Localdoorstep.com DELIVERS!

Local entrepreneurs Jenna and Lucas Kappers of rural Chatfield are ready to take your local food orders and deliver them to your doorstep. You can order a wide selection of dairy, produce, meats, beverages, bakery, pantry, and household items to be delivered to your location in the Twin Cities and throughout southeastern Minnesota.

Lucas and Jenna launched their business as KBRB (Kappers’ Big Red Barn) Home Delivery in 2019; this was a part of Lucas’s parents’ farm. In February of 2022, their company Local Doorstep was developed and branded.

Lucas’s dad, Bob Kappers, had grown up on a dairy farm; in the 1980s, Bob and his wife Jeannette moved to Chatfield to operate a traditional dairy farm. In 2004, they founded their own microdairy on the farm. Lucas’s older brother Jake now works at the microdairy as well.

During the years of 2014 to 2020, the Kappers took their products to the St. Paul Farmers’ Market every Saturday. While there, Lucas and Jenna began to toy with the idea of a delivery business and began to plan. Vendors they sold beside were interested in offering their products through the business as well. Soon Jenna and Lucas began their fledgling business on the KBRB farm.

Now localdoorstep.com is offering products from over 35 producers. The bulk of the products are from within 50 miles of the Kappers’ location. An exception is salmon from Alaska which a Duluth area fisherman flies to Alaska to catch and bring back to the area yearly.

In addition to Kappers’ Big Red Barn products, localdoorstep.com carries items from local producers Civil Sass Beef and Steinbrink Cattle Co., both in Chatfield, O’Neill Family Farm in Rushford, Oneota Farms in Harmony, Pork and Plants in Altura, and State Line Produce, an Amish Cooperative from Lime Springs, Iowa. They also carry items from several producers in Rochester, Oronoco, Dodge Center, Byron, and Minneapolis including kombucha, a botanical drink produced by Northstar Kombucha. Jenna commented that the companies they work with are generally small in size and appreciate the availability of a website to showcase their products. Jenna also shares photos of products with the businesses to use in other promotions.

Lucas and Jenna have been working hard to get their spaces at the Kappers Farm improved for their ever-expanding business. They demolished an old outbuilding at the farm, poured a new cement slab, and are installing a walk-in freezer on site this week.

Ordering from localdoorstep.com is done via the internet. There are no membership fees; customers can choose to order for a weekly delivery or just a one-time order. Once you’ve given your address, they will provide you with a delivery date for your area and a time frame. The Kappers ask customers to put a cooler out for the deliveries. They have had very few issues with the orders remaining fresh in summer and none at all with freezing in the winter. Customers receive a text when the orders are delivered.

Average order size is around $35. Orders over $40 are delivered free; there is an $11 minimum order requirement with a $4 delivery fee for the orders under $40. Lucas shared that they have created a weekly staple bundle since many customers order milk, cheese, eggs, bread and meat on a weekly basis.

Lucas and Jenna consider themselves fortunate — when the pandemic hit, they already had a website and business established to serve customers, while other companies were scrambling to create one.

Early in the pandemic, they did not run into supply issues with meat. Having several suppliers, they had a rotating, steady supply of meat. When coffee shops were shut down and not ordering, the home delivery business increased. The recent egg shortage didn’t affect them much either. Their suppliers were local with a steady supply. A local Amish cooperative has recently begun raising chickens, making their supply even more steady.

Early difficulties they did face involved scheduling deliveries and getting them done on time. Currently, Lucas and Jenna have a full-time delivery driver, Robert Koll, and Lucas’s brother Jake works with them part-time as well. Since the company doesn’t have an entire fleet of vehicles, they need to take good care of the large reefer box truck, and a smaller cargo van. A third van is available to borrow as needed.

In addition to private deliveries, localdoorstep.com does wholesale deliveries to coffee shops in Northfield, Rochester, Kasson, and the Twin Cities, and Greensted, a retail shop in Zumbrota.

Some products are delivered by producers to Kappers’ Big Red Barn, while others are picked up from their location by the delivery driver. Still other products are exchanged at the St. Paul Lower Town Farmers’ Market with KBRB and brought back to the farm.

Lucas and Jenna are always looking to grow and expand. “We’re here to help producers grow!” Lucas emphasized. Some products they’d like to add to their inventory are local snack options as well as meals. They would love to develop meal plans similar to those offered nationally online. They encourage anyone who has a product that they might be able to sell to contact them.

Jenna finished by saying that what she enjoys most is helping small producers; she knows how much work goes into farming and selling the products. Lucas shared that he most enjoys getting to know the local hardworking producers and helping them be successful.

To find the details on ordering, just visit localdoorstep.com to see photos and descriptions. They can also be reached by email; the address is hello@localdoorstep.com. Check out the new, easy, and convenient way to purchase local food with localdoorstep.com!