A Mighty Hybrid Food Hub in the Northeast

What is American Food?

For the next few episodes of “What Is American Food?” we’ll be turning our attention from the southwest to the northeast.

Red Tomato is an innovative non-profit food hub based in Providence, Rhode Island. For 25 years they’ve been partnering with small to mid-sized farms to help with marketing, logistics, and distribution.

We’ll hear Red Tomato’s origin story from Michael Rozyne, Angel Mendez, and Sue Futrell. Plus, 8th-generation orchardist John Lyman gives us practical examples of how Red Tomato helps his farm partner with others to make sure everyone succeeds in the market.

But Red Tomato’s story is not all sunshine and rainbows-- they almost lost everything in 2002, when a crucial piece of funding dried up. Their response ended up changing the entire way the organization functions, making it more resilient than ever.

As the American food system recovers from the past year of disruption, we can all look to Red Tomato for an example of building trust and committing to sustainability and transparency, while honoring the dignity of all the people who provide our food.

We’ll be making more episodes about Red Tomato, so be sure to subscribe in your favorite podcast app to be alerted whenever new content drops. You can also subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Instagram.

Guests:

Michael Rozyne, co-founder of Red Tomato

Angel Mendez, Executive Director of Red Tomato

Sue Futrell, Director of Marketing for Red Tomato

John Lyman, 8th generation orchardist at Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, CT

The Six Founding Sisters:

Team Red Tomato wanted to acknowledge their Six Founding Sisters in this podcast but we ran out of time! Here they are. They were with Red Tomato from 1997-1999 and all stayed on for years into the new millennium. Diane Rast has been the only graphic designer to have ever done any major work for Red Tomato, having designed every version of every logo and package and major promo piece for all 24 years.

Marla Rhodes

Iliana Rivas

Kate Larson

Betty MacKenzie

Lynn Colangione

Diane Rast

Disclaimer: Ali Berlow is a member of Red Tomato’s board of trustees.