The shortest distance between two points is incontestably a straight line. But the route Matt Kirchner followed prior to launching Local Bound, a local food distribution business, meandered through South Jersey, North Carolina, Los Angeles, New York City and Point Breeze, and from baseball diamonds to family farms.
Kirchner’s passion for playing baseball dominated his Elon College years. He was a business major, but “really all I thought about was baseball.” A job with a baseball events company lured him to L.A., but the start of the COVID-19 pandemic cut that career short. Suddenly, Kirchner was looking for something to do. He heard about people putting together produce boxes for home delivery and thought he’d give that a try. He began buying from the L.A. wholesale produce market, then from farmers markets and small California farms. Even amid stay-at-home orders, the California food culture was so strong, Kirchner says, he “got addicted to it.”
“What got me really involved was tasting new things, appreciating better quality foods,” he says. “I was hooked.”
Although Kirchner had no cooking experience, he knew more about ingredients than he realized, thanks to conversations with his brother, a Chicago-based chef. To turn his hobby into a business, he started saying “yes” to everything. He returned to the East Coast for a job at the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market. Next came a gig with Natoora, a New York City distributor. Kirchner joined a robust business connecting regional farmers with restaurants and specialty stores. Over time, Kirchner began identifying family farms in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and inviting them into the New York market. “I was amazed many of them did not have a relied-upon distribution network. It seemed like there was a gap,” he says.
But it was marrying a Philly woman that brought him to Point Breeze and led to Local Bound.
In June 2024, Local Bound launched as a bootstrap collective of roughly 10 small Pennsylvania farms. The initial member farms share a commitment to farming methods and product quality. “The stuff they’re growing is so amazing,” Kirchner says. “They know how to grow [food], but there’s a disconnect. It’s so hard for them to both grow and distribute.” Kirchner’s expertise allowed them to devise an effective distribution system that enables local chefs to easily purchase from multiple farms.
Working with small growers and chefs means managing variables beyond the ebb and flow of uncontrollable weather. Kirchner attributes the enterprise’s early success to having “a lot of help.” Local Bound farmers do far more than grow food. The business relies on its members for storage space, packing products and delivery vehicles, making it a deeply collaborative effort. The next stage of growth means building a stronger supply chain with more resources to meet what Kirchner believes is expanding demand.
Kirchner sees “many young, exciting chefs with new restaurants who seem to be really wanting to plant roots in Philly.” The willingness to buy local is strong, but creating convenient access to local products isn’t easy. Kirchner is up for the challenge. The biggest things he learned working on baseball events were effective communication and calm crisis management. “These skills have been the most important crossover thing for me in the food distribution business — [and] staying organized.”
Spring Celebration Pasta
Kirchner shares this light and flavorful recipe highlighting seasonal ingredients from many Local Bound farms. Makes 4-6 servings.
1 12-ounce package Pasta Lab’s campanelle pasta
4 or 5 chestnut mushrooms from Mycopolitan Mushrooms, quartered
3 stalks green garlic from Kneehigh Farm, chopped into one fourth-inch pieces
1 pint sugar snap peas from Kneehigh Farm, halved
½ cup hazelnuts from Bloom Farm, roughly chopped
¼ cup each fresh parsley, basil and thyme from Blue Sun Growers, chopped
2 ounces pea shoots from Taproot Farm
6 ounces Equinox cheese from Birchrun Hills Farm, sliced into ribbons with a vegetable peeler for garnish
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup white wine
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon of salt.
- Add campanelle pasta and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until tender.
- Drain, reserving ½ cup of pasta water.
- In a deep saute pan, cook chestnut mushrooms in olive oil over medium heat until golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add green garlic and sugar snap peas to the pan and cook until soft and bright.
- Add white wine to the pan and reduce to 1 tablespoon.
- Swirl in 1 tablespoon butter and return the mushrooms to the pan.
- Season with salt.
- Add reserved pasta water, 1 tablespoon at a time, to make the sauce.
- Stir in pasta until evenly coated.
- Off the heat, toss pasta with hazelnuts, pea shoots and fresh herbs.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Garnish each serving with “ribbons” of Equinox cheese.
