Bailey’s delivers local: Keeping farmers and families connected

Bailey’s Local Foods, a food-delivery service that specializes in local, healthy and organic meats and produce, is now under new ownership.

When Maryrose Ivanco announced her plans to retire from Bailey’s Local Foods after 15 years, many of its loyal customers may have quietly wondered if it was the end of an era.

Thankfully, local entrepreneur and community advocate Rob Puschelberg had other plans.

“I couldn’t see it just go away,” said Puschelberg, who officially took over the beloved online farmers’ market in January of 2024. “Bailey’s has such a rippling effect between local farms and consumers – it’s an ecosystem worth protecting.”

Puschelberg is no stranger to the Bailey’s operation. His company, Toad (Take Out and Delivery), had been handling deliveries for Bailey’s for three and a half years prior to him taking it over. That time gave him a unique perspective on the business and, perhaps more importantly, an appreciation for what it means to the community.

Bailey’s began humbly in 2008, the brainchild of Nina Bailey-Dick and her father, Wendell Bailey. Inspired by the “100-Mile Diet” movement and launched from a family carport, it was a simple buying club focused on healthy, local, organic food. Over time and through the efforts of passionate contributors like Ivanco and co-owner Rachel Ward, Bailey’s evolved into a fully operational online farmers’ market connecting over 125 local producers to households across the region.

Through its website, Bailey’s offers customers access to a carefully curated selection of locally grown and produced goods – from organic beets to maple syrup and farm-fresh eggs. Around 80 per cent of their products are sourced from within 100 kilometres, with the remaining 20 per cent covering items not readily available locally.

From the beginning, Bailey’s has remained committed to supporting local farms, especially those using natural or organic practices. Farmers are empowered to set their own prices and harvest to order, which helps reduce waste and ensures peak freshness. As Ivanco put it, “It literally comes from the farm and hours later it’s at people’s homes.”

Bailey’s also plays a crucial role in reconnecting consumers with where their food comes from – a relationship that has grown more distant over generations. With an FAQ section, producer map and farm bios online, Bailey’s makes transparency part of the shopping experience.

For customers, it’s more than a shopping trip. It’s an opportunity to align their values with their purchases: local, organic, sustainable and community focused. It also helps that the prices are increasingly competitive with conventional grocery stores, with some Bailey’s baskets reportedly coming in under big-box prices in recent comparisons.

The mantra for Bailey’s has never been more relevant than it is today, and that is Bailey’s offers the ability get healthy, locally grown and/or produced food for either pickup or delivery, all on demand. Customers just order and they take care of the rest.

And just recently added to the mix of offerings is a Bailey’s partnership with a local butcher to offer great prices on locally raised meat (beef, pork, lamb or goat) in various quantity selections.

Under Puschelberg’s leadership, Bailey’s will continue its mission while strengthening community ties in new ways. One of the first steps? Partnering with OUR Community Dollar, another initiative by Puschelberg that allows customers to pay 10 per cent of their order using local community currency. It’s another way Bailey’s is putting its money where its mouth is – circulating dollars within the local economy to support the people who grow and produce our food.

“We want to be the one-stop shop for customers looking for locally grown or produced items,” Puschelberg said. “And we want those items to be as clean and healthy as possible – no chemicals, hormones, or steroids.”

Puschelberg is energized by the opportunity to take the torch from Maryrose and Rachel.

“It doesn’t get any more local than local farms,” he said. “This gives people a chance to get everything they need without driving to 20 different farm stands. Let us do that instead.”

That philosophy is exactly why Bailey’s has continued to resonate with customers from all walks of life.

“Our people get that piece of it,” Ivanco said. “They understand that buying local isn't just about what's on your plate. It's about who it supports, how it’s grown and the kind of community we’re choosing to build.”

As Bailey’s enters this new chapter, there’s a deep sense of continuity and optimism. While the founders and longtime stewards step back, the mission remains the same, to make it easier and more rewarding for people to eat well and shop local.

For those who’ve been part of the Bailey’s journey from the start, and for newcomers just discovering it, one thing is clear, local food has a strong future and it's being delivered with care.

Delivery is currently available to Kitchener, Waterloo and Stratford with plans to branch out to adjoining areas.

Local farmers and producers who would like to list their items on Bailey's platform can email info@baileyslocalfoods.ca for more information.

To shop or learn more, visit www.baileyslocalfoods.ca.