Fresh Farms Market has been a staple in our Grosse Pointe community since 1939, and was originally owned by the Muir family. In 1997 they passed the torch to the current owners, brothers Larry and Steve Najjar. When asked why they decided to buy Farms Market, Larry said, "I loved it! I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it! It was an incredible opportunity and incredible potential."
The team at Farms Market is doing their best to eliminate food waste across the board! That begins with their purchasing, internal controls, and the systems within the store as far as being able to use food that isn't immediately salable. But even after going through all of these processes, inevitably there's some portion of food that either gets expired, damaged, or not able to get credit for. If not all of the prepared food gets sold in a day, they call Food Rescue US which is like Uber, but for food. At the end of each day, Food Rescue US comes to the market and collects the prepared food that wasn't sold that day and delivers it to various food banks. Farms Market feeds approximately fifty families a week by using this service.
Larry and Steve just went to a trade show in California, and are in the process of switching all of their food containers to ones that are more environmentally friendly. Their plastic bags are 100% recyclable and made from more than 30% recycled waste. They also have a designated dumpster that is only used for cardboard. And, at least 10 years ago, they stopped selling cigarettes.
The store is called Fresh Farms Market for a reason, they are a mainly from scratch kitchen and control the ingredients in the foods that you buy. Only A Grade produce is used, and any time that it's available, they buy from local farmers. Some organic brands that they carry are Organic Girl Salads, Organic Valley, MI Family Farms Organic Beef, Plainville Organic Turkey, Alden's Organic Ice Cream, and Simply Organic Spices. They also support local brands such as Pink Elephant, Drought Juices, Germack, Dancy's Fancy Butter, and Black Pearl Micro Greens. Having healthy food is a priority and Larry said that what he is most passionate about is, "Generally, overall, to do better! But it is to do better through quality, healthy food!"
Behind the scenes you'll find their sister Denise, who handles the office work, administrative duties, and all of the flowers. She said that, "We try and be a part of the community, we give back to the community, and not just Grosse Pointe itself, but the surrounding areas as well." The list of organizations, schools and charities they donate to is endless.
They donate food to the culinary program at Grosse Pointe South High School. The students turn that food into meals that are then donated to people in need of a meal. Steve said, "We love this community and I hope it shows in our actions!"
