The FoodHub team is breaking out the bubbly – a bubbly bottle of fruit soda that is: Hotlips Soda is our 3,000th Member!

A subsidiary of Hotlips Pizza – the group of five family-owned restaurants that tossed their first pie in Portland back in 1984 – Hotlips Soda draws its distinctive flavor profiles from the bounty of the Northwest. The company actively nurtures relationships with local farmers to keep its supply chain stocked: In 2011 alone they produced about 45,000 gallons of soda and bought more than $78,000 of fruit from local farmers.

Almost two years old, FoodHub built its online directory and marketplace to help companies like Hotlips Soda grow. The soda company joins beverage producers already on FoodHub, like Sage & Sea Farms and Blossom Vinegars, both in Portland, Vincent Family Cranberries in Beaverton, OR, and Sajen Inc. in San Francisco, which all leverage distinctive fruits grown around the region and transform them into one-of-a-kind, sip-able specialties.

Hotlips’ Chief Brewer, Greene Lawson, preparing Chester Blackberries for soda.

“A lot of fruit that comes out of the Northwest is really unique,” said Hotlips’ Co-Owner David Yudkin. “What we want to be is a strong regional soda company and we feel like our advantage is that we’re using fruit that you can’t get elsewhere in the country.”

Now, Yudkin said, he’s hoping to use FoodHub to connect with some of the more than 100 Northwest retailers actively looking for wholesale products on the site.

“A really good market for us is farm stands,” he said. “When the owners taste the soda they recognize the quality of the fruit because they know fruit. … And there’s a sense of pride because we’re a local, family-owned business.”

Hotlips’ current line of flavors includes cherry, black raspberry, strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, boysenberry and pear, but as important as where the fruit comes from, Yudkin said, is who grows it and its level of quality.

“The most recent flavor we put in a bottle was cranberry. Early on we tried cranberry, but the only thing we found on the market was cranberry concentrate. We didn’t really pursue it at first because we didn’t have a direct farm connection or any roots to the flavor,” Yudkin said. That changed when they were introduced to a cranberry farmer in Sixes, OR, who wanted to get out of commodity markets and sell his berries locally. Now, you can find the name Seaview Farms on bottles of Hotlips’ cranberry soda.

“To me, that’s the pinnacle of success,” said Yudkin. “It’s a deal that works for the farmer, that works for us, and the end product has identity preservation.”

And, while Yudkin hopes to do more selling through his FoodHub connections, he also noted that Hotlips’ line of 10 flavors is only the beginning, which means fruit growers on FoodHub could also have a chance to end up in a bottle of Hotlips’ suds. Sodas already in production require upwards of 1,000 pounds of fruit for a bottling, however, Yudkin said, there is some room for new flavor experimentation.

“If we can get our hands on unique fruit that isn’t available at a scale that lends itself to bottling we serve it on draught,” Yudkin said. “That way we can get a sense for the quality and the consistency of the fruit and start developing a relationship with the grower.”

While Yudkin is no stranger to working with local growers, he said getting into the soda business has had no shortage of new challenges.

“There are different stages that you go through and it’s hard to know what the sweet spot is,” he said. “As you get bigger you run into distribution issues and figuring out what’s appropriate for retailers or wholesalers. You have to be on your toes and there’s a huge learning curve, but,” Yudkin said, “it’s also really interesting and really rewarding.”

So, help us celebrate this latest stage in FoodHub’s development by grabbing a locally-sourced bubbly beverage of your own and join us in a toast to what’s next. This is just the beginning – stay tuned!

A year ago FoodHub Member Pete Mulligan, owner of Bull Run Cider in Forest Grove, OR, didn’t know anything about kiwis. What he did know what was apples. And after developing his skills for the past three years as a home brewer he was making plans to break into the cider business. Kiwis were not part of the plan. All that changed when an elderly landowner approached Mulligan about managing their two-and-a-half acre kiwi orchard that had been in operation in the Hillsboro, OR, area for the past 26 years.

Mulligan agreed to take on the job and after bringing the orchard to harvest was confronted with another challenge: How to sell the fruit.

“We were concerned because we didn’t know how to market the fruit,” Mulligan said. “We thought we were going to have to knock on doors all over the place just to start getting the word out.”

Instead, while browsing Facebook one day, he found FoodHub.

“I sent out about 11 emails and made a handful of connections and was able to sell everything rather quickly,” he said. “With sales, most of the time, its boots on the ground. FoodHub allowed us to not have to work the phones or put boots on the ground and connect with a lot of people very quickly.”

