What would you be doing right now on a typical workday?
There is no typical workday. I might be visiting a farm and discussing some new heirloom crops to grow, developing recipes, doing a photo shoot, making sales calls or checking on our numbers. Accounting is the least sexy thing, but the most important. You gotta know your numbers!
What’s the best part about your job? The hardest part?
I love any type of event where I can meet customers and feed them samples. It is invigorating to see their eyes widen in delight and the best compliment is to hear “That tastes like *insert food memory*”. Touching people with food is very powerful, and that is where the chance for change lies.
The hardest part is surviving. Unfortunately most of the food businesses dedicated to sustainable food are far from being sustainable from an economic perspective. It takes a lot of money to build a brand, serve the retail customers, keep inventory on hand... Consumers might think “that is expensive” if they see a jam or sauce or what not on the shelves in a store at $5.99. But rest assured – no one is making a killing on that. You need various levels along the distribution chain to get the product to customers. Back to the $5.99 example - to break even as a business that sells their products with an MSRP of $5.99, you have to sell 1,000 units a day. 365 days a week. For products that are not consumed several times a day (like bread, meats, dairy, produce), it is almost impossible to only serve a local market. You need to have a much wider customer base. And that takes a lot of time and money to build.
What do you think is the biggest obstacle for Chicago’s food systems to overcome?
We are very lucky here in Chicago, we have such a bounty surrounding us. The fruit, veggie and dairy farms are plentiful. The cheesemakers amazing. We even have local fish in the Great Lakes. And then there are all these talented food artisans and chefs creating beautiful interpretations of the ingredients. It is truly a celebration of the Midwest.
But we still have ways to go to make these experiences accessible for more people. Right now we are stuck: there are a few niche customers that are willing to pay the premium that it takes to make better food, but they are not enough to really impact the cost of the food. After all, it is a market: more demand leads to more efficiencies and better tools and that leads to lower cost, at which point more consumers can access the market. There are a great number of people working on solutions: collaborative structures, food hubs… Those are crucial if we really want a good, clean and fair food system.