Grocery shopping has changed for people who want to stay away from crowded supermarkets. Many have turned to delivery and pick up options, some of those offered by national outlets.
One Spokane cooperative is offering those options to people who want to buy from local farmers. Brian Estes is the partnerships director at LINC Foods.
“The majority of those items are sourced from about 50 farms that are actually owners of the co-op, so they have a direct and long-term stake," Estes said.
Many of the co-op’s customers are institutional.
“We do a lot of work with universities and public school districts across the region, all of them have closed up shop, as well as with restaurants as well as some of the larger-scale hospitality industry. We do a lot of work with the Davenport Hotel group as well as Northern Quest Casino," he said. "A lot of the places that are used to serving a lot of food to a lot of people at once are the places that are unable to do that right now.”
So, to keep the business going, LINC is now marketing directly to households. People can buy food items produced at farms year-round: dairy products, eggs, meat and grains. Or they can arrange to buy weekly boxes of produce during the growing season. LINC says it offers both delivery and pick-up options, twice-a-week for each. You can find more information at the LINC Foods website.