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GOURMET NEWS DECEMBER 2015 www.gourmetnews.com NEWS & NOTES 1 2 Incubating Continued from PAGE 1 place where they couldn't access local food, even if it was available. They simply could- n't afford it." The organization started making plans to grow their economy so that citizens could afford to put local food on their tables. "When we did that study, we really discov- ered that it was time to look at bigger-pic- ture things that we could do," Waring says. That's how the idea of starting a kitchen in- cubator came up. "We are trying to break down the barriers for farmers, who are local, to sell to local institutions. There could be delivery constraints. It could be that the vegetables need extra washing be- fore they can go to schools.... We try to open that data so we can open the market to farmers." The organization also provides business education for local farmers, offering classes in how to make a marketing plan, crop en- terprise analysis, transition plans for farm- ers who are ready to retire and need a plan for how the farm could continue to oper- ate. "Our basic goal is to be a technical service provider for farmers," Waring says. "We are part of a network of providers across the state that includes the Agricul- tural Extension Service and other organiza- tions like ours to provide technical assistance.... We've been in this for only 3- 1/2 years at this point. It's still all pretty new for us. But we have been able to secure new markets for farmers. We are seeing ev- idence that this could be a viable addition to their revenue stream so that they can be sustainable on the land. That's a goal." Farmers are having to learn to be more and more diversified, and that's what we're here to help with, she continues. No one farm in Vermont has all the answers; they're all doing lots and lots of things. Jasper Hill Farm Jasper Hill Farm's mission is the conserva- tion of the working landscape of our com- munity, says Mateo Kehler. He and his steward of the land there.... It's unclear that the farm would have been able to survive without cheese as an economic multiplier to that land base." That milk is now going to the Food Venture Center to make Harbison, and once Harbison is generating enough sales to justify the cheese plant, it'll become a farmstead cheese, made on the farm where the animals that provide the milk for it are raised. "We're building a cheese business in which the farm doesn't have to do this huge capital outlay at the be- ginning. It's so hard to get into this busi- ness and to scale," Mateo says. "What we're trying to do is lower the barriers to entry and to plug a bunch of acreage in our community into the production of ar- tisan cheese but to do it without having to lay out all the capital." The ultimate plan is to build an artisan cheese business that will outlast the Kehler brothers themselves, Mateo says. "There's something that's compelling about devel- oping multiple producers of a single prod- uct in a tight geography," he says. "We're working on shifting the identity from the producer to the product, and we're hoping that over time we'll create the circum- stances in which the cheese will survive the people, so it becomes less about the cult of personality and more about the cheese and the place it's produced. That's a big cultural tradition." GN brother Andy operate Jasper Hill as a dairy and farmstead cheese operation and the home of the Cellars at Jasper Hill, an aging facility for cheeses made at Jasper Hill as well as cheeses made by other makers. Cel- lars at Jasper Hill cheeses won multiple awards from the American Cheese Society this year alone, including a third place in the Best of Show category for Harbison, which also won the first place award for a soft-ripened cheese made from cow milk. Additional awards included two first place awards for Cabot Clothbound Cheddars aged at the Cellars, a first place in the cat- egory for farmstead cheeses aged 60 days with 39 percent or higher moisture for Winnimere, a second place in the category for soft-ripened washed-rind cheeses for Willoughby and a second place in the cat- egory for a washed-rind cheese made from cow milk for Alpha Tolman. Andy Kehler serves on the Vermont Food Venture Center's board of directors, and Mateo is the official tenant who has a 10-year lease on 5,200 square feet of space that the brothers have turned into a mod- ern well-equipped cheese facility. "It's a space that we're using to incubate cheeses and cheesemakers that then move on to other farms in the area," Mateo says. "We're about to transition our first cheese out of the Food Venture Center onto a new farm in Greensboro that will be built in 2016 to 2017." That cheese is Alpha Tolman, which will be moving out of the Vermont Food Venture Center and into a creamery that's specifically designed and constructed to produce that one cheese. As it moves, its cheesemaker will move with it along with the equipment from the Vermont Food Venture Center facility that's used for that particular cheese and the associ- ated cash flow from the sales it has gen- erated. By the time it moves out of the Food Venture Center, it'll already have a market and it'll be generating the cash flow to pay for the costs of building its creamery. "The idea is that we're derisk- ing the start-up of farmstead cheese busi- nesses," Mateo says. As Alpha Tolman moves out of the Food Venture Center, its place is being taken by Harbison, the newly developed cheese that so impressed the American Cheese Society judges. "We're going to be scaling the pro- duction