From farm to your front door

From farm to From farm to your front door your front door

Photo courtesy of Barb McCoy

Barb McCoy of Kennett Square founded JJ Produce Box.

Kennett entrepreneurs Kevin Quinlan and Barb McCoy created Logical Living and JJ Produce Box, which deliver fresh produce and other items

By Ken Mammarella Contributing Writer

Entrepreneurs from Kennett Square have created profitable businesses that deliver fresh local produce and other items.

“A lot of people want to support local businesses and local farms especially because these foods are healthier for them and they employ local people,” said Kevin Quinlan, who co-founded Logical Living in 2013. “But most people don’t know how to do it or have the time. We provide the conduit.”

“It’s fresh produce straight from the farm,” said Barb McCoy, who founded Juice Jarz and its JJ Produce Box subsidiary in 2019. “Customers can place an order and get contact-free delivery within 24 hours. People really like the service, and they can try things that they never have had before, such as sunchokes, which are also known as Jerusalem artichokes.”

Both businesses have pivoted from their founding concepts. Logical Living began “as a vehicle to help the environment in an economical way,” Quinlan said, crediting his wife Tobi for the original idea. “We were trying to do it, but the programs were quite pricey.”

McCoy began Juice Jarz when she was following her “love of produce and personal journey with juicing.” Her juicing began 18 years ago to cope with carpal tunnel syndrome and continues today, but her business is now focused on produce delivery.

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Photo courtesy of Barb McCoy

Eighty percent of the JJ Produce Box business is contact-free residential deliveries.

“While I realize there are plenty of options to have food delivered to you these days. none of them are able to bring you the incredible local products that are grown and harvested right here in Southern Chester County,” Quinlan said. “The food is better for you, and you are supporting your local farmers and economy by having Logical Living do the legwork and bring you the best our area has to offer.”

Milk and much more

Before Logical Living, Quinlan worked at the Traffic Safety Store in West Chester, and his wife worked as an information technology project manager in banking.

“Her corporate job allowed me to build this business,” he said.

Almost a decade ago, the Quinlan’s were trying to live a green life, recycling almost everything, installing low-flow aerators to halve their water use and considering solar panels (too many trees to be feasible). So their new business was to help other people on this environmentally friendly path, and the home page of www.logical-living.com counts 462 people who have pledged to make changes, with more counts

“Last night’s Quinlan dinner was a winner,” Kevin Quinlan wrote on the Logical Living Facebook page, with an eatlocal hashtag. “North Star Orchard fi ngerling potatoes, Coverdale Farm yellow waxed beans and Wild For Salmon sockeye salmon fi llet. It was delicious and if I can do it anybody can!!”

on reducing water and electricity used and waste generated.

Part of that green life is local food. Quinlan – who on his commute home used to pick up eggs, milk and butter from Baily’s Dairy at Pocopson Meadow Farm – decided to become a milkman, “out of my Subaru with big coolers.” It’s a throwback to his childhood in Unionville.

He then thought about the awesome harvest the family enjoyed in the Community Supported Agriculture program at Inverbrook Farm in West Grove, so he added a CSA share to Logical Living.

Logical Living now lists about 200 items on its website (offerings vary seasonally, of course), with 90 percent locally sourced, from about 40 vendors. Local is relative; on a recent day, the list began with Alaskan halibut, procured by Wild for Salmon in Bloomsburg, and ends with Wild Tiger coffee, made from South American and Indonesian beans by Golden Valley Roasters in West Chester.

Quinlan, now using a Sprinter refrigerated van, handles deliveries several days a week to Kennett Square, Unionville, Chadds Ford, Coatesville, Downingtown and West Chester.

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Photo courtesy of Kevin Quinlan

Kevin Quinlan of Kennett Square co-founded Logical Living.

Many partners

Quinlan last year added a Giving with Logical Living program that collects donations. The first outreach was to the Kingswood Community Center in Wilmington (full Thanksgiving dinners for 10 families). He has also regularly dropped off produce, yogurt, turkeys and other items to Kennett Area Community Services and recently gave $1,000 to the World Central Kitchen to help feed people in Ukraine.

“This has all been made possible by our generous and caring customers,” he said.

Baily’s milk remains one of the most popular items. “Baily’s Dairy fresh milk … is slow pasteurized at low heat, which makes it more nutritious than typical store bought ultra-pasteurized milk which zaps out most of the good stuff (hence vitamin A and D added back in),” Quinlan said.

“Pastured chicken, beef, pork and more from Lindenhof Farm, Buck Run farm and Walton-Myers Farm provide our customers with great tasting local meats that are lower in fat because the animals are raised on grass as they were meant to be.

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A Logical Living delivery box.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Quinlan

“Our fresh produce from Coverdale Farm, Barnard’s Orchard and North Star Orchards is so much better than buying grocery store produce that is picked or harvested way too early, which means it doesn’t taste as good and is not as nutritious as it should be. Some of our newer products that have been very popular are Dad & Will’s Microgreens and Nourish Cold Pressed Juices, both from Kennett Square.”

Of course, the Quinlans – Kevin; Tobi; their teen-age son Patrick; their dog Ranger; and their cats Splash, Captain and Tango – also get to enjoy this local bounty.

Ranger is particularly fond of the smoked salmon skins (dog treats prepared in West Chester), and the cats like leftover chunks of the canned Alaskan sockeye salmon. But there are no cat treats. “That’s a hole in the offering,” Quinlan acknowledged.

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Photo courtesy of Barb McCoy

Important partners for JJ produce box include Turk’s in West Chester for hot sauces, Fishtown Pickles in Philadelphia, Dad & Will’s in Kennett for microgreens and Beachy Keen in Sea Isle City for jellies and jams.

No subscription charge

McCoy grew up in South Philadelphia and said she has established good relationships with vendors at the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market.

A majority of her produce is from local farms, and important partners include Turk’s in West Chester for hot sauces, Fishtown Pickles in Philadelphia, Dad & Will’s in Kennett for microgreens and Beachy Keen in New Jersey’s Sea Isle City for jellies and jams.

On www.jjproducebox.com, she lists four sizes of produce boxes, two boxes with organic produce, a fruit box, a customized box and a gift box. About 100 other items can be added, but of course the list is seasonal, and the items in the boxes themselves vary by the season and to avoid monotony.

She said 80 percent of the business is residential deliveries – contact-free, a boon during the pandemic, and without a subscription charge. Customers can order deliveries every three days, weekly, biweekly or monthly. JJ Produce Box delivers daily to Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey.

Photo courtesy of Barb McCoy

The website for JJ Produce Box lists four sizes of produce boxes, two boxes with organic produce, a fruit box, a customized box and a gift box.

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