Fund Investments

Term Loan

Lakeshore Depot, opened in 2020, serves as a “farm stop” (a hybrid grocery store/farmers market) that exclusively features local and regional foods and seasonal, fresh produce. Additionally, they have a deli and primarily make soup, sandwiches, and beverage items featuring local ingredients. Lakeshore Depot is unique in its Marquette, MI community for its focus on local and regional foods and its participation in the Double Up Food Bucks and Fresh Food Access programs.

Fair Food Fund provided Lakeshore Depot with a microloan to refinance expensive business cash advance debt and sustain the business as it prepares for future financing from a community lender that will support their long-term growth plan, including hiring a manager and increasing product selection.

Term Loan

Michigan Farm to Freezer is a West Michigan processor strengthening the food system by providing locally grown frozen fruits and vegetables to Michigan institutions, schools, and families. The company is committed to offering local growers a competitive price — often upwards of two and three times what other processors pay.

A Fair Food Fund loan helped Michigan Farm to Freezer purchase a new facility in Caledonia, MI that increases its capacity for in-house production and enhances Farm to Freezer’s potential for regional expansion.

Credit Enhancement / Guaranty

Myers Produce is a woman-owned regional distributor who partners with local organic farmers in Vermont and Massachusetts to purchase/sell, transport, and deliver fresh produce to customers in New York and the Greater Boston area.

A contractual guaranty from Fair Food Fund’s collateral initiative pool helped Myers Produce secure a loan with Walden Mutual, a regional bank that is focused on lending in the food system. Additionally, Fair Food Fund’s collateral capital secured a reduced interest rate for Myers Produce — savings the distributor can invest in their own business as they increase their capacity to deliver more healthy food throughout New England.

Term Loan

Based in Detroit, Mich., Milk & Froth is an artisanal ice cream shop offering classic dairy and vegan ice creams made from scratch in small batches.

We provided Milk & Froth with a microloan for working capital as it finalizes its new Ann Arbor location, which was financed with an earlier joint loan from Fair Food Fund and Michigan Good Food Fund partner Michigan Women Forward.

Convertible Note

Unity Vibration Kombucha manufactures alcoholic and non-alcoholic kombucha out of Ypsilanti, Mich.

We became the lead investor in Unity Vibration Kombucha’s planned expansion as it implements a new marketing strategy, increases its inventory and storage capacity, and prepares to open two new tasting rooms in Ann Arbor, Mich. and Florida.

Line of Credit

Moss Man provides high-quality, all natural sea moss products that support wellness, including supplements, herbal remedies, skincare, beauty products, and accessories.

We provided Moss Man with a line of credit for working capital to increase employee hours and inventory expansion as production shifts to an incubator kitchen and the business moves to a dedicated retail space, featuring a smoothie and juice bar, in East Lansing, Mich.

Line of Credit

Wormies is a composting business specializing in vermicomposting (composting with worms) based in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Together with a matching loan from Northern Initiatives and support from Rende Progress Capital, our investment allows Wormies to develop their property and fulfill requirements of a Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy grant.

Line of Credit

Tastefull Vegan offers naturally sweetened, allergen-free desserts available for purchase at local retailers and at their dairy- and gluten-free ice cream shop.

We provided a working capital line of credit to support Tastefull Vegan, in collaboration with Northern Initiatives, to finance the purchase and revitalization of a brick-and-mortar ice cream shop.

Owner Kalene McElveen won an award at Michigan Good Food Fund partner MSU Product Center’s 2023 Making it in Michigan event to invest in her business.

Term Loan

Jetta’s Gourmet Popcorn & Fun Foods mobile food truck is stocked with concession favorites like nachos, pretzels, novelty ice-cream, and their signature gourmet popcorn mixes.

After participating in Michigan Good Food Fund’s Food Finance Essential Course, we provided Jetta’s Gourmet Popcorn with a loan to purchase a new mobile food truck.

In 2023, Jetta’s received additional working capital from Fair Food Fund to hire additional staff and keep up with demand during peak summer months.

