Food Connects CEO Richard Berkfield, right, leads a staff meeting in April. Photos: Erica Houskeeper
by C.B. Hall, Vermont Business Magazine Brattleboro’s Food Connects joins the VermontBiz 100+ roster this year on the strength of 2023 total sales estimated at $3.1 million — an upswing from 2022’s $2.3 million, according to CEO Richard Berkfield.
Incorporated in 2013 as a nonprofit, Food Connects aims to “cultivate healthy food and farm connections in classrooms, cafeterias and communities,“ Berkfield said.
The company occupies 17,000 square feet, including 14,300 square feet of cold and dry storage, in the Brattleboro Development Credit Corp.’s industrial park on the north edge of the Windham County town.
The company employs 29 full- and part-time workers. Addressing the sometimes painful question of access to labor, Marketing and Communications Manager Donnie Ager said that “hiring has been tough in the past, but seems to be getting better.“ He credits the recent success to Food Connects’ appeal as both a nonprofit and a business.
Asked how the company distinguishes itself from profit-focused businesses, Berkfield said, “We’re very community-based. Our outlook is win-win-win: Win for the food producers, win for our customers and win for our own operations.“
“One hundred percent of our products are source-identified,“ he added. “Our customers know exactly where the food is coming from that they’ve purchased.“
In other ways, the operation resembles what one might expect from any food distributor — transporting products from some 150 suppliers to the company’s warehouse, then sending the goods out to more than 200 customers in any of six reefer trucks, one of which is a hybrid electric model.
The customers include schools, independent retailers and small-town hospitals. The sources include Westminster’s Harlow Farms and Warren’s Vermont Bean Crafters. The names may count for much in the world of Del Monte or Quaker Oats, but, Berkfield noted, working with the little players offers certain advantages.
Photo: Employee Raymond Johnston reviews inventory in a walk-in freezer. Photos: Erica Houskeeper
The localization of Food Connects’ sources, all of them situated in New England or New York state, allows the company to keep a tighter rein on logistics and increases commitment from all the parties in the supply chain. By contrast, he said, the big names used “the mainstream supply chain“ during the pandemic and ran into “all sorts of bottlenecks“ accountable to their logistical model.
By contrast, he said, “we were able to fill shelves. Mainstream distribution at scale is very efficient. But it’s not very resilient.“
That doesn’t mean it’s easy to sell the local product when a shopper can buy a pound of California — or even Canadian — carrots for under a dollar at the supermarket. Paying more for local carrots means the customer has to perceive clear benefits in return.
Accordingly, Berkfield said, “we’re working hard on the education part and the marketing part — and the branding — about why it’s important to buy a local carrot. At the end of the day, that’s our big challenge: trying to educate and create demand for our products.“
The object, he said, is “to create more of a resilient regional food system in partnership with others throughout New England and the Northeast.
“We’re replacing a source-unidentified product most likely from large industrial farms with one from a family farm in Vermont — more of a sustainable agricultural product,“ he said.
By way of example, he mentioned “replacing commodity meats at schools with Vermont grass-fed beef“ as one of his company’s accomplishments. Commodity foods, not prized for their quality, are distributed at low prices under a federally managed program for purchasing and distributing surplus production so as to support farm prices.
Berkfield has worked in the local and regional food distribution sector since 2009. Prior to that, he said, he worked in restaurants and then in refugee camps in Asia, where, he said, “I saw firsthand the value of community and culture connecting with their food.“
Keeping that connection in mind, Berkfield and his colleagues are running a business that’s a bit more than just a business.