Beginning May 1, Durham-based Farmhand Foods will
officially change its name to Firsthand Foods. Farmhand Foods launched its business in 2010
with a food truck, known around town as the Sausage Wagon. Since then, the company has grown into a
sizable wholesale distributor of high-quality, local, pasture-raised meats.
In late 2011, Farmhand Foods received a “cease and
desist” letter from S.F. Investments, Inc., owner of “Farmland Foods,” a
branded line of Smithfield Foods’ pork products worth $3 billion in sales
annually. While Farmhand Foods received
federal trademark protection for the right to use its award-winning mark,
indicating that the US Patent and Trademark Office had no concern for consumer
confusion, SF Investments was not satisfied.
“After a year of trying to protect the rights to use our
name, we decided to embrace Firsthand Foods as our new name and focus on
growing our markets, supporting the farmers in our network, and continuing to
help build a robust local food system here in North Carolina,” says Tina
Prevatte, Co-CEO.
Firsthand Foods now has well over 60 customers, including
fine dining establishments, specialty retailers, natural foods grocery stores,
mobile markets, food trucks, and institutional food service providers such as
Carolina Dining Services at UNC-Chapel Hill.
The company sources its meats from a network of close to 40 small-scale
beef and pork producers from over 15 counties in the state. These remarkable farmers, most of whom are in
rural areas and do not otherwise have access to larger-scale markets, raise
their animals humanely, on pasture, without using added hormones or
growth-promoting antibiotics.
Notes Jennifer Curtis, Co-CEO, “We’re excited to re-brand
as Firsthand Foods, a name we believe speaks to our core mission to create a
direct and transparent connection between our customers and the farmers in our
network.” Firsthand Foods traces every piece
of meat it sells back to the farm of origin so its customers know exactly where
and how it was raised.
it makes me sad that they felt forced to change their name. while i completely understand their desire to just move on from it, i kind of wish they'd been in a position to take farmland on. sigh. thanks to corporate america for its ceaseless efforts to squelch small business, creativity and entrepreneurship.
ReplyDeleteIt's unfortunate, for sure, but I can see why Smithfield would be concerned. It's not like one Farmhand was making corn products and the other was making meat - they were very much operating in a similar space where there'd be room for confusion. Tricky, and sad that a great truck like Firsthand got caught up in it. Still, good for ya'll for moving on and picking another kickass name instead. Your customers won't be confused. We know who you are.
ReplyDeleteSmithfield is the largest pork producer in the world...literally. No one would confuse their poor grade, factory farm pork with the quality meats that firsthand foods is distributing. I've been to Smithfield owned farms as an osha inspector and saw how they treated their workers, not to mention the animals--not good. Kudos to firsthand for all their work!
ReplyDelete