A southeast Iowa farmer and businessman came up with the idea to create an online marketplace for selling meat, called ChopLocal. Jared Achen from Wayland, IA, studied the supply chain issues last spring as a result of COVID-19, and he and cofounder Katie Olthoff came up with the idea for ChopLocal.
“At the same time that farmers had no markets for their livestock, consumers were struggling to get the meat they wanted from grocery stores. I knew there had to be a better system to connect the farmers who have meat with the consumers who want it,” Achen said.
The company’s goal is to make it easier to buy and sell high-quality meat online, similar to the online marketplace Etsy. Each vendor has their own “microstore” where they can share more information about their farm or business, increasing transparency for consumers.
The marketplace launched in December with four vendors and new vendors are being added regularly. The company will expand out of Iowa in early 2021.