of Harbison up over the next two years," Mateo says. As production scales up, cash flow will increase, and in two years, that cheese will also move out of the Food Venture Center. It will be going to Andersonville Farm, which became part of the plan last year, when the Kehlers bought it in partnership with James Coe, who grew up on the farm before leaving Vermont to become an architect, marry and start his family. He and his wife Nella, also an archi- tect, practiced their profession on the West Coast before moving back to Vermont in 2009 with their two children. Coe went to work for Jasper Hill, working on its expan- sion projects as it grew, designing a Jasper Hill creamery and working on the cheese caves of the Cellars at Jasper Hill. When the farmer who'd taken over operation at An- dersonville Farm decided to retire last year, Coe and his wife partnered with the Kehlers to purchase the farm along with its producing dairy herd. "We had a champion – someone who wanted to take this project on and manage the business there, and we've partnered with Jamie and his family," Mateo says. "He grew up in the Anderson Valley and has an emotional connection to the land there, and he's going to be the next Hunting Continued from PAGE 1 Even for hesitant consumers who say they avoid online shopping because of perceived higher costs and questions over freshness, the A.T. Kearney study found that those views are softening and that paying more for home delivery was worth the price of convenience. "What we found is that now, around 80 percent of respon- dents surveyed would be willing to pay for home delivery instead of going to the store for pickup – even though the major- ity still visit stores to shop," says Randy Burt, Co-author of "Capturing the Online Grocery Opportunity" and Partner at A.T. Kearney. Burt and his colleagues at A.T. Kearney have studied consumer participation in on- line grocery purchases and noted that while the online market currently represents around two to three percent of the total food industry, that number is projected to increase to around 16 percent by 2023. As retailers interact with omnichannel shop- pers with personalized offers, pricing and promotional strategies tied to shopping preferences and past purchases, they will create integrated experiences for every shopper regardless of where and when they shop or what device they are using, accord- ing to the report. "The market is starting to appreciate the value of buying groceries online." says Lior Lavy, Co-founder and Chief Operating Of- ficer for Artizone, a specialty grocery deliv- ery company. "And at the same time, the market is also starting to appreciate buying sustainable foods from local vendors." Artizone is an online farmers market and home delivery service whose mission is to provide farmers and small store owners a direct connection to consumers who are looking for a diverse selection of locally produced groceries that can be delivered straight to their home. "We do whatever it takes to keep artisan shops from having to rely on the mainstream market." says Lavy, "Even though walk-in marketing is still sig- nificant, our site can reach customers 30 or 40 miles away." When asked about the company's biggest purchasers, Lavy pulls no punches and simply says, 'Everyone.'" "The elderly population uses us because they need the help; the [Millennials] use us because of the local sustainable movement and, of course, foodies," he adds. Lavy has watched the development of his artisan delivery service grow for the last five years, originating in Dallas at the end of 2010, opening a second facility in Chicago in 2012 and, most recently, open- ing a third facility in Denver earlier this year. Its success, he says, comes from the delivery logistics and online placement that his company focuses on, allowing the local producers to focus on bringing the best quality product to the table. "Currently we work with about 100 different local farmers and stores in the Dallas area, 120 in the Chicago area and around 13 or 14 in the Denver area." says Lavy, "It takes some time to get to 100." While dried groceries and packaged foods still represent the majority of online purchased products, the share of purchased perishables is continuing to grow, accord- ing to A.T. Kearney. Currently, Artizone of- fers a selection of products that range from Holy Cow Beef – extra lean, grass-fed ground beef – for $8.79 a pound to Ingle- hoffer Dijion Stone Ground Mustard for $6.72 a bottle, providing gourmet products at prices that compete with brick and mor- tar specialty food retailers. "We are proud to say we don't have any uplift on the prices for the consumer, I think we are better than Whole Foods," say Lavy. Earlier this year, Artizone received the Tech Titan Award, a technology adaptation award, in Dallas for its use of current tech- nology services that keep delivered food prices similar to the cost groceries would be if purchased at a brick and mortar store. Cote sees the recent adoption of buying groceries online as a positive sign that will not go away anytime soon. As long as cus- tomers have a wide range of choices on how they purchase groceries, there will al- ways be a market for anyone selling food products online. Burt understands this as well: "Shoppers want to transact when, where and how they want to...it's the current incarnation of the 'customer is always right'." GN "What we're trying to do is lower the barriers to entry and to plug a bunch of acreage in our community into the production of artisan cheese but to do it without having — Mateo Kehler, Cellars at Jasper Hill