Trevor Clatterbuck

 

 

Founder and CEO of Fresh Fork

 

by Tia'Shauna Tindell, crew 4

 

 

Does your career match your childhood dream? Growing up, Trevor Clatterbuck’s dream was to be an attorney, but when he got older, he started a food market called Fresh Fork.  

 

Clatterbuck, 28, started his local food market as a college senior in 2009. Clatterbuck earned a dual degree in political science and business management at Case Western Reserve University. “The advice that I have received from farmers and other business people was helpful,” Clatterbuck said. Fresh Fork became a retail program that focuses on selling local food to families and home consumers instead of restaurants, which was Clatterbuck’s original plan.

 

Fresh Fork is now a weekly subscription model for produce, meat, and cheeses. All Fresh Fork customers meet at different pickup locations each week. They started with 40 customers, but their population grew to 400 then 1,000 customers in just the first three years. This year, they are expecting even more. “We have 5,000 to 6,000 customers a year for both seasons and holiday,” said Clatterbuck.

 

As the CEO, every day at Fresh Fork is different for Clatterbuck. “There is no such thing as a typical day, I am just putting out fires,” he said. Sometimes Clatterbuck is repairing trucks, sometimes he’s on the road picking up food, and sometimes he’s getting ready for a class with a chef teaching at a workshop. Out of all of his roles, he said he most enjoys talking to the customers. “The best part of my job is the reaction from the customers when they are satisfied, knowing that you did your job,” Clatterbuck explained.

 

Clatterbuck also enjoys visiting the 108 farms that supply to Fresh Fork. He has been working with lots of producers for 3-5 years. Part of the risk of working with farms is when the animals are dying. For example, Clatterbuck said that the average pig litter is 10 to 12 pigs, but this year only five of the 20 pigs survived. This can lead to supply shortages, which causes Clatterbuck to have to change his plans for some of the bags. This can lead challenges for Clatterbuck, who said, “The hardest part of the retail business is the customer service aspects,” when they are short on a certain type of food or a customer is not satisfied.

 

One Fresh Fork farmer, Harvey, is a 26-year-old Amish man in Middlefield. He has been growing for Trevor for the last 3 to 4 years. “When we were walking around his farm, he asked me, ‘What might you be doing on Tuesday, April 22?’” Harvey invited Clatterbuck to his wedding, saying, “The wedding wouldn’t be possible without you.” As an Amish man, Harvey wasn’t able to get married until he had financial stability, which he got through Fresh Fork.

 

To connect consumers and farmers, they have farm fairs where farmers come into the city to teach people how to garden. Fresh Fork also had an open house in May. “We invite customers to come and we have one presentation about farmers and one with tips for buying local,” Clatterbuck described. Fresh Fork helps the community by selling healthy things such as local fruits and vegetables. “I’m trying to earn a living doing this, but I am also changing the way people shop,” Clatterbuck said.

 

In 5-10 years, Clatterbuck says he will still be working for Fresh Fork. He also thinks there will be more business that are related to Fresh Fork. For example, they are thinking about opening a quick freeze facility.  “It would allow us to process from the summer time so they can still be used in the winter,” explained Clatterbuck. Overall, Clatterbuck is proud of what Fresh Fork has become. “I recognized that there was a need or problem that needed to be fixed, and it became a business opportunity for me to do something meaningful,” he said.