Line of Credit

Owner Belinda Beard turned her mother’s legendary egg rolls into Egg Roll Diva, a catering business and one of metro Detroit’s most well-known food trucks.

After participating in Michigan Good Food Fund’s Food Finance Essential Course, we provided Egg Roll Diva with a line of credit to alleviate high-interest debt, helping the business focus on immediate needs and growth opportunities. Our team also provided working capital to help the company secure 15 vendor spots at various festivals throughout 2023.

Safe Note

Breadless is a Black-owned sandwich business providing 100% gluten-free meals to the Detroit community.

As Breadless works to open two new locations in Michigan, our investment will support lease acquisition, construction, and equipment purchases, while helping Breadless continue to offer competitive-wage jobs.

Term Loan

The Chef’s Special in Flint, Mich. is a Black- and family-owned food service management and catering company.

Our investment helped The Chef’s Special purchase equipment and finance a renovation, allowing owner Javonta Booth to expand the business’ capacity to take on more catering contracts.

Debt Financing

Singing Pastures is a farm in Newcastle, Maine, that uses regenerative practices to produce pork and pork products.

Together with a matching loan from Grow Maine, our debt financing allowed Singing Pastures to launch their 100% pasture-raised, non-GMO Roam Sticks and salami in retail stores in spring of 2023.

Term Loan

The Compost Plant (TCP) is a food waste collection business based in Providence, R.I. TCP diverts food waste from grocery stores, restaurants, universities, and other institutions that would otherwise end up in Rhode Island’s only landfill.

Our investment allowed TCP to launch a design and engineering planning project for their facility that is projected to increase its capacity by more than 500%.

Term Loan

Superfrau partners with yogurt manufacturers to rescue and upcycle their surplus liquid whey which contains vitamins and minerals good for hydration, energy, and gut health. 2/3 of the milk that goes into Greek yogurt manufacturing ends up as nutrient-packed liquid whey, which is most often thrown out or fed to livestock. Superfrau repurposes the liquid whey with its naturally occurring vitamins and minerals to provide valuable nutrition to people. With food waste being a major contributor to climate change, Superfrau is on a mission to fight food waste & climate change with its Upcycled Certified, nutritious products.

Supporting Superfrau with capital to support manufacturing and distribution before launching in Whole Foods in January 2023.

Term Loan

Simply Spanish is a paella food truck located in Metro Detroit looking to expand from producing hot paella to a ready-to-eat product.

Currently, Simply Spanish is making and packing all paella manually. This loan will support purchasing equipment to help Simply Spanish scale up their retail capacity.

Loan

Soldadera is a family owned and operated beverage company that specializes in cold brew coffee inspired by “café de olla” (stove-top coffee), which traces its origins to the 1900s during the Mexican Revolution. Made with pilonsillo (sugar cane), cloves, cinnamon, anise, water, and Central American coffee beans, all of the ingredients are organic and without preservatives.

Financing to help Soldadera prepare inventory for its launch into Meijer Inc. grocery stores.

Loan

Seal the Seasons is a national frozen food company that sources produce directly from farmers and sells their products in grocery stores local to where they are grown.

We provided a loan to support more sourcing with local farmers across the country, with an emphasis on farmers of color.

Loan

Farmacy Food is a Detroit-based, Black-owned wellness company, offering a meal subscription service to people in Detroit, serving affordable, healthy food with locally sourced ingredients.

Fair Food Fund first partnered with Farmacy Food in 2021 to provide business assistance, helping to bolster its brand strategy, website, and social media presence. Our loan is helping the meal-subscription service hire six staffers through the City of Detroit’s job program.

Equity Investment

88 Acres is a Boston-based, women-led, national snack bar and granola company uses seeds and simple ingredients in its products, and hires from the local community.

Our partnership with 88 Acres began years ago when the business was in its earliest stage. We have watched their business grow and the timing was right for us to step in and provide an equity investment. This financing—which is a part of a larger investment they received—will assist this expanding, national seed-based snack bar and butter venture with increased production.

