When area eateries need hyper-local ingredients — like green-tinted duck eggs or truffled goat cheese — pronto, what do they do? Increasingly, they’re going to Farms2Tables, Patricia Wind’s Rhinebeck-based, technology-driven distribution company, whose app instantly hooks up farmers with buyers. Grocery stores, restaurants, caterers, private chefs, meal subscription companies, and corporate dining facilities within a 100-mile radius have all signed on and can order until 3 a.m. for next-day delivery. “Our system is like a combination of eBay, PayPal and FedEx,” explains Wind.
New York-born but Midwest-bred, this CEO majored in hospitality management, with a minor in computer sciences, in college. She attended the CIA in Hyde Park while working for a wine importer, and moonlighted on weekends doing farmers’ market sales. Schmoozing with vendors, the idea for the company took shape in 2014. “It seemed like a perfect storm for me,” says Wind, who debuted the app in 2015. “All of my education and work experience seemed to piece together.”
With some 100 farmers posting products daily (and 50 more on the waiting list!) and 300 wholesale clients receiving deliveries from Wind’s fleet of three refrigerated trucks, business is brisk. “We haven’t really spent any money on marketing. All of our growth has been word of mouth!”
Who influenced your career path?
“Cliff Platt, my business partner. Without him I would not and could not have started this company.”
