New food cooperative links farmers with customers
People share details about the Purple Porch Food Co-op in South Bend. (WSBT photo) SOUTH BEND — Local farmers and producers met face to face with new customers as the Purple Porch Co-op kicked off the season Wednesday night. MultimediaPeople and producers piled into the Good Shepherd Montessori School to purchase and sell locally produced foods. "We're the first to have this market concept weekly. We're the first in the nation actually to try that," said Tama Crisovan, vice president of Purple Porch Co-op. To buy the items, customers start at their computer. They order items from different vendors online. When customers show up, they are given a list of their order. They then go from vendor to vendor, picking up the items on that list. Chris Hebron is a vender at the Purple Porch. He says it's good to have some face time with his customers. "These are local producers, with local consumers buying it all, and the money stays here in the community. It's just a win win, I think," he said. Murray Weaver picked up his order and said he is happy to be meeting the people that handle his food. "We like to support local farmers and we would like to encourage people to do that so we figured we would start with ourselves," he said. Selling everything from blueberries to beef, the market expects to have its inventory grow as the summer rolls around. "As the season progresses, we're going to get a lot more farmers with a real big variety," said Crisovan. Most Popular |
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