Participation in loan led by Vermont Flexible Capital Fund

Global Village Foods (GVF) is a Vermont specialty food manufacturer and retailer of African-inspired, ready-to-eat entrees, meals, and snacks. A Black family-owned and majority women-owned business, Global Village Foods is on a mission to expand awareness and popularity of healthy African inspired cuisines that meet consumer demands for healthier, ready-to-eat, diverse flavored menus, and plant-based options, made allergen friendly with clean ingredients.

We provided a participation loan in partnership with Vermont-based Flexible Capital Fund toward building inventory and hiring additional staff to meet growing demand, especially at universities.

Global Village Foods received an investment of working capital to supplement a joint loan with Fair Food Fund and lead investor Vermont Flexible Capital as it ramps up production to expand into the food service market.

Collateral Initiative guarantee with Rende Progress Capital, a West Michigan-based racial equity loan fund and emerging Community Development Financial Institution

Nadine’s Fish Tips n Wings is an African-American owned restaurant in Holland, Michigan specializing in Chicago style street food. Owner Larry Brothers, who brings 10+ years of industry experience, hatched the concept in the midst of the COVID pandemic. As the business gained traction through catering dinners on the side, Brothers saw an opportunity to open a brick-and-mortar location.

This 2022 investment illustrates our commitment to delivering catalytic financing that helps bring other lenders’ capital off the sidelines and enables investments that otherwise might not be possible. In this case, our Collateral Initiative funding supported a loan by Rende Progress Capital; it is also helped further de-risk a previous investment in Nadine’s from GROW, a fellow Michigan Good Food Fund lender.

Nadine’s opened winter 2022 as one of the few Black-owned and operated businesses in Holland, Michigan.

Convertible Note

Argus Farm Stop is a year-round, seven days a week farmers market and café. Developed as a compliment to famers markets, if features produce, dairy, meat, and other locally prepared foods and goods sourced from a network of more than local farmers and producers who receive 70 cents of every dollar of sales. In 2019, its café expanded to include Michigan draft beer, cider, and wine. And as COVID shuttered local farmers markets, Argus launched produce boxes, curated weekly for delivery or curbside pickup. Argus currently has two locations in Ann Arbor, as well an online ordering platform. Argus has offered Fair Food Network’s Double Up Food Bucks program since 2017, doubling shoppers’ SNAP dollars spent on produce. It also provides produce boxes to low-income households in the area using grants and programs . While its core business is connecting local farmers to local consumers, its owners and staff are passionate advocates who regularly consult other businesses interested in replicating its innovative “Argus Model.”

This 2022 investment is supporting Argus in opening a third location that will consolidate its grocery services in a building with more space, larger aisles, and a dedicated area to process orders and its produce boxes. The current location is at capacity for online orders and produce box fulfillment. Both programs were started in the pandemic and need to address efficiency and operational challenges. This expansion will also allow Argus to reconfigure one of its existing locations to provide an expanded café and tavern space with prepared foods and drinks, additional seating, and room for pop-ups and other community events.

Argus’s innovative model has already paid out more than $10 million to area farmers since its 2014 launch. It has also led farmers to extend their growing season into winter months given the dedicated sales channel it provides. This expansion will further boost its capacity as a crucial link where local farms can sell locally-grown produce and other goods conveniently to consumers, year-round.

Line of Credit

Daily Table is a local grocery chain on a mission to provide fresh produce, grocery staples, and made-from-scratch prepared foods at prices low enough to fit within every budget, including families who rely on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps). It has offered Fair Food Network's Double Up Food Bucks program since 2018.

As Daily Table expands its reach and opens additional locations — its working capital needs are growing. To help fill the gap, Daily Table turned to Fair Food Network’s Fair Food Fund for a line of credit. This investment will free Daily Table from having to tap its grant dollars for inventory purchases or overhead costs, instead prioritizing those dollars to support Double Up redemptions. Such flexible financing will be key to bridge Daily Table through low cash periods during this expansion phase particularly in between grant cycles or when philanthropic funding is low.

