FoodChain opens new grocery store with a focus on local, fresh food

Lexington nonprofit FoodChain opened its new Neighborhood Green Grocery store earlier this month, in hopes of further connecting local agriculture and food affordability to the community.

FoodChain was founded in 2011 and became the home to Kentucky’s first commercial-scale indoor aquaponics farm in 2013. It has since grown into a nonprofit centered around food assistance and access to locally grown and sourced food.

The new grocery store — located next to the nonprofit’s aquaponics farm and kitchen at 501 W. 6th Street — aims to increase accessibility to locally grown food by prioritizing products made in Kentucky at a fair price. Leandra Foreman, a co-director of FoodChain, said she hopes the grocery store can act as a space for people to discover more nutritious food and become excited about the local food system.

In the new store, chartreuse green walls sit alongside the industrial architecture of the building. Bright lights illuminate the miniature aquaponics farm that holds seedlings for sale near the front of the store. Workers organize the moving of produce while a little boy plays in a miniature-toy market in the corner of the store.

Foreman said the grocery store is meant to provide mostly locally sourced and fresh food, alongside some non-local necessities like pasta and tomato sauce.

“FoodChain’s mission is to forge links between our community and fresh food and most people connect to their food through grocery stores,” Foreman said. “We have always wanted to open up a Neighborhood Green Grocery, focused especially on our neighbors and the connection between Kentucky farmers and affordability.”

The grocery store is also currently in the process of getting approved to accept SNAP EBT, so that customers can utilize the nutritional assistance program. Once their application is approved, FoodChain plans to incorporate the Kentucky Double Dollars Program, where people can use their SNAP EBT card for additional funds to use on specifically Kentucky-grown agriculture.

The store opened to the public on May 7. It’s open Tuesday through Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The entrance is next door to the FoodChain Kitchen, near West 6th Brewing.

Foodchain’s aquaponics farm, which grows fresh food used in meal kits and sold in the grocery, sits tucked away behind the store and kitchen. Tanks with various fish and shrimp bubble as they push water into the growing vegetables.

Foreman said utilizing aquatic life’s waste as a fertilizer source for growing plants, or aquaponics, is “as old as human agriculture.” FoodChain utilizes a type of aquaponics called Deep Water Recirculating where ammonia from fish waste is converted to nitrates, or plant food, by bacteria.

The water containing the nitrates then flows down to various floating vegetable plants that utilize the nitrates for growth. After the nitrates are used up, the water flows back into the fish tank.

The ability to recycle water provides sustainability that allows agriculture to overcome the environmental hurdles.

Foreman wanted to prove in 2015, though, that this sustainable practice of farming could be done anywhere — even in downtown Lexington. The organization grew steadily from 2015 to 2020, adding a teaching and processing kitchen, community cooking classes, and a partnership with Kentucky State University in 2019 to install a marine shrimp aquaponic system.

FoodChain served about 2,400 child nutrition meals in 2019, Foreman said. In 2020, the non-profit exponentially grew in response to COVID-19, serving about 250,000 child nutrition meals.

What came about was Nourish Lexington, a local food system and feeding program that was able to “meet people where they were at,” Foreman said. Free meals were handed out or delivered, and jobs were created in the local food industry.

FoodChain wanted to prove that a reliance on national and international food systems isn’t necessary with Nourish Lexington. Local communities can create a resilient food system, Foreman said.

Nourish Lexington continues to provide free, no-questions-asked meals on Mondays and Wednesdays from 4 to 6 p.m.

“It created a situation where we were able to prove a point that we’ve been talking about for a long time,” Foreman said.

Foreman described the community of FoodChain as diverse. Between partnerships, workers and those the non-profit serves, many walks of life enter through the doors of FoodChain. Foreman has had the opportunity to even see volunteers and workers grow alongside the non-profit.

“Some of the kids in our programs have literally been a part of FoodChain since they were seven years old,” Foreman said.

The new grocery store, though, marks the newest milestone for FoodChain as they continue to grow in community and ability.

“Being in an organization that’s been around for so long (and) has maintained relationships for so long is such a deep honor,” Foreman said. “It’s been incredible to get to be a part of that.”