The road from a neighborhood baker's kitchen or a family farmer's fields to the shelves of heavyweight corporate grocers can seem too complicated to navigate. But a growing groundswell for locally sourced foods and the public's tilt toward healthier living are helping bridge that intimidating span.
The Bi-Lo chain one year ago launched its "Bi-Local" program, which has put products from 19 Chattanooga-area businesses in its stores. Small companies — sometimes just one-person operations — that made sauces and sweets, among other things, pitched their products to Bi-Lo executives in a Hixson Bi-Lo store last spring.
This year, like last year, another crop did the same, though in mid-January and in Blue Orleans restaurant in Chattanooga's Southside.
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