Cherry Capital Foods on NPR

Check out NPR's The Challenge of Eating Local: Distribution by Peter Payette, which features Cherry Capital Foods, a local-food distribution company recently launched by Charlevoix native Eric Hahn.

Hahn was the sales rep for a national food distributor out of Detroit. The sweet cherries he trucked to nearby stores were brought from Washington state because the cherries ripen earlier there, and the growing season is longer. But the stores and restaurants Hahn supplied were constantly asking for local cherries.

Ultimately, Hahn quit his job, took $5,000 out of his savings account, traded in his Volvo for a van and started Cherry Capital Foods. Now he distributes food grown on about 60 local farms to more than 100 nearby restaurants, resorts, stores and schools. He said there's no reason for him to buy food from California or China when he has a local alternative.

Hahn said he spent nearly every day this summer in his van, and his revenues have grown to $250,000. He expects sales will top $1 million next year, once more farmers see the markets opening up.

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