Luke Maurerstocks Madam J’s. Sticky Fingers jam and jelly made in Milwaukee, at Outpost Natural Foods in Wauwatosa. Credit: Mike De Sisti

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In 1971 when Steve Pincus was in his 20s, he and about a dozen others founded Outpost, a food co-op that tried to provide locally grown, preferably organic, food to its members.

As Pincus, a city boy from Philadelphia, ventured into the countryside to look for fresh farm products for the co-op, he found rural life alluring.

"I was turned on by what I saw," he says. "I said 'I want to do this.'"

So he went to work on a farm, even though he had never even tried gardening, and lived in a tepee for a time. Eventually, he bought a farm that brought him full circle back to Outpost.

Forty years later, he owns 75 acres in Evansville, west of Janesville, and for about the last 15 years he and his Tipi Produce have become a large supplier of organic produce to Outpost Natural Foods, which is about to open its fourth store in Mequon.

Today, Outpost has 19,000 members.

Although the use of local products is embedded in the co-op culture of Outpost, in the last 10 years it has become even more important to customers who want to know where their food comes from, says Lisa Malmarowski, the director of brand and store development at Outpost.

The local food movement has become so important — especially as the competition has ramped up from Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and others — that Outpost has formalized its policy of buying local and regional products. It now has a 10-year goal to try to stock its stores with 75% local or regional products for most categories, she says.

Full-time forager

Outpost has hired a full-time "forager," or local purchasing specialist, to bring in more local and regional vendors and products.

That means working with vendors on their products, packaging, coordinating merchandising and a variety of issues, says Zack Hepner, who moved into that position about six months ago.

"We want to make our local vendors as successful as possible by bringing in new products they're offering and helping them get the product off the ground to make sure they create a sustainable product and business," he says.

In all, he and others at the store deal with about 800 vendors, not all local, but more and more are coming from Wisconsin and the region that includes Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana.

In the last five to six months, at least 20 new vendors have been added to Outpost, he said.

Vendors must meet policy guidelines that include foods with no artificial flavorings, colorings or preservatives. They must adhere to labeling laws, nutritional information and the new code of conduct that outlines workplace conditions and compliance with laws.

It was the code of conduct that caused Outpost to take Palermo Pizza products off the shelves after the Milwaukee company was cited by federal officials in connection with an accident in which a worker lost three fingers. Palermo's was the first product pulled from the shelves under the new code of conduct policy, Malmarowski says.

Benefits of buying local

Outpost's goal to move toward more local and regional foods is part of a national and worldwide movement, says Michael Schuman, an economist and author of a number of books, including "The Small Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses Are Beating the Global Competition and Going Local."

Economic, environmental and public health benefits come from encouraging consumers to shift to buying more local food, he says.

"It's a win, win, win situation that benefits the tax base, entrepreneurship, tourism and attracting other businesses," he said in a telephone interview from Silver Spring, Md.

"Part of it is instinctive. People like things fresh and tasty, and when it comes to local, there's the belief that's the case — and it usually is," he says.

Health awareness

Consumers feel they can trust their local growers and producers, he says. And there's a growing awareness of the health benefits of eating local, as opposed to packaged and processed food that contribute to epidemic levels of obesity and diabetes around the nation, he says.

Walking down Outpost aisles there are five brands of eggs, all from Wisconsin, three organic and all cage-free.

There's locally produced milk and yogurt, along with Juiced!, a cold-pressed juice made in Milwaukee with all fresh ingredients, such as kale, apples, ginger, cucumber and lime, Hepner said.

Although the frozen pizza market is super-competitive, Erik Burgos and Nick Smith spent two years refining a recipe for a Milwaukee pizza and launched the Milwaukee Pizza Co. about a year ago from a space in Bay View.

The pizzas are all made from scratch with a thin and flaky crust, Burgos says. Peppers, onions and other vegetables and meat products are fresh with no preservatives or nitrates.

Another new product is Gitto Farm n Kitchen flour tortillas made with all organic ingredients.

Greg and Carol Gitto raise dairy cows and vegetables in Watertown, but decided to make flour tortillas following in the footsteps of a Canadian friend.

One of the most popular sellers at Outpost, says Hepner, is Becky's Blissfull Bakery caramels, made in Pewaukee with 100% organic products and no corn syrup.

Looking back, Pincus says 40 years ago there was a lot of skepticism about organic farming. "We were not well regarded," he says.

"But we've shown organic farming can work and can produce lot of excellent food. Now one of our major roles is to educate young farmers and bring up the next generation of farmers."