
Innovation is a monthly column in Madison Magazine covering startups, entrepreneurism, and innovative ideas coming out of Dane County, Wisconsin.

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Local Sourcing Made Easy
FoodChain arrives to connect growers and buyers
Madison Magazine monthly Innovation column, August 2020

When the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Discovery to Product program mentioned FoodChain as an example of a recent success story, I was intrigued. How our traditional, factory-farm-dependent food system works (or doesn’t) has always interested me. It seemed like that’s what FoodChain, a digital solutions startup, had set out to disrupt with its simple but powerful concept: offering an online marketplace where local grocers, restaurateurs and corporate campuses can buy directly from local farmers and producers.
So I called the startup’s founders — recent college graduates Jake Levitt and Ben Winters. This was in March, just days before Wisconsin’s Safer at Home order took effect. Levitt and Winters were working out of StartingBlock and FEED Kitchens with 25 producer accounts representing 60 local farms.
To continue reading please pick up the August 2020 issue of Madison Magazine at area newsstands, or click through to the online version here.
—Maggie Ginsberg is an associate editor at Madison Magazine and a long-time award-winning freelance writer. Innovation is her monthly column for Madison Magazine focused on startups, entrepreneurism and innovative ideas coming out of Dane County, Wisconsin.