Not only was Mulligan selling a product he had never marketed before, he was also working with an entirely new clientele: schools. His newly burgeoning client list included Centennial School District in Portland, Tigard-Tualatin School District in Tigard, OR, and Lake Oswego School District in Lake Oswego, OR.

As the Food Services Director for Lake Oswego School District, Marcie Christiansen has been focusing on purchasing more local products for her cafeteria for the past couple years. Now, she spends as much as 40 percent of her budget in the local food marketplace including blueberries that she found by using FoodHub last year.

“I go on FoodHub whenever I get an email,” she said. “I don’t know where the kiwis come from that I usually purchase – I purchased kiwi from Pete because he was a local grower. Getting product to my schools when I purchase from a local farmer can be hard because I don’t have an in-house delivery service, but Pete was kind enough to take it to all of the schools in my district. It worked out really well.”

“That was a lot of work,” Pete said of making the deliveries to the Lake Oswego schools, “but we were able to leverage FoodHub to save time and expedite other parts of process. There’s no tool I’m aware of in the marketplace that can do that that’s so interactive.”

However, said Mulligan, FoodHub’s interactive features only go so far without any attention from the actual user: When he was actively marketing his kiwis Mulligan was spending as much as five hours per week laying the groundwork for his eventual connections by looking up buyer information, making phones calls, adding and updating information on his profile and utilizing the marketplace.

“Make it easier to do business with you by listing as much as you can about your product and your business in your profile,” he said when asked what he would recommend to other sellers seeking success. “Make your profile work for your customer. For example, we included information on how to store and handle kiwis.”

Now, while still in the process of expanding his cider business, Mulligan is looking at FoodHub not only for the kiwis he plans to sell next year, but for other products as well.

“FoodHub is advancing food grown and harvested locally,” he said. “It literally connects the dots and gives you a very clear picture of what it offers. And it’s not just a one way tool for sellers – it saves a headache for buyers too. As a new business FoodHub has given us hope and an opportunity to sell other products. Not just kiwi, and not just to schools.”

Instead, we offer season’s greetings and toasts from each member of the FoodHub team…

	My wish for 2012 is that diners everywhere ask the question “where’s this from?” every time they eat out. Chefs already sourcing conscientiously would get to tell the stories of their incredible producers, and those who don’t have a good answer could find one using FoodHub! Amanda Oborne is the newly appointed FoodHub Director. In her 15-year marketing and communications career Amanda has focused on helping independently-owned small and medium businesses succeed in their markets. She joined FoodHub in 2010 to help make the site an effective sourcing tool for chefs, and thus a productive marketing tool for producers.
	“Darn those FoodHubbers! This tool would be so great if only it did X.” If those words ever cross your mind or pass your lips, I want to know what X is. My mission is to make FoodHub the friendliest, most useful piece of technology you interact with all day. Will Moore is the Lead Developer at FoodHub and joins the team with 10 years of web development experience. Will’s passion is building sites that are 100% intuitive because they were built based on deep user understanding and input, and now he wants that input from you!
	I am inspired every day by our Members. They are thought leaders and pioneers – changing the food industry by doing it differently in their own businesses. I feel really lucky to support them through FoodHub and can’t wait to see who joins next! Megan Foucht is FoodHub’s Membership and Marketing Coordinator. She’s the one who will answer when you call 855-FOODHUB or email meet@food-hub.org. Always ready with an answer, an idea, or a few words of encouragement, Megan is like the cruise director who will ensure that your experience on FoodHub is a good one. Go ahead, call her!
	I am so excited that food service directors at K-12 schools and childcare centers who want to buy and serve more regional foods have access to this amazing tool that helps them easily connect with producers in their area. It’s the right tool at the right time and is already making a huge difference in the mission to get healthy food into schools! Stacey Sobell is the Farm to School Program Manager for Ecotrust and the Lead for the eight-state western region of the National Farm to School Network. She works across districts, organizations, policymakers, and funding sources to help make it possible for kids to eat healthy food grown in their community while at school, to get their hands dirty in school gardens, and to learn good nutrition in class.

How long have you been in business?

We started two years ago in September.

How did you get started?

We had been in the food industry for over 20 years and loved the cart scene. My husband had a spur of the moment thought as he was perusing craigslist and found a cart. We’re always game for a new adventure and so within two days the cart was in our driveway. Five weeks later we were in business.

How are you going to put your new iPad to use?

We’ll use it for everything from ordering to credit card processing. All kinds of things.

Any plans for using FoodHub to source more local products?

I want to start using FoodHub more in the New Year. It’s a cool tool to have at our finger tips and I’m excited to really start getting more local produce directly from the farms. That’s what I love about FoodHub: You can connect directly with the farmer.

