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    FRONTLINE continued from page 19
            food waste, so I made items to order—pies, cookies—fresh
            every day for customers. If you needed individually packaged
            lunches, I did that, too. I also started hosting fry-bread events.
            People would come out to the plant for fry bread tacos or
            pulled-pork fry bread.”
               Kim hasn’t seen the return of big sales, but the bakery
            has kept her afloat. Some of her staff have even returned.
            She says the true test will come with holiday purchases: “If
            I’m not back to half of what I was doing on the canning side,
            then I’ll open up for more baking. Whatever I need to do to
            keep going, I’m going to do.”
               The need to pivot is something Country View Dairy in
            Hawkeye, Iowa knows all too well. Since 2011, the family-
            owned and operated dairy farm has supplied all-natural yogurt
            to colleges, schools, restaurants and coffee shops. Before the
            pandemic, Country View sold 1,000 pounds of yogurt a week
            to Luther College. In mid-March, there was nothing.
               “We were drastically affected, early,” says Bob Howard,
            director of marketing and sales at Country View. “Sales
            dropped 70%. One sale got dropped mid-shipment to      “When circumstance forces your hand and you have to try new things,
            Chicago. Luckily, we got a Payroll Protection Plan loan to keep   you realize that maybe you should have been doing this all along,” says
            our staff on and to change some things up.”            Doug Kouma, Visitor Experience Director at Vikre, a craft distillery
               Despite abysmal institutional sales, people still wanted   in Duluth, Minn., whose gin, vodka, whiskey and aquavit are made
            Country View’s yogurt, so the family did what it took to   with ingredients from the Lake Superior watershed. In April 2020, the
            deliver it, never missing a day’s work. They donated yogurt   distillery became endeared to its community for making and giving away
            to food banks in northeast Iowa and to Farms to Families   hand sanitizer to anyone who needed it. To learn more about Vikre’s
            COVID relief boxes, began home deliveries, and ramped   award-winning spirits—including their new make-at-home cocktail kits
                                                                   —visit vikredistillery.com

           Sitka Salmon Shares, a Community-Supported Fishery (CSF), was   By the Spoonful, a gourmet food store and espresso bar in McGregor,
           well-positioned during COVID-19. With the CSF already operating   Iowa, quickly pivoted to free curbside and home delivery. Unlike retail
           an online ordering and home-delivery system, they’ve seen new interest   stores with dozens of  workers, the quaint, locally-owned shop is run by
           in the work of  their 22 independently-operated fisher families. For   owner, Katie Ruff, and three part-time employees. Offering these extra
           incredible wild-caught Alaskan seafood straight from their fisherman’s   services took a great deal more time but was a sacrifice Katie was happy to
           collective to your doorstep, visit www.sitkasalmonshares.com  make to ensure her customers could get what they needed.
                                                                   www.itsbythespoonful.com

         20  FEAST! Local Foods Magazine

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