Participation in a loan with Northern Initiatives

Supermercado Mexico is a local grocery chain with three stores in Western Michigan’s Grand Rapids metro area. The Division Street location opened in 2011 in a corridor of businesses serving a largely Mexican clientele. It has since become its anchor location store with a full-service butcher, produce, baked goods, and other culturally relevant products and services. The Supermercado stores are owned by Olvera Enterprises, which is led by brothers Javier and Pablo Olvera. The Olvera’s are deeply connected to the community and leading other local economic development projects supporting Hispanic-owned businesses in Grand Rapids.

As Supermercado outgrew its Division Street location, store owners purchased a nearby building to expand. In July 2021, Fair Food Fund participated in a loan with Northern Initiatives, a fellow lending partner in the Michigan Good Food Fund. December 2021 saw follow-on financing also with Northern Initiative. Financing is supporting building improvements, equipment, and working capital for inventory. These investments are supporting building improvements, equipment, and working capital for the expanded store.

The new building will triple the store footprint allowing them to expand offerings and bring on 20 new full-time employees.

Collateral Initiative investment enabling financing from Detroit Development Fund

In 2010, Detroit residents Jerome Brown and Samuel Van Buren started a catering business that served homestyle cooking, but with healthful substitutes. Five years later, they went from operating remotely to a brick-and-mortar location where customers could pick up orders.

This July 2021 investment is helping Detroit Soul expand to a second location with sit down dining. We were able to de-risk this investment by providing additional collateral, enabling this deal to move forward in partnership with Detroit Development Fund, another Michigan Good Food Fund lending partner. Other partners include Detroit Community Loan Fund and Michigan Saves.

Collateral Initiative support includes follow-on businesses assistance: We’re now working with Detroit Soul on marketing including building a new website.

Bridge Loan

After the Flint water crisis in 2014, the last two major grocery stores left the city’s north side, leaving the community without healthy food at the moment it was needed most. Residents decided to open a new grocery store — one that was by and for the community.

The North Flint Reinvestment Corporation, a place-based nonprofit led by Flint-native Pastor Reginald Flynn, raised over $7 million to finance the North Flint Food Market. It will operate as a co-op with residents and other local stakeholder becoming co-owners of their local grocery store. Our Fair Food Fund was part of the capital stack providing a critical bridge loan in April 2021 that helped cover transaction costs, which can be a common hurdle especially for community-based developers that lack deep balance sheets to prepay such hefty expenses. Beyond financing, we engaged a member of our Fair Food Fund investment committee, Daniel Tellalian, Founder and CEO of Angel City Advisors, to provide 1:1 support. With expertise in healthy food retail and community development finance, Tellalian served as an embedded thought partner and collaborator with Pastor Flynn over the past five years, tackling the financial plan, brokering connections, and coordinating a complex capital stack.

The North Flint Food Market broke ground in August 2021, revitalizing a long-vacant and obsolete building, with plans to open its door to the community in 2022.

Collateral Initiative investment in partnership with Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), a Maine-based CDFI

Boston Public Market features healthy food sourced from 25+ artisans and food producers from across New England. Located in downtown Boston, the market is also a valued community-building space that brings together farmers, fishers, food entrepreneurs, and residents.

Like many farmers markets, the Boston Public Market was shuttered for months in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic and had limited hours when finally able to reopen in September 2021. While it was able to weather these disruptions, it significantly impacted market revenue. Our Collateral initiative investment supported Boston Public Market with a guarantee that freed up assets for working capital as it works to bounce back from the devastating economic impacts of the past year.

We’re thrilled to support the success of this anchor institution and collaborate with CEI, which provided the market a loan in 2019, and is a long-time and valued partner for us in the Northeast.

Collateral Initiative investment with Maine Harvest Federal Credit Union

South Paw Farm is a woman-owned farm in Maine that grows a diverse mix of vegetables and crafts a line of value-added products using produce grown onsite. It’s on a mission to grow its profitability and provide fresh produce to families in Maine experiencing poverty.

Leveraging our Collateral Initiative, we put money on deposit at Maine Harvest Federal Credit Union and provided a bridge loan that helped South Paw Farm secure a $15,000 loan.

South Paw is using this loan for solar array that will support the farm’s energy needs.

