Weekly Fig vendors
The company has several dozen vendors. Here are a few: * Dixie Soaps * Fiery Fungi * Hidden Meadow Farm * Hoe Hop Valley Farm * Hot Chocolatier * Legacy Family Farms * Loadebar * Local Juice * Noke's Granola * Pasture Penny's Free-Range Eggs * Positiffitea * Rafting Goat Cheese For more information, check weeklyfig.com Source: Weekly Fig
"Community-supported agriculture with convenience" could be the tagline for Weekly Fig.
The Chattanooga startup launched last month and says it has already signed 40 subscribers to its food-delivery service. It also reports having brought on board several dozen vendors, most local, from farms to artisans.
Convenience will not come just from doorstep service, the company says. Weekly Fig also plans to create meal plans tailored to its deliveries of fruits and vegetables, a decoding of mystery foods, so common in CSA deliveries.
At its heart, Weekly Fig is about sustainability, supporting local producers and giving people access to fresh food, say its founders, Michele Reneau and husband-wife team, Nate and Anju Wilson.
"Building communities around food has always been an integral message we wanted to share," said Anju Wilson, 34.
Deliveries are scheduled to start in late April and last through November, timed with Tennessee's harvesting season. The service will reach as far as Soddy-Daisy, Lookout Mountain, Ringgold and Cleveland.
The company plans to drop off deliveries at central locations, from which community coordinators will distribute packages to homes. "So we are not driving a big truck all over the city," Anju Wilson said. The company is also contemplating delivery with bicycles, said Nate Wilson, also 34.
All of the company's packaging will be returnable and reusable, Anju Wilson said.
Subscriptions start at $24 per week, a plan that feeds two people ($46 feeds four, and $68 feeds eight). In addition to produce, Weekly Fig plans to offer local meats and cheeses, among other items. Subscribers get weekly meal plans that use what's in each delivery, along with tips on food preparation and storage.
"We all basically said how do we get people on the fence about eating healthy to hop over?" Nate Wilson said. "The answer is: Make it convenient."
For one, that meant making it simple to get the food. Farmers markets are great for supporting local, but not always staged when folks can easily get to them, the founders said.
Second, CSAs are super for supporting local farms and getting fresh produce, but deliveries are often a huge standard size and include at least one fruit or vegetable many people have no idea how to cook.
"A lot of times we wouldn't know what to do with it or even how to Google it," said Nate Wilson of CSA deliveries he got years ago.
Reneau had never known much about beets when she once got them in a CSA delivery.
"I had to do research on Pinterest," said the 38-year-old, who's a chapter leader for the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on nutrition education. Weekly Fig's founders met through the foundation and were later all part of the same CSA.
Reneau eventually figured out how to cook the beets - and learned she could eat their greens, too. Today, sauteed beet greens are a favorite dish. She also discovered Romanesco broccoli and purple and yellow cauliflower through CSA deliveries.
"There are so many varieties of vegetables," she said. "Heirloom varieties look bulky, but the flavor is amazing."
Weekly Fig was a finalist in The Company Lab's Will This Float competition last fall. Since then the founders have been building the company. They are still looking for delivery partnerships. Investors, too. "We're not just looking for a silent partner, so to speak," Wilson said. "Preferably we'd like someone that can help integrate Weekly Fig into the community."
Contact Mitra Malek at mmalek@timesfreepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @MitraMalek.