Dakota Fresh Food Hub offers farm-fresh food year-round – including for your household

Dec. 2, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by Vanguard Hospitality.

Farmers market season never has to end once you discover this growing source of local food.

The Dakota Fresh Food Hub started as a wholesale provider, serving mostly restaurants, but it has expanded to offer you the same chance to buy locally raised meat and produce to use at home.

“We are a full online marketplace,” sales manager Connie McDonald said. “Over the years, it just grew and grew.”

Since launching in 2015, the Food Hub has grown to 19 producers.

One of the newest, Lindy Land & Livestock, is based near Alcester and sells natural pasture-raised pork.

“I like to say they’re seasoned with sunshine and clean air,” co-owner Jamie Lindemann said. “Everybody here at the Food Hub, we’re all like-minded people, and we want to connect with the consumer.”

After her first weeks of selling pork, “so far it’s wonderful,” she said. “We have sold a few holiday hams, so some of these members are going to kick off the holiday season with that.”

Fifth-generation Svec Farm near Estelline is going on three years with the Food Hub.

“We do mostly grass-fed beef and some grass-fed lamb,” co-owner Tanya Svec said.

The cows are a heritage breed called Belted Galloway that are a bit smaller than some commercial cattle.

“They are very cute. They look like Oreos,” she said. “They’re black with white stripes around their tummies and they finish really well on grass.”

She also serves on the board of the Food Hub, “so it’s been good to be involved with the operation of the business,” Svec said. “And just kind of steering it to what we need it to be for local food in the area.”

That includes expanding services to individual consumers. Anyone can create a free account with the Dakota Fresh Food Hub, starting by clicking here. 

You’ll then receive a weekly newsletter detailing what items are available to order. Place your order online just like you’re ordering groceries anywhere else. And then choose from participating retailers in Sioux Falls and other area communities where you’ll schedule a time to pick up your order at the store.

“We want the community to understand that they too can support local growers,” said Tim Meagher, chief operating officer of Vanguard Hospitality, which uses the Food Hub for ingredients at its three Sioux Falls restaurants.

“They can have high-quality food, and it’s not hard to get it. It’s very easy. It’s like ordering groceries online anywhere else.”

Vanguard orders from the Food Hub weekly. At Minervas in downtown Sioux Falls, diners will find locally made romaine, including on the market bar, in addition to seasonal butternut squash, potatoes and tomatoes.

“The quality we get is some of the best I’ve seen,” said Jordan Klein, the garde manger who oversees the market bar.

“And being able to work with the local community and being able to get those products from them to help the community grow is very important to us. The freshness and quality is amazing, and from the guest perspective, they taste it and notice it.”

All food is harvested within 24 hours of selling, and the local nature of it means chefs don’t need to use as much to achieve the desired flavors, Meagher said.

“We have better yield with those products. The quality overall is very consistent, and most everything we get in we try side by side with things we order of the big (non-local wholesale) truck, and there is a significant difference.”

The Vanguard group is far from alone. A trip to the Food Hub distribution center in northeast Sioux Falls shows many local restaurants order regularly, as well as health systems and grocers.

“You see all these names from other businesses that are supporting it, and every time you support that local business, you’re supporting the local farm,” Meagher said. “So your money is actually multiplying its effect in our community.”

To connect with the Dakota Fresh Food Hub, click here. 

Want to stay in the know?

Get our free business news delivered to your inbox.



Dakota Fresh Food Hub offers farm-fresh food year-round – including for your household

Farmers market season never has to end once you discover this growing source of local food.

News Tip

Have a business news item to share with us?

Scroll to top