Line of Credit

Chelsea Business Foundation is a nonprofit on a mission to promote a healthy business economy and support Latino and small businesses in Chelsea, Massachusetts.

In December 2020, Fair Food Fund partnered with Boston Impact Initiative to provide a line of credit used to continue a business support grant program serving small and Latino-led businesses, approximately half of which are in the food sector.

Chelsea was one of the cities in Massachusetts hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. Local nonprofit Chelsea Business Foundation took action to stabilize community businesses most impacted including support via a business support grant program. This effort is not only helping these community-based businesses weather the COVID pandemic, but grow their customer base so that they can emerge stronger to support their community in the recovery to follow.

Loan

Forty Acres Soul Kitchen is a soul food restaurant in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Its impact extends far beyond the plate — from creating living-wage jobs to sourcing from area farms. Plus in a city with nearly 20 percent Black residents, Forty Acres is also the only full-service, sit-down, 100% African American-owned restaurant.

August 2020 integrated financing and technical assistance supported Forty Acres in improving its operational efficiency and expanding its sales channels during COVID-19 and beyond.

With our support, Forty Acres Soul Kitchen is providing delivery and curbside pickup options for customers and has expanded its catering operations.

Loan

Quiana “Que” Broden’s eponymous “The Kitchen, by Cooking with Que,” includes a state-of-the-art demonstration kitchen, shared culinary space, and café and catering company in Detroit’s New Center neighborhood.

June 2020 integrated financing and business assistance supported Que to ramp up meal prep and delivery services during the COVID crisis. We also provided follow-on business assistance including consulting to tune up business accounting and public relations and social media consulting to increase sales. Prior to financing, Que participated in a six-week brand training Fair Food Network delivered as part of our work with the Michigan Good Food Fund

At the height of the pandemic, Que provided food to quarantine locations and Detroit city employees working 24/7. Her business is on the rise with new employees and sales rising since 2020 investment.

Loan

Crooked Face Creamery is a woman-owned artisan cheese maker based in Skowhegan, Maine. Its handcrafted, artisan cheeses are made with limited ingredients and high-quality, preservative-free whole milk sourced from a local dairy farm.

April 2020 financing Crooked Face’s expansion to a new creamery as working capital to support the business during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to financing, owner Amy Rowbottom also participated in our 2017 business bootcamp and received additional customized business assistance.

Crooked Face Creamery’s business experienced a 1,000 percent increase in cheese sales from 2019 to 2020 allowing Rowbottom to hire her first part-time employee so she can focus exclusively on cheesemaking. Crooked Face Creamery also rose to the top of more than 1,900 applicants to be a finalist in the 2021 11th annual national Good Food Awards.

Convertible Note

Since 2007, Pemaquid Mussel Farms has been growing high-quality, rope-grown mussels on floating rafts off the coast of Maine. Pemaquid uses sustainable and innovative aquaculture techniques to produce its mussels, which it distributes to Maine restaurants and regional wholesalers. Pemaquid is currently expanding its fleet with patent-pending submersible mussel rafts with the goal to produce a million pounds of mussels annually.

August 2017 financing is supporting Pemaquid's plans to grow its fleet up to nine submersible mussel rafts over the coming years.

In addition to growing production, jobs, and regional seafood sourcing, this investment is also providing Fair Food Fund the opportunity to be part of the world’s fastest growing part of the food system: aquaculture.

Royalty Financing and Equity Investment

Founded in 2007, DAH! makes lassi—Indian style drinkable yogurt—prepared with milk from Northeastern grass-based dairies. It currently operates a state of the art processing facility in Leominster, Massachusetts.

A June 2015 Fair Food Fund investment supported DAH!'s sales, marketing, and working capital needs to expand production in their new facility. June 2017 and June 2018 follow on investments supported working capital and product development. DAH! also received Consulting Corps business assistance to compile historical financial statements.

With Fair Food Fund support, DAH! launched its new state-of-the-art processing facility, rolled out its new branding, and is launching new non-dairy products.

Convertible Note

Fresh Food Generation is a farm-to-table catering service, food truck, and community café in Boston. It serves up healthy and affordable Latin American and Caribbean food sourced from local farms with a focus on reaching underserved Boston neighborhoods.

