6 minute read
CASE STUDY: MARKETING
Ripe Revival Market | Rocky Mount
STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE
Rocky Mount’s Will Kornegay created a means to feed people in need, reducing food waste and supporting local farmers in the process. It’s helping many people live better.
Agriculture is North Carolina’s No. 1 industry, contributing more than 16% of the state gross product in 2019, according to a N.C. State University report. N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says the state’s more than 52,000 farms work 8.5 million acres. They grow a variety of field crops, including the most sweet potatoes in the nation, watermelons, tomatoes, corn, grapes, squash and blueberries.
But farming doesn’t guarantee selling. Some North Carolina produce never leaves the field. It’s left there to rot, because it’s deemed too mishappen or blemished to be sold in stores or used by processors. The fact that it’s edible, nutritious and delicious is moot. It’s part of the 108 billion pounds of food that’s wasted in the U.S. annually, according to Feeding America, a nationwide network of foodbanks.
The food-waste problem has grown worse during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also has tightened markets for farmers and cost processors customers, including restaurants that closed to meet restrictions intended to stop the virus’s spread. Some will never reopen. Rocky Mount’s Will Kornegay sees these issues and others at the local level.
Kornegay knew that pandemic-induced supply problems would raise the retail cost of food. That along with unemployment forced many low- and middle-income households, which spend a disproportionate share of their income on food, to cut back on groceries. U.S. Department of Agriculture says more than 10% of U.S. households were food insecure at some point during 2020.
The pandemic led Kornegay, who earned a business degree with a concentration in marketing from N.C. State University in 2009, to put his food knowledge, farming connections and business sense to work in a new way — Ripe Revival Market. “It is committed to making access to healthy foods easy, while also making an impact for those in need,” he says.
Kornegay has experience in the food industry. He and his sister Laura Hearn co-created Glean, a company that markets farmers’ unused crops to consumers, in 2017. They formed Ripe Revival to make “functional foods with the nutrient-density of agricultural products” two years later. Its gummies — blueberry, peach, grape and cinnamon swirl — contain vegetables such as sweet potatoes, beets, lemons and pumpkin. “It caught the eye of The Kroger Co. Foundation, and we still sell them on the website,” he says.
With support from the N.C. Small Business and Technology Development Center and his other businesses, Kornegay launched Ripe Revival Market. He says it welcomed hundreds of members in its first week. Each receives a weekly delivery of farm-fresh food. “[They] have access to fruits and vegetables but also meats and dairy on a recurring basis, where they trust us to curate a box that is local products and deliver it to their door,” he says. “We have probably 20 local farms for our box supply specifically. People can sign up [at riperevivalmarket.com], get a tracking number and go into their account every week to change the products or skip a week. It’s a convenient way to support local business.”
And for each member order, Ripe Revival Market delivers a box to someone in need. For every $24-to-$27 box of “ugly produce,” for example, a similar box is donated to a group such as a Boys and Girls Club or YMCA. “It’s perfectly edible,” Kornegay says. “It just might be misshaped.”
Ripe Revival Market fights three problems. It reduces farm waste, specifically edible crops left in fields because of cosmetic defects that make them unmarketable. It finds markets for agricultural products, replacing those lost to COVID such as restaurants. And it works to mediate economic uncertainty — financial trouble, job loss, closed schools — and the rising rate of hunger.
Ripe Revival Market’s solutions are varied. It supports family farmers by providing profitable solutions for their “perfectly imperfect” crops. It opens access to farm-fresh produce and locally produced food through delivery and with snacks made from locally grown ingredients. It supports neighbors in need; every box purchased equals a box donated. And it embraces unity, coming together to love and serve others.
Ripe Revival Market has about 20 employees. “We had four [employees] when we started with COVID,” Kornegay says. “We’re such a new business that we couldn’t get any [federal Paycheck Protection Program] loan support, so we did this ourselves through communities that support us. And we continue to grow with that model.”
Will Kornegay with his wife and daughter
Kornegay’s relationship with SBTDC goes back several years. “I knew the organization and reached out during the last year with Ripe Revival and told them we were looking to hire salaried employees,” he says. “They helped read through the resumes and job descriptions and were able to fine-tune those.
-Will Kornegay
Ripe Revival Market’s roots are in Farmers to Families Food Box Program, a program Kornegay worked with last summer. Hundreds of volunteers packed and distributed more than 5,000 boxes per week. When it ended, he called on the community to help him replicate the process. “In the large scheme of things, [Farmers to Families] didn’t move the needle on food waste, but there were government-funded food programs that allowed farmers to be helped,” he says. “Through the Farmers to Families Food Box Program, we packed over 54,000 boxes and distributed them to more than 5,000 families over three months.” From July through September 2020, boxes of produce were delivered to Nash, Edgecombe, Halifax and Wilson counties. “We brought in produce every week and put it in 15-pound boxes and worked with 40-plus nonprofits to distribute to families on need.”
Working with farmers nationwide, Kornegay pulled local goods along with apples from Washington state, produce from Florida, and eggplant and peppers from New York state. “We were fortunate to be a small piece of a program here in our area and earn the trust of partners in the community,” he says. “Now we’re lifelong partners working to tackle food insecurities in similar ways. The mission is to impact communities by bridging the gap between farm excess and food access. We also work directly with farmers to help them market to restaurants and retailers, and local outfits, to help them diversify how they grow, pack and distribute.”
Kornegay says his businesses are profitable, and things are coming around. “The runway gets shorter every day,” he says. “We like to say we were put here on Earth to do good. And our role in why we decided to build a mission-driven business is to support people through a common currency everyone understands, which is food. We’ve had long stressful days and sleepless nights, but it’s a blessing, because we can take our experience and knowledge and our business and serve people.” ■
