Country Table is designed for busy foodies who yearn for the farm-to-fork experience but don’t necessarily have time to shop the farmers market.
As Business Report highlights in its Entrepreneur feature from the new issue, it’s from a warehouse on Balis Drive that owners Kallie Svendson and Lauren Beth Slowik deliver fresh produce, grass-fed meat, bread, eggs and dairy from local farmers and food artisans right to a client’s office or doorstep.
It’s a subscription-based service: Members pay $37 for a weekly delivery or $39 for one every other week. Each bundle features seasonal fruits and vegetables that are being freshly harvested at that time—and recipes for how to prepare them—with the option of adding specialty items like fresh bread, beverages, cupcakes, herbs, pet food, organic cleaning supplies or king cakes.
Neither Svendson nor Slowik are trained or experienced in the food industry. But they’re both heavy into gardening and cooking.
“I have a big Italian family that’s really into food,” Svendson says. “We cook every Sunday. It’s usually between 15 and 20 of us.”
Slowick got her start as a child standing on a chair next to her mother in the kitchen.
“I’ve cooked my entire life,” she says. “My grandmother is from New Orleans—old Creole New Orleans. All my aunts and uncles are wonderful chefs. We have a family cookbook.”
When a friend from Texas posted online that they were receiving fresh bushels of vegetables, the pair started researching ideas for Baton Rouge. In 2013 they leased warehouse space in August, bought a van and wrapped it in the Country Table logo in September and delivered their first bundle in October. By November they were doing 60 deliveries a week.
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