5/1/2021
Dear KT Community,
Looking back over the past year, we at KT Produce feel an immense sense of gratitude for the outpouring of support from our loyal community. With the overnight shutdown of schools and restaurants along with the impossible task of sending employees home with no sense of how the future was going to look, things were terrifyingly bleak. We, as did most companies, had to either quickly adapt or lose everything. Not willing to accept our fate, our family, friends and dedicated employees rallied together to come up with a plan to stay in business.
With a warehouse full of beautiful and healthy produce, empty shelves at the grocery store, and a community reluctant to have personal interaction we decided to open our doors to the public. We then took note of all the unique fruits and vegetables we still had on our shelves that were brought in specifically for our local chefs. Knowing that most of the community was staying home, we came up with the idea to introduce the public to these unconventional items with the creation of the FRESHBOX. 2020 was the the perfect year to learn how to make Rutabaga fries, am I right?
With the FRESHBOX becoming a social media sensation, our company felt alive again with passion and hope. Your support was astounding, with cars lined down the street, and families filling their trunks and backseats full of KT produce. We were proud to fulfill the need of the community to have a safe place to come and get healthy food to feed your families. I, who personally loaded many of your cars, found myself overwhelmed with gratitude at the outpouring of appreciation for what we were doing. It was a beautiful moment in time, and one we at KT Produce will never forget.
To so many of you that allowed us to became part of your regular routine, we will be forever grateful; however, as times are returning to our new normal, our business is faced with another dilemma. We now must adapt again, and for our business to continue to thrive we must prioritize efficiency. Our business still faces many ups and downs in this time of a global health crisis. As so many more safe options for at-home grocery delivery and curbside pickups have become readily available, we see an opportunity to shift our focus and help where it is needed most.
With that being said, our direct-to-consumer KT Produce orders have been discontinued to focus on our local food service customers. Our DNA has always been to serve the local chefs and culinary professionals. We are also dedicating resources to supporting local farms and organizations like the NWA Food Conservancy to bring the freshest, hyper-local products to our program. After all your support this past year, we will never lose sight of you, our loyal community. These choices have been thoughtfully designed with you in mind.
With the desire to continue our connection with our KT community, we want to continue to serve the public with an exciting new project. Our beloved KT Freshbox is about to have a makeover, one that will better fit into all of our lives as we get back to normal.
The New Freshbox:
- Curated to include as much seasonal and local produce as available
in our area to better support local growers.
- Available on the THIRD Saturday of every month.
- Monthly subscription model-similar to signing up for a CSA box.
- $39.95 which includes FREE DELIVERY within city limits, or pickup
will be available at our warehouse in Lowell, Arkansas.
Signup starts NOW! Since this is a pilot program, reservations are limited. Go to www.ktfreshbox.com and sign up to get yours. Sign up by May 9th to get our first box delivered to your door the weekend of May 15th & 16th. A PERFECT gift for Mother's Day! This new box will include first-of-the-season strawberries, asparagus, radishes…??? As we get deeper into the Summer you will see more and more of our locally grown items featured in the box. Again, our sincerest thanks for all the love and support as we make this shift.
If you are interested in growing for us you can find more information at www.foodconservancy.org.
With much gratitude & optimism,
Chris and Michelle Thompson & the KT Team