Thanks Julie and congrats!

Over a delicious breakfast including tastings of some of finalists’ charcuterie, preserves, cheese, coffee, chocolate, and even whisky (!) Good Food Awards director Sarah Weiner explained, “the companies behind this year’s 144 Good Food Awards finalists are incredibly diverse, from an eight person goat cheese dairy in Harrisburg, Missouri to a 400 person brewery in Colorado.”

Sarah went on to explain that the Good Food Awards, and indeed the good food movement, are having an economic impact and helping create jobs in urban and rural areas nationwide. “All around the country these small and medium size businesses are creating good jobs for their community and supporting other local businesses, from dairies to sustainable farmers to local graphic designers. Food manufacturing is one of the largest growth industries in the country, and ‘good food’ producers are creating both food and jobs that nourish our communities.”

Almost 1,000 products from 25 different states were entered in the competition, now in its second year.

Congratulations to the good food producers on FoodHub for showing up big in the finalist list! Drumroll, please… the FoodHub Members who are finalists for a 2012 Good Food Award are:

Pike Brewing Company – Pike Naughty Nellie Golden Style Ale, Washington

Adesso – Speck, California

CHOP Butchery & Charcuterie – Herbs de Provence Salami, Oregon

Gary West Smoked Meats – Elk Strips, Oregon

Tails & Trotters – Liver Pate & Pork Pastrami, Oregon

Goldin Artisan Goat Cheese – Certoux, Oregon

Rivers Edge Chevre – Sunset Bay & Valsetz, Oregon

Saint Benoit Yogurt – Organic Yogurt Cheese, California

Lillie Belle Farms – Perfect Illusion 65 Chocolate, Oregon

Klatch Coffee Inc – Ethiopia Worka, California

Noble Coffee Roasting – Columbia Finca San Luis, Oregon

Coldwater Canyon Provisions – Spiced Crabapples, California

Farmhouse Culture – Smoked Jalapeno Sauerkraut, California

Firefly Kitchens – Cortido Sauerkraut, Washington

OlyKraut LLC – Eastern European Sauerkraut, Washington

Deluxe Foods – Jeweled Strawberry Preserves, Washington

Ellelle Kitchen – Fig Walnut with Backyard Orange, California

Plumline – Raspberry Jam, California

Sweet Creek Foods – Organic Raspberry Fruit Spread, Oregon

Wine Forest Wild Foods – Wild Elderberry Syrup, California

1512 Spirits – Barbershop Rye, California

Cascade Peak Spirits, Inc – Organic Nation Vodka, Oregon

Wylie Howell Spirits, LLC – Whiskey, California

A full list of this year’s Good Food Award Finalists is available at www.goodfoodawards.org. Winners will be announced in a beautiful ceremony and award dinner in San Francisco’s legendary Ferry Building on Friday, January 13th.

We really believe connecting online helps build relationships in the real world too. And so with that in mind, and thanks to a generous offer from Whole Foods Market to use a store parking lot, ‘Lean Against the Truck: Face Time without the Frills’ was born.

Almost 50 FoodHub sellers – with products ranging from specialty vinegars to salt, fresh meat and veggies – had signed up to sample their wares to wholesale buyers. Many of them did exactly what we had hoped – pulled up a truck and let down the tailgate to display their products. Here’s a sample of what buyers found last Thursday:

• Fresh Produce from Ariel’s Sustainably Grown, Val’s Veggies, Artisan Organics and the Sheridan Fruit Co.
• Meats (and a vegan substitute!) from Pat ‘n’ Tams Beef, Deck Family Farms and SortaSausage LLC.
• Gluten free baked goods from Ammie’s Goodies, Gluten Free Concepts and Brazi Bites LLC.
• Cheese from Golden Glen Creamery, Cada Dia Cheese and Dee Creek Farm.
• Specialty products from River Wave Foods, Blossom Vinegars, Sage & Sea Farms, and Roll Chocolates…

…. And so many more. It was a picture perfect fall day for foraging these fantastic Pacific Northwest goods and, almost better than the sun showing up, was the array of buyers who attended.

Buyers who stopped by to check out the action, meet vendors and make connections included Jason French from Nedd Ludd, Denise Breyley and Bruce Silverman from Whole Foods Market, Matthew Stupey with Soup Cycle, Greg Sweeting with Cascadia Behavioral Health Care and Gitta Grether Sweeney with Portland Public Schools. As an additional incentive for buyers to attend we offered up cold hard cash and raffled off $600 that could be spent with vendors who had product to buy on site or for up front orders.

