February Shop Local Appleton Business of the Month
By: Felicia Clark
The Green Tomato Artisan Market & Kitchen is a combination of a market and a certified kitchen incubator for vendors to process their products they sell in the store. The kitchen in back is rented by Wayne Wojciechowski of Hippie Wayne’s and the market in front is rented by Richard and Tracy Vinz of Olden Produce. Together, the three owners merged as The Green Tomato.
“Our belief is always: producers helping producers,” Richard Vinz said. “Our feeling is that we’ll succeed by allowing others to succeed – giving them a retail outlet for their products.”
About four years ago, Wayne approached Tracy Vinz at the Oshkosh Farmers Market, looking for a small, local farmer to purchase his produce from to make his salsas, jams, jellies, sauces, etc. Wayne and the Vinz couple began selling each other’s products at the Downtown Appleton Farm Market and Oshkosh Farmers Market. In May 2013, Olden Produce accepted Wayne’s offer to rent the space that is now The Green Tomato.
The business works with farmers and producers to make sure the products are sold at the most reasonable price necessary to sustain business.
“A lot of our products don’t have the shelf life because they don’t contain all those preservatives, so if we carry too much inventory and we don’t get the response from the people, then we’re not going to succeed,” Richard Vinz said.
The mission is to reconnect people with food by reeducating customers on where their food comes from, how it’s grown, what’s in season and how to eat seasonally, locally and healthy, Richard Vinz says. To help in this mission, The Green Tomato is the drop off center for the Olden Produce CSA shares, which are boxes/bags of produce distributed to interested customers.
Along with reeducating the public on food, The Green Tomato owners also strive to share the diversity of Wisconsin-made products with its customers.
“A lot of people know Wisconsin for some of the more obvious things like dairy and potatoes in the central part of the state but there’s so many other things that are made and produced in this state that people aren’t nearly as familiar with,” Richard Vinz said.
This summer, The Green Tomato has big plans, including food- and drink-themed days; all customer discount days; business combination treats based on holidays, themes and seasons; membership bonus/discount days where members who pay $20 per year will get 2.5 percent back on all purchases; and Meet the Vendors events where customers can try samples and meet the producers.
Offering customers the option to meet vendors gives the grocery store a unique twist.
“Nobody can sell their own product better than that person,” Richard Vinz said. “The bigger grocers will do sampling, but very rarely do they have the actual producer – people that are making the product – actually in the store.”
The Green Tomato also takes requests from customers on products they would like to see in the store.
“The space limitation constrains us some but we definitely have the capacity. We’re constantly trying new products and switching out things that aren’t necessarily selling as well,” Richard Vinz said. “We will always have our core stuff … but we’re always looking at different products if there’s a demand for it.”
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The following vendors use The Green Tomato kitchen for processing their products:
Olden Produce
Hippie Wayne’s
Irresistibly Healthy
Cheesy Love
Ann’s Gluten Free Bakery
Red Barn Family Farms
Good Grief Garden
Grow Local
Mudd Creek
Soup and Dipity
For any interested customers, there are now two available openings in The Green Tomato kitchen.
For more information on The Green Tomato, visit their website.