JACKSON, Wyo. — Wyoming is a small town with long streets. Yet, it still takes a long time to drive across it. This increases the operating cost – driver wages, fuel, etc. – for small business entrepreneurs to move product to their customers. There are slim margins for entrepreneurs that create small-batch craft foods and beverages, such as Jackson Hole’s own Farmstead Cider.

To assist small businesses in our vast Cowboy State, Central Wyoming College (CWC) partners with the state-wide Eat Wyoming local food hub. The collaborative network for aggregation and distribution serves Wyoming farmers and ranchers, as well as food and beverage businesses. There are three legs to Eat Wyoming services:

  1. Distributor services for Wyoming food and beverage businesses, which includes Farmstead Cider. Orion Bellorado and Ian McGregor began to harvest crab apples in Jackson Hole to help the bears. Removing apples from peoples’ yards reduced the conflicts between the apple-craving bears and yard-lounging people. Next sparked the ideas on what to do with all the harvested apples. Successful businesses solve problems. Farmstead Cider proves it. Saving bears from apple temptations continues to provide high-altitude crab apples for uniquely Wyoming hard ciders. Through Eat Wyoming distributor services, Farmstead Cider is able to sell their wild fermented dry ciders in retail locations across the state.
  2. Wholesale services for Wyoming grown foods to restaurant, grocery retailers and food service, such as K-12 schools. The Eat Wyoming driver doesn’t bring an empty truck to Jackson to pick up the cases of Farmstead Cider. The refrigerated truck, operated under a State of Wyoming food distributor license, carries vegetables, meats, dairy and other local foods to the people of Jackson Hole. For instance, CWC and Eat Wyoming work closely with Slow Food in the Tetons to transport local foods for their Farm Stand and Online Marketplace. 
  3. The shared eCommerce platform, www.eatwyoming.com, where anyone in Wyoming can order from any Wyoming farmer and rancher that lists food items on the site. Then, the ordered Wyoming grown food is picked up and delivered to you.