“Wow! Awesome event AND $100,” Picklopolis wrote on our Facebook wall. “I bought chicken, pork, flour, beef , beans and cheese. Met a bunch of new vendors. Thanks Food Hub!”

And from Katie Pearmine of the Oregon Department of Agriculture: “Wonderful event, FoodHub! I talked with a handful of buyers and sellers and saw deals being made left and right. Keep ‘em comin’!”

As the event progressed we witnessed several connections being made not only between buyers and sellers, but also between vendors: Nicky USA connected with Heritage Farms Northwest to potentially source their suckling pigs, Diane Sciacca from Sciacca’s Focaccia talked to Jacobsen Salt Co. about using their product on her focaccia, B-Line Sustainable Urban Delivery talked about tentative plans to transport orders for Chop Butchery.

Making connections between wholesale buyers and sellers is what we’re all about, but the key ingredient to making an event like this work is getting buyers involved. We enticed them with cash, but what are some other ideas? Send us an email at events@food-hub.org with your brainstorm. We just might use it if we host a “Lean” in your area!

As always you can make connections any time, day or night, rain or shine from the comfort of your own PC on FoodHub!

It truly was a beautiful day.

With beautiful product …

… And wonderful people.

Click here to see the full photo gallery!

“Any time we spend in the office is precious,” said Christine Deck of Deck Family Farms in Junction City, OR. “I think the biggest challenge for our farm is the time it takes to solicit the sales.”

Deck Family Farm joined FoodHub soon after the site was launched and struggled at first to work it into their day-to-day business. Now, however, FoodHub is a part of their overall marketing efforts and, after setting up their profile, they’re finding that it takes just a short amount of time each day to start getting some attention.

“On average I spend about 10 minutes a day on FoodHub,” said Deck Family Farm’s office manager Cassandra Timms. “On Monday and Tuesday we call all of our wholesale accounts and post what we have an overstock of and what we have on special in the FoodHub Marketplace.”

And Timms said, working FoodHub into their day-to-day routine has been paying off for their farm.

“FoodHub has opened doors by word of mouth to chefs who have tried our products and then referred some of their friends to our farm,” she said. “We didn’t have to do the footwork or cold call them when they don’t have the time – they were just referred to us. That makes it worth those 10 minutes a day.”

Similarly, Phil Greifs of pdFarms and Greifs Gourmet in Elgin, OR, found the value of spending a small portion of time each day on FoodHub.

“You have to check in on FoodHub,” he said. “I check My FoodHub twice a day during the week just to see what’s out there.” And, he said, being active on FoodHub has brought welcome change to other parts of his business as well. “It just seems like the connections keep coming,” said Greif. “I was making deliveries to Portland once a month and sometimes every other week. Now it’s on a weekly basis and I partner up with another farm – who is also a FoodHub member – and take turns making deliveries.”

While FoodHub’s role is usually a sales and marketing function, for pd Farms the site has made a difference in what gets planted in the ground as well.

“We’re not planting more crops; instead we’re planting more of the crops that grow better here,” said Greif. “We used to raise 30 different varieties to take to farmers’ markets. Now I grow 16 crops that do really well here and I sell it all because of the connections I’ve made on FoodHub.”

In this newsletter we usually shine a spotlight on individual Members who have connected on FoodHub and tell their stories. This month however, the whole community is in the fine focus of the media!

One of our favorite stories was this stunning slideshow compiled by Sustainable Business Oregon showing how producers and chefs use FoodHub. We especially love the image of turkeys playing follow the leader with Tipping Tree Farm’s Ivan Maluski! Get an in-depth look into FoodHub’s recent developments in the accompanying article about FoodHub’s online facelift.

The community really came together a couple of weeks ago when FoodHub’s project director, Deborah Kane, was invited to The White House as a Rural Champion of Change. FoodHub Members from rural areas across the region provided input before the trip on opportunities for economic development in their communities, which Deborah got to pass along to the President himself! For more on Deborah’s visit to the White House check out this story by the Oregonian.

Also last week, the Associated Press did a story on a USDA report explaining what works in farm-to-school programs, and picked up on the role FoodHub has come to play in bringing farm-fresh food to school cafeterias. Check out the Washington Post’s version of the article.

But wait, there’s more! The USDA also wrote a blog post describing the role of “food hubs” in helping build local food economies and highlighted FoodHub’s success as a virtual hub connecting wholesale buyers and sellers in this region.

As you can see there’s a lot to be excited about and the media has caught wind of the energy buzzing around the FoodHub community. In the midst of all this, we at FoodHub announced some major news of our own, in that we just launched FoodHub 3.0! Read the press release and get the lowdown on all the new improvements.