Local Food Center Services
The Local Food Center, strategically located within the Route 60 food corridor, specializes in regional produce aggregation, processing, packaging, training and distribution. Our mission: to make it easy for buyers to procure locally sourced produce while helping farmers easily reach customers they may not have had access to before.
Aggregation
Local Food Center is conveniently located at the center of the Ozarks, Springfield, Kansas City, and St. Louis markets, as well as among 50+ regional farms. This centralized location makes LFC an easily accessible drop off and pickup point for farmers and buyers alike.
Some of our readily available produce options:
- Cucumbers
- Tomatoes
- Zucchini/squash
- Greens/lettuce/micro-greens/herbs
- Watermelons, cantaloupe, honey dew
- Peppers
- Onions/leaks
Food Processing
LFC is positioned to make providing food for the non-growing times easy. We can make soups, sauces, frozen items and more. By naturally preserving fresh food during harvest, we can extend upon the seasonality of most produce. In addition, LFC has the in-house capability to make foods easier to prepare for institutions and/or schools by providing pre-cut and portioned vegetables.
Some of our in-house capabilities:
- Washing
- Cutting, slicing, dicing
- Individually quick freezing
- Grinding, liquifying and paste making
Commercial Kitchen
An essential part of Local Food Center is our industrial scale kitchen. This facility is open for hourly rental, so your team can cook, prepare, and package meals/foods. Our facility is USDA inspected, allowing you to make your product for purchase by the public.
Equipment includes:
- Steam kettles
- Commercial stove top and flat griddle
- Two commercial ovens
- Walk in cooler and freezer for small volume storage
- Dry storage for ingredients
- Ample counter space
Cold Storage
Critical for maintaining freshness, Local Food Center offers a range of cold storage options. The LFC facility has three refrigerated areas, to best maintain three separate temperatures, in order to ensure all produce is kept for optimal preservation. Each room is set up for pallet-sized packaging with a forklift for easy removal and handling. Each room can handle up to 26 pallets.
Cold storage specifications:
- Cooler 1: storage temp. 40-50° F
- Cooler 2: 32-38° F
- Freezer: -10° F
Co-Packing
LFC can use your existing formulation, or develop a brand new recipe for you from scratch. Whether you would like to make a sauce, soup, vegetable blend, or the like, Local Food Center has the equipment and staff to make your custom branded product.
Some of our co-packing capabilities:
- Steam kettle cooking
- Semi-automatic liquid and slurry filling
- Bottling
- Labeling
- Vacuum packing
- Blast freezing
Shipping & Handling
Local Food Center is equipped to ship, receive, and perform all of your other order processing requirements. With two multi-level loading docks, we can handle everything from pick-up trucks, to farm trailers or semi trucks with ease. Our full time office staff is trained in the ins and outs of logistics, and can handle everything from routine paperwork to complex USDA and GHP compliant procedures.
Some of the tasks we can perform for you:
- Outgoing shipping
- Incoming receiving
- Order processing
- Sales management
Education & Support
Our number one priority at Local Food Center is to “grow the farmer.” We pride ourselves on supporting local agriculture by lending our sales and marketing expertise, allowing farmers to do what they do best…farm. LFC offers leading-edge food safety training, as well as soil, irrigation, and amendment/fertilizer education. One such program is our industry-first, full-service BOX’o’GAP™ Food Safety (GAP) training, designed to get your farm GAP certified quickly and easily.
In addition, LFC is well positioned to streamline the negotiation of deals with large companies/organizations, while also aiding with business modeling and strategy.
Some of the ways Local Food Center can help:
- GAP training and support
- Planting production planning
- Farming business modeling and strategy
- Soil health training
- Irrigation options education