Becca Balint reminds us all that the Disaster Distress Helpline (800) 985-5990 or the National Mental Health Crisis Line at 9-8-8 are available to all.
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Farmer as Retailer
Silloway Maple, one of our premium maple producers serves up summer joy with “the best of the best” Vermont creemees. They are made with real VT creemee base AND real Vermont maple, tapped from their trees. There is absolutely nothing like a pure maple creemee, a blend of our quality dairy & our signature forest product: Real Maple
Seven Days wrote an article on creemees which covered the 'base' & different flavorings. Many of our finest creemees are made from Kingdom Creamery dairy. Many farms have added creemees as a value-add for sales & customer engagement to enhance retail sales. Full Belly Farm in Monkton has worked their berries into refreshing farm-fresh creemees. Across the state, folks visit farmstands enjoying our seasonal & unique to Vermont “creemees”, our take on the “soft serve” summer delight.
|  | "As a sugarmaker, my concern is that consumers are getting a sometimes chemically maple taste from extracts rather than the true maple flavor from 100% pure Vermont maple syrup that we are so proud of. " -Silloway | |
Hudak Farmstand on Route 7 in St Albans is quintessential farm retail theater. It is eye-candy which making for abundant impulse sales. Utilizing good retail practices, it is easy to shop.
The farm is rich in decades of hand-carved decorations along with excellent displays with a touch of the rustic (see the picture at the page). They have a product mix to fit all culinary wishes & of course sells loads of their fresh produce, flowers, & local products across food categories. In addition to the carvings, there are gardens augmenting seasonal plant sales with an eye for the ‘visually intentional’. As the business has grown, it has very loyal local customers & summer folks drawn in for all things "good-food".
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DigInVermont, hosts the 10th Annual Open Farm Week. This is a chance for local producers to showcase their farm, often hosting special events, workshops, family-friendly activities. There is a range of things to do on participating farms from understanding no-till & regenerative agriculture to wine sampling, to lamb tasting, & a guided sugarbush hike. Find details & ways to plan for these and more at DigIn's comprehensive webpage.
Across the state, #Vermonting will be in full swing with every kind of farm operation open to engaging the public. Stores can circle in their producers with social media promos. This type of cross pollination supports the full supply chain for shoppers to recognize our inherent connectivity be it through commerce, or our need for land-based connections.
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August = Corn & Blueberries &
Farm Fresh Adam's Popsicles!!
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Networks Matter
On August 27th ACORN & the Middlebury Climate Action Program are co-hosting a screening of a feature film Farming While Black about the rising generation of young black farmers. Featuring Leah Penniman, co-founder of Soul Fire Farm, this documentary reflects on the plight of Black farmers in the United States. From the height of Black-owned farms at 14% in 1910 to less than 2% today, the film helps propel a rising generation of Black farmers finding strength in the deep historical knowledge of African agrarianism — & its potential to save the planet.
A panel discussion about land access with local Black farmers will follow, moderated by Samantha Langevin of the VT Releaf Collective. Showing this film in the heartland of Vermont's agriculture, where 0.33% of farms are Black-owned, is vitally important.
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Flood Related
Volunteer Opportunities
With disaster, comes need. Are you wishing you could help some of those in need in areas struck by recent flooding ? The pictures we've seen are devastating, & those in the middle of it all could use us as helping hands.
The Agency of Ag assembled organizations seeking volunteers & donations to assist those impacted by our current floods & storm damage. Find an organization that has boots on the ground.
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"Vermont is made up of so many tiny towns, but as a whole, we are one big community. Vermonters have taken care of each other for as long as we can remember." -Morrisville Food Coop | |
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Special Thanks: Lesser Distribution, Rogers Farmstead, Silloway Maple, Lot 49 Advisors, ACORN Food Hub, Hunger Mountain Coop, Montpelier Alive
Small Bites comes to you via grants & is created for farmers, food manufacturers, distributors, & grocers to increase VT food sales. We support the New England State Food System Planners Partnership effort to strengthen the regional food economy
Contact: Annie Harlow
smallbites802@gmail.com
All info is subject to change.
Created with support from the Canaday Family Charitable Trust
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