New delivery service gives Black farmers a broader customer base

ATLANTA - Desmond Baskerville and Chris Lemons are lifelong friends who take a lot of pride in growing and harvesting organic produce. Two years ago, they applied to Atlanta AgLanta "Grows-A-Lot" program and created Gratitude Botanical Farms two years ago.

"We grow everything with love, right here on the west side of Atlanta. Gratitude is just giving everything that you get so it's an even exchange with the earth and the community and with Atlanta as a whole. Their organic farm off Collier Drive is known to some and business picked up a little during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they hope their customer base will grow now that they've partnered with a company called The Better Buggy.

"This is huge for our business model since we can now literally get the product from farm to door," said Baskerville. "Being able to provide a healthy product to our community is what drives us day-to-day."

Rhandi and Jon Altidor started the online grocery shopping and delivery service in June as a way to meet the needs of consumers who wanted to support black farmers and grocery store owners who were struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic.

"We realized a lot of the larger platforms just don't offer these local stores and farms, so we wanted to fill a void. Our drivers go out and pick up those products and deliver those products to our customers," said Betty Buggy co-founder Rhandi Altidor.

The young couple said it feels good to help small business owners get more access to consumers while giving consumers better access to healthy food.

"We're directly being able to empower our local Black own farms, but we're also giving them organics straight from the ground to the door," said Mrs. Altidor, with her husband at her side.

“In years past, we didn't eat healthy, so I think it's good having these options available because people don't normally have access to these kinds of options and now they do," said Mr. Altidor.

The company launched this Summer with deliveries available only on weekends with Mr. Altidor doing all of the food pick-ups and deliveries. But business picked up and the couple has expanded their service to weekday deliveries as well.

For more information about the services, farms, and grocery stores associated with the company, visit TheBetterBuggy.com.