"Consequently, distributors are popping up all over the country. Cherry Capital Foods, for example, is trying to establish a regional system in the Grand Traverse area. Meanwhile, Sysco, a $3 billion broad-line distributor, is seeking to provide local foods to its customers as a brand. Last year it sold $1 million in local food in Michigan, said Gollan, “a mere drop in the bucket” but a step in the right direction because they know how to do the job.
The local food system has primarily been a social movement, said Gollan. Policymakers have recently gotten involved and developed various means for start-up businesses. Now businesspeople are seeing the viability of local food and setting up infrastructure to make it happen at a profit and with greater accessibility.
Regions like the state’s northwest are also rebuilding their local economies by forming partnerships among businesspeople, economic developers, schools, grocers, restaurateurs and food retailers, reported the Great Lakes Bulletin News Service."
