A Friendly Bread

I posted a few weeks ago about turning our new warehouse into an opportunity to support the local food economy. The first big puzzle piece is our partnership with Market Wagon, an online farmers market that allows customers to order from local growers and producers (including A Friendly Bread). They run their pick-and-pack operations in our warehouse and then send their drivers out for delivery throughout the DMV. Read below for the text of the press release. And give Market Wagon a try! Baltimore-based A Friendly Bread is proud to announce a logistics partnership with online grocer Market Wagon, a leader in connecting local-minded and conscious grocery shoppers with local farms and artisans and offering home delivery. A Friendly Bread was started by Lane Levine in 2018 at the B-More Kitchen incubator as an artisan sourdough bread company, pivoting in 2022 upon the launch of their frozen Sourdough Grilled Cheese sandwich product into major grocery chains such as Wegman’s, Whole Foods, The Fresh Market, and Giant Foods. In mid-2024, A Friendly Bread began to activate their new warehouse as a multi-use food storage and distribution resource for small organizations in the region. “Developing my food business in an incubator, I became familiar with the storage and distribution needs that come along with the first significant stage of scaling operations.” says Levine. “So I am especially excited to turn around and provide cold storage, distribution workspace, and other services for the local food economy.” Market Wagon operates 18 different local-food hubs across the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast. Market Wagon helps local and artisanal food producers in each area reach consumers who want to shop for local, healthy, and sustainable groceries, and helps those consumers access thousands of locally-grown and -made food items without having to leave their homes.?All of the items from different producers arrive in a single delivery in reusable packaging. “The future of local food in this area is bright,” says Market Wagon Co-Founder and CEO Dan Brunner. “Partnering with A Friendly Bread allows our customers to have easy access to the best of what local farms and food artisans have to offer, and those farms and artisans to reap the benefits of access to millions of consumers via home delivery.” Market Wagon’s vendor list includes farmers such as Pond Bank Farm, Playtime Pastures Farm, and Pleasant Hill Produce as well as artisans such as A Friendly Bread, Appetites by RJ, Yellow Hen Chef Services, and RavenHook Bakehouse. The order deadline is Sunday night for weekly home delivery on Tuesdays.?Market Wagon’s home delivery area includes most of Maryland and all of Washington, DC.?Area residents can enjoy local shopping not only during harvest season but all year long after most physical farmers markets have closed for the season.

Thank you to Food Business News for following our progress in moving to a new facility. We are excited about the opportunity to co-locate our production facility with our cold storage, as well as to serve as a resource to other businesses that need cold storage.

Thanks Baltimore Business Journal for covering our move to a new facility. We are currently accepting customers for cold storage (refrigerated and frozen), cross-docking and other pallet-based shipping-related needs. Though we are able to provide this service, we are still producing our product at B-More Kitchen. So no housewarming party yet. Baby steps to our next phase!

Frozen food brands in the mid-Atlantic: we have taken over the lease on a facility in Baltimore that boasts 5,000 square feet of frozen storage, and we'd like to serve as a resource for fellow frozen brands. We have a loading dock and can receive, pick and pack freight for you. Competitive rates as well (talk to me about a discount for the first month). Please get in touch so we can fill that freezer! Refrigerator space (2,000 square feet) will be available as well in a month. I can be reached at [email protected]. #frozenstorage #freezer #coldstorage