
Our Story
During the early 1940s, our founder Bob Lodder’s grandfather, Cornelius, built transport wagons for farmers in the Dutch province of Friesland. His passion was helping to connect farmers and their goods with local consumers—from farm to table. Sadly, Cornelius’s dream was extinguished by Nazis during World War II, who seized his business to support their war efforts.


Local farmers, the backbone of American agriculture, fell secondary to the rise of large-scale meat processing operations. The agricultural landscape changed, and not for the better.
To stay in business, farmers began traveling long distances with their animals to regional slaughterhouses. The trips stressed animals and affected meat quality. Farmers sacrificed profits due to increased transportation costs and wasted time. They bore the stress of scheduling with large abattoirs, sacrificing autonomy in their operations for the unpredictability of regional slaughterhouses. Consumers, once nourished by fresh, high-quality local meat, were disserved by mass-produced meat and little idea where it came from.
