Omnivore - The Turnip Truck brings the farm to the table

• Joeff Davis
• LOCAVORE: Owner Michael Schenck loads up the Turnip Truck.

Let’s just get this out of the way now: Yes, the Turnip Truck, Atlanta’s go-to independent distributor of local, farm-fresh produce, does at times actually carry turnips. And no, owner Michael Schenck did not recently fall off of it.

After working in kitchens for most of his life, the 34-year-old Greensboro, N.C., native began sourcing and delivering local produce to top Atlanta restaurants nearly five years ago.

“Back then, you’d see the same farmers at the same places all the time,” Schenck says, “I’d go the markets at 3 p.m. on a Saturday, and the farmers had been there since 6 a.m., sweating and tired. I thought, ‘What if we could consolidate some of that energy?’”

At a time when Atlanta chefs were beginning to request more local product than ever before - far more than what was being offered by large distributors - Schenck also noticed that the way in which farmers got their products to restaurants was often a logistical nightmare...

Continue reading “The Turnip Truck brings the farm to the table” by Osayi Endolyn