This is an excerpt from a column posted at BizOpinion
Madhavi Krishnan calls herself as a computer scientist who loves food, but she’s actually an entrepreneur shaking up how people can buy food in Madison and surrounding communities.
Krishnan, a former Epic employee, launched Square Harvest last spring as a place where farmers and other food producers connect directly with consumers via a website. The site lists what farmers have for sale and consumers pick out what they want. Farmers and other producers – think bakers, cheesemakers and meat producers – drop off the ordered items on Friday at a warehouse where it’s sorted and then delivered to customers free of charge on Saturdays.
“It’s all about keeping food dollars local,” says Krishnan, who spoke last week at the Wisconsin Innovation Network-Northeast Chapter’s meeting in Appleton as part of a broader look at the intersection of food and technology. “It’s a farm-to-table grocer. Consumers are interested in fresh food and farmers have that fresh food, but it’s not always easier to connect. This is a lot easier than standing in a farm market stand somewhere.”
Krishnan views her business as a complement to CSAs, which she called a “mystery box – you never know what’s inside. We get a lot of orders in after people get their boxes.”
She started Square Harvest in March with 10 farmers. That number is now up to 70. “We have low overhead and the food is fresh as fresh can be,” Krishnan says.
