Startup puts state's small farmers in grocery freezer case

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (AP) — Seal the Seasons CEO and co-founder Patrick Mateer will reap the rewards of hard work this summer when the company starts shipping pounds of North Carolina produce to three national grocery chains.

Mateer, 23, said the flash-frozen fruits and vegetables will reach about 325 stores this year with the addition of Lowes Foods and Whole Foods in July, and Harris Teeter in August. That's up from 10 smaller and online grocers last year, including Weaver Street Market, he said.

"We've been pushing local, especially at places like Harris Teeter, Lowes and Whole Foods," he said. "All three of these stores have been really into local, natural, specialty products. They want to offer their customers something different, and the frozen section hasn't changed in 50 years."

They're also creating jobs, growing from about 10 employees last year freezing roughly 30,000 pounds of food, to 45 seasonal employees and five full-time managers now. The goal is to freeze 750,000 pounds of food this year.

But the company's mission is also to be a social enterprise, making fresh food available to more people and promoting environmental sustainability.

Next year, they plan to donate 20 percent of their profits to support hunger-relief groups, Mateer said. He also has been thinking about direct food donations to nonprofit groups and food banks.

"We'll probably give inventory that's been sitting for six to nine months," he said, "The way that distributors work is they have to buy inventory that has 50 percent or more shelf life, so if something becomes halfway to being old, the distributors won't buy it because they can't sell it. That's an opportunity for us to donate that product and take a tax deduction."

The idea for Seal the Seasons was planted nearly three years ago at UNC when Mateer and Will Chapman were recruited by co-founder Daniella Uslan, who had been exploring how to repurpose food that otherwise might be wasted.

Mateer, an economics and political science major from Chapel Hill, was learning about local food systems and food insecurity as an undergraduate working with Farmer Foodshare through UNC's Bonner Leaders Program.

Farmer Foodshare connects local farmers to nonprofit groups and low-income communities lacking access to fresh food. But Mateer noticed the group was only able to buy a few cases of food, leaving much more in the fields without a buyer.

They nursed the idea in UNC's Campus Y-based Cube social innovation incubator, before moving to the Launch Chapel Hill venture lab on West Rosemary Street. Seal the Seasons started production last May at the Piedmont Food and Agricultural Processing Center (PFAP) in Hillsborough.

Uslan, who still serves on the company's advisory board, now works as project director at the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Chapman has returned to UNC as a master's degree candidate. Mateer bought back their shares last fall.

PFAP has been a supportive home, Mateer said. Executive Director Eric Hallman has brought in a new structure and clients, and the collaboration between businesses is growing, he said.

The company also received financial support, including a $50,000 grant from the State Employees Credit Union and Institute for Emerging Issues, a $10,000 grant from the Rural Advancement Foundation International, and $60,000 in Orange County small business grants and loans.

The money was critical, Mateer said, because banks were skeptical of their rapid growth.

They've invested $300,000 in equipment, buying a freezer truck through Durham's Reinvestment Partners and renting a 53-foot truck to ship produce to long-term storage in Durham and Hickory. Another $100,000 was invested in upgrades to the PFAP center, he said.

Both their equipment and staff are available at a low cost to PFAP peers and area nonprofits, he said.

Mateer's business has seen a lot of changes but seems to be doing well, said Yvonne Scarlett, Orange County's business retention economic developer.

"I joke and tell him he's a young person, but every time I see him, he's got another gray hair," Scarlett said. "He's working extremely hard, and those are the types of businesses that we certainly want to support."

The company's flash-freezing process relies on liquid nitrogen - a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas - to preserve fruits and vegetables at far below zero temperatures. The process locks in the flavor and nutritional value, food industry experts say, and stops the growth of microorganisms.

Seal the Seasons pays farmers a portion of the produce cost up front, he said, and the remainder by the next growing season. Each partnership starts with a visit so the team can tour the farm and learn more about its methods. They put the farmer's picture and a quote on each package of food.

"We've been going out and visiting," he said, "seeing the whole farm, driving around for two hours, and when the team came back here, we always talked about Gary told us this story, or Mark had this to say today."

"Sometimes, it's just ridiculous, off-the-cuff things that you never expect. We really want to share those with people," he said.

While the company needs large producers to keep up with the growing demand, the priority remains on making the little guys profitable, he said. Their farmers come from roughly 200 miles around, from the state's coastal plains to the western foothills.

"We know those relationships as we grow are going to turn around, and those farms are going to double in size or triple in size," he said.

Mateer wants to take the Seal the Seasons model nationwide over time, making more local food available to people where they live. They will expand east next year through a partnership with Cottle Farms, which recently built a $6 million production facility in Duplin County.

"The goal over this year and the next year will be how do we find the best farmers, how do we grow those farmers, and how do we grow a company that's profitable and reputable," he said.

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