food hub

about


LEAP's Food Hub is a place where local produce, proteins, and food products are purchased directly from farmers, food producers, and other food hubs and distributed through our programs: the LEAP Mobile Market, the LEAP Farm Share, LEAP's Community Produce Program, and the LEAP Community Store. LEAP's Food Hub specializes in purchasing food for direct-to-consumer sales.

Our Food Hub is also the home of our Processing Kitchen, where produce is frozen, dried, or turned into sauce or soup to preserve it for future retail sales.

How Can I Become a LEAP Food Hub Vendor?

If you are a farmer or food producer interested in a wholesale outlet that will serve your local community, we would love to talk with you.

To sell to LEAP's Food Hub, you must be either GAP-certified or fulfill the following requirements:

  • Complete a food safety training course at least every other year and submit your certificate
  • Complete an annual water test
  • Have product liability insurance (minimum $2 million policy)
For questions and to learn more, email: foodhub@leapforlocalfood.org.

What is LEAP's processing Program?

In 2022, LEAP began turning excess and "seconds" quality produce into frozen products to sell through the LEAP Farm Share and Mobile Market. This program minimizes food waste, stretches the seasonality of local produce, and creates local foods that are easier to handle for households with limited time and resources. Our goal with the program is to make local food more accessible and to create an outlet for farmers who have produce that is not "retail quality" but is still delicious and nutritious.

If you’re a farmer with "seconds" quality produce that would like to participate in LEAP’s processing efforts, email foodhub@leapforlocalfood.org

We utilize interns and volunteers in our processing program. If you're interested in helping to curb food waste, fill out our Volunteer Form

Image of Food Hub
Questions? Reach out to kitchen@leapforlocalfood.org for more information.
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