Stranded without a farmers market, local producers find another way to sell their products

The pandemic is prompting some small businesses to come up with creative ways to survive. One local food producer found a new way to reach customers when farmers markets were closed during the statewide lockdown.

On most days Patty Pan Grill’s home-based kitchen in Shoreline is in different stages of tortilla and tamale production. Patty Pan is known for its grilled vegetable quesadillas and burritos at Seattle farmers markets. But today, the food is being packaged for online orders. In another room, there’s a collection of products from other solo food makers that will also be packed for delivery. Devra Gartenstein, founder of Patty Pan Grill, shows some of the items.

“These are teff bars,” she said. “Which is an Ethiopian grain and it’s an energy bar.”

But in March, when the state was under lockdown, she launched New Day Co-op, an online grocery delivery service.

Gartenstein said at first they delivered their own products.

“It just wasn’t enough,” she said. “We wanted to provide a better, rounded grocery experience, but we also didn’t want to just buy and sell stuff. We wanted partners, rather than vendors. So we thought the way to do that is to create a co-op.”

Members of this co-op are the producers, most of them are food makers who normally sell at farmers markets, but found themselves stranded without an outlet.

“I think we’re at a time right now when things are really ripe for new ways of doing things. So I thought, why not try this?”

Gartenstein didn’t have to look far for partners. One of them was Pickney Cookie Café, a gourmet cookie business that’s also been a fixture at the farmers market.

Owner Michael Pinckney says his signature cookie is the Brown Butter Brown Sugar Bourbon Spice, made with Woodinville Whiskey Bourbon.

“It is just a very, very serious cookie” he said.

Pinckney says being able to sell his treats through the co-op allows customers to get their cookie fix. And the delivery service makes it safe for everyone.

“It’s particularly wonderful during a pandemic when you want to spend less time out interacting with people.”

Even before the shutdown, Pinckney had always planned on expanding his business online, but the pandemic sped that up. And the interesting thing is, he’s been incredibly busy, even more so than pre-Covid times.

Farmers markets have gradually reopened, but the number of stalls are still small with priority given to produce farmers.

Alicia Guy owns Bitty Bouquet a small scale flower farm between Duvall and Carnation.

“A lot of my flowers last year went to weddings and I did bouquet deliveries to office buildings, and now the office buildings are closed. So I lost a bit of my market this summer.”

With the co-op though, it’s not a complete loss. It gives her an idea of exactly how many bouquets she needs to make. She also likes how someone else takes care of the delivery logistics.

“It’s made me feel more hopeful about getting through the season and making some sort of profit when it wasn’t looking really hopeful.”

So far, there are 20 producers who are part of the co-op, with more inquiring to join.

Founder Gartenstein thinks in many ways the co-op has become a business incubator, a way for people to test their big idea.

“Especially at this point, because it’s so hard to find other sales channels.”

And she says for consumers, it’s one more option when going out to get staples can be stressful.