How Does He Do It?
Meet Michael from Farm to People + Viral Cucumbers
I started a farm box in 2020. If you didn’t already know, I built a business during COVID that delivered a box of seasonal vegetables with local bread, cheese, eggs, and so many more fun and delicious things. Running this business was the best job I’ve ever had, but when it comes to fresh produce, custom orders, and door-to-door deliveries, lots of things would go wrong. Every week felt like a whirlwind of problem-solving and mini-crises.
For example, we had a handful of delivery drivers who had to drive their personal car to our warehouse in Paterson, fill the car with difficult-to-stack crates, and then use our print-out to deliver custom orders to people’s doorsteps. This job was very hard, so if a driver called out at the last minute, it was always a disaster. Our Illuminate van, as beautiful as it was, sometimes broke down and all of the boxes had to be transferred out. Or that time I was driving to set up at the West Orange farmer's market, and the van door slid open, and my stunning strawberries fell into the road. Every week, there were changes in the vendor deliveries, forgotten orders, or damaged produce because of the nature of changing harvests, perishable food, and human error. Managing the stress of this type of business and constantly losing customers for various reasons eventually became a bit too much to manage.
In a magical turn of events, I happened to sit next to the owners of Farm to People at an event and mentioned to them I was thinking of closing down the business. After some back and forth, we landed on them taking over Illuminate’s NJ customers because their offering was so similar but had far more years of experience and more established processes and technology for a better customer experience. Since meeting Michael and Anina from Farm to People, I feel like they are caretakers of something very special to me. I am a big believer in their business because, for 10 years, they have been bringing food from local farms and delivering it to people and somehow managing the endless problem solving of running a farm box while planning events for the community and turning their space in a warehouse by day and a beautiful, vibrant restaurant by night.
I have encouraged many of my readers who live in NY/NJ to check out Farm to People. Even if you do go to the farmers market every week, this is the best way to always have seasonal produce in the house which encourages you to try new things and experiment in the kitchen. Beyond the seasonality, this produce is better than what’s in the grocery store, and everything else they offer is top-quality, too.
I’ve been in awe of the Farm to People business model for some time now, and I wanted to take this opportunity to ask co-founder Michael Ray Robinov how he does it all.
What drives you to keep building this business 10 years later?
Even though we’ve pivoted so many times over the years and nearly thrown the towel in more than once… What keeps me going is the mission that Farm to People was founded on: connecting people with the freshest, most sustainable food from small-scale, regenerative, and local farmers. Knowing that we're helping to build a more equitable food system by creating a more convenient link between eaters and growers is incredibly exciting and knowing how much farther we have to go to achieve truly meaningful scale in NYC and hopefully other cities and regions in the future is what drives me every day.
What's the hardest thing about running Farm to People?
As a bootstrapped family business, the hardest part of running Farm to People has always been resources. While many businesses often “build it and hope the people will come,” we’ve had to build the plane while flying it. We’re still a small but mighty team that balances supply chain logistics, warehouse operations, in-house marketing, building out proprietary technology, last-mile delivery, and best-in-class customer service- not to mention a kitchen and bar and events business out of our Bushwick warehouse.
I think our focus on unique produce varieties from small farmers is one of our greatest strengths, but as you can imagine, it is also very difficult to do without issue. Unlike large, industrial food systems, working with these small farms means dealing with variability—whether it’s a sudden change in crop yield due to weather or a new, exciting product that’s only available in limited quantities. Ensuring that our customers receive the highest-quality product and experience while staying true to our mission is a daily challenge. It requires constant adaptation, creative problem-solving, and a deep understanding of both our farmers and our customers.
What are some of the new products you are most excited about this summer?
I’m really excited about all of the progress we’ve made in our kitchen. We’ve added many new products geared towards our families who love to cook with us but are also looking for some nights “off.” We’ve introduced items like frozen burritos, tamales, hummus, roasted chicken, pestos, and sauces to help make breakfast, lunch, and dinner happen faster. In that vein, we’ve also added more kid-friendly items like Cocojune Coconut Yogurt pouches, Dino Bars, and Painterland Sisters’ Regenerative Organic Skyrs!
In the ten years of running Farm to People, what have you learned about your customers?
In the past decade, I’ve learned that our customers are deeply passionate about where their food comes from and how it’s produced. They value transparency and authenticity, and they’re willing to go out of their way to support small, sustainable farms. Our customers are incredibly knowledgeable, and they’re always seeking out new and unique products. They’re also highly engaged—they want to connect with the stories behind their food, whether that’s learning about the farm it came from or the artisan who made it. This has driven us to constantly innovate and ensure that we’re not just meeting their expectations but exceeding them.
Eat a Whole Cucumber 🥒
If you haven’t seen it yet, there has been a viral trend of eating a whole cucumber thanks to creator Logan Moffitt. His videos demonstrate how to slice a whole cucumber, flavor it in different ways in a deli container, shake it and enjoy. I truly love this cucumber trend and tried out his original Din Tai Fung recipe which was great, but it was a snack and I needed to turn this into a meal.
Sometimes you want to eat a whole cucumber and also a full meal.
This is how I turned it into a meal (which I just had for breakfast).
Din Tai Fung Viral Cucumbers (watch his vid)
1 entire shaved cucumber
Soy sauce, sesame oil, chili oil, sugar and garlic (I didn’t have MSG but will be buying asap) I love that he doesn’t use exact measurements.
INSTRUCTIONS
Pour into a sealable container and shake.
Shave cabbage
Make rice noodles
Prepare a quick peanut sauce
Toss the noodles in peanut sauce, add cabbage, cucumbers and top with cilantro and maybe peanuts.
Obsessed with this entire thing!