A Franklin couple may have a solution to the national supply chain issues — at least locally.
Sarah and Cory Campbell are channeling their passion for buying local and knowing where their products come from into a new grocery store and meat market filled with products sourced from farms and suppliers within 150 miles of Franklin. Pantry staples such as rice and quinoa that can’t be grown locally will be sourced from fair trade distributors, the couple said.
It will be the first grocery store in downtown Franklin in 26 years. Since a fire razed Brown’s Market in 1996, residents have relied solely on big-box stores for their groceries. The Campbells, who both work as air traffic controllers, are opening Field to Fork to fill a need in the community.
“We are trying to bring something unique to the community that isn’t here,” Cory Campbell said. “Something that is built by the community and supports your neighbor — that’s important in the atmosphere of today. It is what is going to keep the country going and Indiana going.”
The store, at 90 W. Jefferson St., is founded on solving problems the Campbells see with the traditional food distribution model, Sarah Campbell said. For their own health, they researched the supply chain that gets food from a field to a traditional grocery store, and optimized that by going local instead of global.
“I think this is the best time to offer local products,” Sarah Campbell said. “It is an artificial crisis. It really can be solved just by shopping local.”
With plans to sell fresh meat, hydroponically grown vegetables and bulk foods, the store will offer unique experiences like none in the area, and sell noticeably fresher products, she said.
The food will come to the store by way of distributors that get food directly from growers in Indiana and surrounding states. With fewer miles to travel, the food will be fresher than food found at national chains. That’s especially true for the meat, Sarah Campbell said
Cory Campbell will be the butcher at the store. He learned how to be a butcher in Jones, Michigan, Sarah’s hometown. The butcher sold the best-tasting meat Sarah has ever had, so she sought to bring that flavor to her new hometown, she said.
Meat sold at the store will be cut in-house, and will have never been frozen, Sarah Campbell said.
Local products will include coffee from Indianapolis roasters, wine and beer, and hydroponic vegetables from the Scheffler Family Farm. Hydroponics will also be present at the store, and customers will be able to pick their own lettuce, she said.
Field to Fork will also serve coffee and breakfast and lunch sandwiches featuring the local products they sell in the store, Sarah Campbell said.
Another part of the Campbells’ mission is to revive practical knowledge and nourish the mind. A conference room space at the store will host life skills classes, Bible study, teachings from the Christian Apologetics Ministry and a hydroponics class from the owners of Scheffler Family Farm, she said.
The space is Sarah Campbell’s passion project. It is a space that can be used by the whole community to gather, learn and grow together — something that’s needed in today’s polarized society, she said.
“I want this building to be a shared community experience. I want people to come here and say, ‘they are so welcoming.’ I want to see that room filled with people every night,” Sarah Campbell said.
A website will be set up soon for online ordering. Initially, customers will have to pick up their items at the store, but there are plans to add a delivery service down the road, she said.
The store is still a few weeks from opening, as interior renovations are ongoing. If all goes well, it is expected to open by the end of the month.
