Indianapolis, IN
Indianapolis-based Market Wagon acquires St. Louis company – Indianapolis Business Journal
Indianapolis-based Market Wagon, which offers an online marketplace where food producers and artisans sell their wares, has added to its presence in the St. Louis market by acquiring a smaller competitor.
Market Wagon announced Wednesday that it acquired St. Louis, Missouri-based Find Your Farmer Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal. The company declined to disclose financial terms of the purchase, which closed in November. The acquisition added more than 1,000 households to Market Wagon’s existing customer base in the St. Louis-area market.
Market Wagon, which launched in 2017, operates 18 food hubs in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions that deliver products to customers in more than a dozen states. Its Indiana markets include Marion County and 18 other central Indiana counties, the Fort Wayne area, and the Michiana market, which includes the cities of Valparaiso, South Bend and Elkhart, among others.
The company has 10 full-time employees, plus another 17 part-timers who coordinate Market Wagon’s distribution hub locations.
Find Your Farmer was started in 2020 by five founders who at the time were students at Washington University in St. Louis. By the time Market Wagon acquired the company, Find Your Farmer had developed partnerships with more than 50 farms, artisans and distributors, and was delivering groceries to more than 1,000 households in the area.
After Find Your Farmer’s founders graduated, they were looking to move on and sell the business, said Market Wagon co-founder and CEO Dan Brunner. “So we looked at it and said, ‘Well, you know, the combination of that many customers’—it was a big enough book of business. And we were also pretty interested in how they got the success that they’ve gotten.”
Market Wagon has retired the Find Your Farmer brand, and all St. Louis customers are now receiving their deliveries under the Market Wagon name, Brunner said.
Indianapolis-area Market Wagon customers won’t see any changes as a result of the acquisition, Brunner said, because Market Wagon has different sets of vendors in its various markets. The vendors that Market Wagon picked up through the Find Your Farmers acquisition were primarily serving the St. Louis market.
As was true with many online retail companies, Market Wagon saw its sales spike during the pandemic and, at its peak, was delivering to customers in 37 different markets. Sales have declined since then, Brunner said, but are still up significantly compared with before the pandemic.
Speaking to IBJ late last month, Brunner said he expected Market Wagon to close out 2023 with annual revenue about seven times greater than in 2019. At the peak of the pandemic, sales were 11 times that of 2019.
This year, Brunner said, he doesn’t expect to add any new markets. Instead, the company will focus on making additional revenue in the markets it already serves.
“I think there’s just a ton of room to grow those,” he said.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — It was another busy week in high school sports in central Indiana and ‘The Zone Extra’ has it all covered.
Athlete of the week and Guerin Catholic senior outfielder Ian Taylor is off to a scorching hot start to the young season. Check out his interview as well as Guerin Catholic head coach Dave Schrage talk about Taylor’s success.
The Johnson County baseball tournament came to a close. See highlights from Center Grove’s tournament victory.
The 4A baseball coaches poll was released as well as the 3A softball coaches poll.
The former Columbus North gymnastics coach, John Hinds, passed away at 88 years old.
Center Grove head softball coach Alyssa Coleman joins the show for a coaches corner conversation.
See highlights from the Colts Local Pro Day, featuring several former Hoosiers and Purdue’s Devin Mockobee.
Girls lacrosse is in the first season as an IHSAA emerging sport.
All of that, and more, can be found in the full The Zone Extra show above.
(WISH) — A tornado watch was issued until 3 a.m. EDT Saturday for counties northwest and west of Indianapolis, and into Illinois.
Indiana counties in the watch area are Boone, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Elkhart, Fountain, Fulton, Howard, Kosciusko, La Porte, Marshall, Miami, Montgomery, Parke, Pulaski, Putnam, St. Joseph, Starke, Tippecanoe, Vermillion, Vigo, Wabash, Warren and White. The watch area includes the cities of Crawfordsville, Elkhart, Lafayette, Lebanon, South Bend, Terre Haute, and West Lafayette.
The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center has issued two watches in Indiana. The other one until midnight EDT Friday includes the Indiana counties of Benton, Jasper, Lake, Newton and Porter. That includes the city of Gary. That watch also extends into Illinois.
Storms on Friday night in central Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Minnesota led to dozens of confirmed tornado warnings. The storms in central Illinois has gusts up to 80 mph, and tornadoes embedded in heavy rain.
An alert issued after 10:30 p.m. Friday from the National Weather Service at Indianapolis said, “A line of strong thunderstorms is nearing the state line with a history of widespread damaging winds and tornadoes. The line is expected to continue to produce damaging winds as it moves into Indiana with the potential for additional tornadoes. The line is then expected to gradually weaken as it moves further into the state.”
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Athenaeum in downtown Indianapolis is getting ready to welcome spring with its annual St. Benno Festival this Saturday.
Organizers say it’s one of the longest-running cultural festivals in Indianapolis.
St. Benno Festival is based on the German tradition of “Frühlingsfest,” the springtime version of Oktoberfest, Athenaeum Foundation President Craig Mince says.
“It would always be the festival that would open up the beer garden,” Mince said. “So that was kind of their kickoff of the spring and that warmer season. “
The Athenaeum’s celebration focuses on St. Benno, the patron saint of anglers and the city of Munich, Germany.
There’s a lot of folklore surrounding St. Benno. He’s said to have created Bach beer. He also had a sidekick, “Einbeck,” which means “billy goat” in German.
Legend has it that when the invaders were coming to Munich, he threw the key to a church into a body of water. Years later, he caught a fish that had eaten the key and retrieved it.
“When the German immigrants came here to central Indiana, Indianapolis in particular, they started to organize,” Mince said. “They celebrated Benno. They celebrated Bach beer. So that was kind of the beginning of this institution.”
St. Benno Fest will include lots of beer, pretzels, and Gomez BBQ’s doner kebab.
Francene Thomas, the Athenaeum’s event and festivals manager, says there’s a lot of thought that goes into the menu.
“We want to definitely bring the tradition of this festival and continue that, but also, just bring some fresh flavor to it, too.”
The celebration serves as a fundraiser for the Athenaeum. Money raised will go back into maintenance and other events that promote German culture.
Tickets are $25 and can be bought in advance on the Athenaeum website. St. Benno Fest is a 21+ event and runs from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
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