Fresh food from farm to table is the goal for a Lethbridge company that recently unveiled a new online service for residents.
“It really was driven by that sense of supporting your community and supporting your local economy,” said Angel Harper, co-owner and director of Mocha Local.
“We feel it’s very important to know where your food comes from.”
Mocha Local is a new website that launched in May 2019.
The website offers meal kit deliveries with new menu items added each week as well as an online farmers market, which is a first for the city of Lethbridge.
“We are the third-largest city in Alberta and the only one without a year-round farmers market,” Harper said. “We’re so excited to offer the citizens of Lethbridge an area of that opportunity.”
So far, the service has partnered with more than 15 local producers and farmers to offer fresh products online.
It’s a service Harper said has been missing in Lethbridge for many years and is already seeing significant traffic; Mocha Local already extended its delivery boundaries to encompass residents in neighbouring Coaldale and Coalhurst.
“We’re getting at least five to six new people ordering with us every week,” said Harper.
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The service is also being cautious with its carbon footprint, according to Harper, who said Mocha Local worked hard to create environmentally friendly packaging for their deliveries, which go out three times a week.
“One hundred per cent of the box is recyclable and 80 to 20 per cent of what’s coming in your box is also compostable,” Harper said.
“To take it a step further, if the customers want, we will pick-up the boxes, the liners and the ice packs and compost or re-use those ourselves.”
It’s not only the environment this new online service is helping. According to Trevor Lewington, CEO of Economic Development Lethbridge, Mocha Local is a service that helps boost Lethbridge’s economy.
“We know that for every dollar that’s spent in the local economy, it tends to generate about $7 of economic impact,” he said. “The more you can spend here at home, the more impact that has right here on the local economy.”