Released July 18, 2007

MANHATTAN, Kan. - It all began with Sidney and Mollie Ball, who opened a small neighborhood grocery store in Kansas City back in 1923. Fred Ball says, "My father came off the farm in Missouri and was looking for an opportunity in the hardware or grocery business. He borrowed a thousand dollars and went in with some others to buy a grocery store."

They later built a small supermarket and called it Ball´s Market. The business grew and they opened more locations. Over time, Sidney and Mollie passed the business along to their son Fred, who in turn brought in his son David, who is now President and Chief Operating Officer.

Balls Food Stores now operate under the brand names of Hen House Markets and Price Chopper. There are 13 Hen House Markets and 16 Price Choppers in the Kansas City area.

As Matt Jonas says, "We´ve been selling local goods since we started 85 years ago." In recent years, one of the company´s food suppliers in southeast Kansas was an all natural beef producer named Diana Endicott. Fred Ball said, "Why don´t we do a story about Diana and promote her and her products?" The reaction from their store customers was quite positive and the idea grew from there.

Today, Balls Food Stores is a member of the Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign which seeks to promote the quality of food produced by farmers in the greater Kansas City area. In fact, Balls Food Stores is the first independently owned food store to be a member of Buy Fresh, Buy Local.

Under this program, some one hundred local farmers and ranchers supply a wide variety of fresh produce and other foods to these Kansas City stores. The growers even have the opportunity to visit the stores and see their customers first-hand. Biographical sketches of many producers are listed online at http://www.henhouse.com.

Of course, these producers come from rural locations all around Kansas and Missouri. Rural towns benefit when their producers can access an urban market, and urban consumers benefit from receiving fresh, nutritious, locally produced foods.

Balls Food Stores is also involved with what is called Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA. Through CSA, a customer commits to a certain level of weekly food purchases for a period of weeks. Each week, that customer receives a large grocery bag with a variety of the finest and freshest foods of the season, plus cooking information and promotional pricing.

These products include bread, eggs, cheese, honey, and natural beef and chicken plus seasonal produce. Oh, that wonderful produce, everything in the food alphabet from apples to zucchini.

Matt Jonas says, "It´s a win-win for everybody. It brings us closer to our customer and brings them closer to their food." He indicates local food sales have tripled in four years.

Matt says, "The food safety scares of today make it all the more important to know where your food comes from." For more information, go to http://www.henhouse.com.

So where does your food come from? Yes, it might come from Hen House Market, but beyond that it came from a hard-working, conscientious farmer in the fields of rural America. We salute the Ball Family and all those involved with the Buy Fresh, Buy Local initiative for making a difference by helping us put a face with our food.

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http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/news/sty/KSProfile.htm

Contact: Ron Wilson, (785) 532-7690, rwilson@ksu.edu