The March 2018 convertible note is supporting Fresh Food Generation's continued growth by enabling it to hire more employees and professionalize its website to include an improved online ordering platform and greater focus on its catering work.

Fresh Food Generation was the winner of our 2015 Fair Food Business Boot Camp. As its prize, it received additional consulting support focused on financial planning. In March 2017, Fair Food Fund provided Fresh Food Generation a bridge loan, laying the foundation for the subsequent 2018 convertible note investment in collaboration with Boston Impact Initiative. Such business and financial support has helped Fresh Food Generation mature from a small start-up to a growing business. In the coming years, Fresh Food Generation is focused on expanding its catering business leading to even greater positive impact on eaters and growers in Boston and beyond.

Debt Financing

Rhode Island-based The Compost Plant collects food scraps and other waste products from area restaurants and institutions, turning them into compost and soil mixes available to area growers. Since its 2014 launch, it has diverted nearly 400 tons of food waste from going to the state’s landfill. Next up, The Compost Plant is launching a bagged compost product line in partnership with an area farm that specializes in compost production.

April 2017 financing is helping The Compost Plant purchase equipment and providing working capital to launch its bagged compost product line.

Debt and Equity Financing

The New York Distilling Company (NYDC) is one of the nation's premier craft distilleries. Based in Brooklyn, New York, NYDC sources rye from upstate New York farmers with more than half of it organically grown. The results are high quality gins and rye whiskeys that are filling a niche in distilled spirits and supporting growers in the region including a growing organic grain market.

The April 2017 equity investment is providing working capital for sales and marketing of NYDC's rye whiskey. Debt financing is increasing its whiskey inventory through the purchase of additional rye and aging barrels.

Equity Financing with additional Convertible Debt Investment

Five Acre Farms markets local milk, egg, and apple products with each product fully traceable to the land and farm that produced it. Founded in 2010, Five Acre Farms' mission is to find sustainable farmers within a 275-mile radius of its Brooklyn, New York headquarters, pay them fairly, and make their products accessible to average Americans. Five Acre Farms currently distributes its goods to more than 350 retail outlets, restaurants, cafes, and hotels across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Since 2014, it has paid a total of more than $1,000,000 above market price back to its network of 25 partner farms.

November 2016 financing helped Five Acre Farms launch new yogurt and kefir products and expand its staff to 14 full time employees. Follow-on February 2018 financing is helping Five Acre Farms to continue to grow and scale the business.

These investments will have a ripple effect of benefits: more jobs at Five Acre Farms, increased sales for its growing farmer network, and more healthy, locally grown food for area consumers. In 2017, Five Acre Farms purchased more than $2 million in products grown by Northeast farmers. Its Buttermilk was recently featured on Martha Stewart’s Baked.

Convertible Debt

Launched in Newark, New Jersey in 2014, Radicle Farm Company grows and distributes cut salad greens and “living salads” in its New Jersey and upstate New York greenhouses.

A July 2015 investment supported Radicle in purchasing new equipment, building inventory, and marketing its products. Fair Food Fund also assisted Radicle in establishing an advisory board. An additional investment in May 2017 is helping Radicle accelerate its growth.

With Fair Food Fund financing, Radicle and its greens are growing fast. Radicle has upgraded its processing equipment, infrastructure, and purchased a distribution vehicle to support growing sales to restaurants, meal kit companies, and multi-farm CSAs across New York.

Convertible Debt

Launched in 2010, Urban Farm Fermentory (UFF) produces kombucha, hard cider, and meads featuring ingredients sourced from small and mid-size New England farms. UFF distributes its products in Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont and sells seasonal products at its Portland, Maine tasting room.

Executed in May 2015, this financing assisted UFF in purchasing equipment, increasing marketing and distribution, and building inventory. UFF also received Consulting Corps business assistance to develop a cash flow forecast ahead of financing. Fair Food Fund also assisted UFF in establishing an advisory board.

UFF launched new branding for its kombuchas and ciders and opened a new, expanded tasting room.