Wouldn’t it be great if you were able to trace your food back to the farm it came from, whether staying in or dining out, so you can find food you feel good about eating?
Check out Ann Arbor startup RealTimeFarms.com.
The site is a year old, but founders Karl Rosaen and his wife Cara took the leap to startup-life when they realized that the opportunities for success in creating a startup were so high. After all, opportunities for success are everywhere these days.
Originally from Michigan, Karl and Cara jetted off to California in 2005 where Karl had the opportunity to work for Google full time. At Google, he worked on Adwords and then went on to the Android project. He was even lucky enough to be around to be on the team to help create and launch the first android device.
But the desire to move back home to Michigan was greater then the Google excitement.
So in 2009, with a huge leap of faith, Karl quit his job without an income replacement planned, and he and his wife came back to Michigan to begin the startup.
RealTimeFarms.com grew from this question: “Wouldn’t it be great if we could find out what the source was for the ingredients in our food, no matter if we stayed in or out?”
Today there are 7,000 farmers markets across the country, and an increasing number of restaurants are finding good food and higher quality ingredients with the hopes that customers will recognize the difference and desire to return.
RealTimeFarms simply provides an additional outlet, another source for restaurants to get out the word, and it provides consumers with more information about the food they consume on a daily basis.
“Ann Arbor is great place to do this because a lot of restaurants are all about quality food, but it still has the feel of a small town,” Roesan said.
Since the launch in 2011, they have grown nationally and continue to build relationships with new restaurants and organizations daily, including most recently Slow Food New York.
“The business model is great because our growth is based on how much we help the consumers.”
One of the benefits of taking the leap to entrepreneurship?
“I never thought I would be working with my wife on anything as her background is in health psychology. But now we’re working together on a business that uses both our backgrounds.”
To learn more about this startup, check out RealTimeFarms.com, and say hey to Karl on twitter.
About Ryan Eggenberger
Ryan Eggenberger is a Michigan-based blogger and connector. Ryan enjoys helping aspiring entrepreneurs create concrete plans of action to achieve their business goals. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ryaneggenberger.
