KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the mystery opening date for the new Kansas City, Missouri, Whole Foods approaches, 41 Action News wanted to know what local products will be on the shelves.
Whole Foods said they pride themselves on supporting local business, and team leaders at the new Brookside location said there will be plenty of local products in the store.
41 Action News went to Green Dirt Farm in Weston, Missouri, where they started making cheese from sheep’s milk in 2008.
"Tremendous pride to see it there and to realize that so many people are getting access to it because of Whole Foods and the partnership that we have had with them," said Sarah Hoffmann with Green Dirt Farm.
Hoffman says they have partnered with Whole Foods for a number of years.
“It has been very important to us and the health of our business to be able to partner with Whole Foods. We have been partnering with them since 2009, we have had our cheeses in their stores," said Hoffmann.
In Raytown, Missouri, you can find Crane Brewing headquarters.
"We have a loyal group of followers that is excited to see our beer on the shelf, it is always frustrating if there is not enough of our beer on the shelf," said Crane Brewing partner Michael Crane.
"I remember thinking back in the early planning stages that it would be really so exciting to see our beer on the shelves at a store,” said Crane.
The opening date for the store is still unknown. Whole Foods has said, however, that they will open sometime in the 'late spring' of 2018.
Melanie McCormick has worked for Whole Foods for a number of years and will be an employee at the new location.
"We are really excited about it. It is going to be more urban. We don't have that in the Kansas City area. It will have a tap room, really restaurant heavy. I work in the produce department so of course it will have all the other stuff too, so that is really great," said McCormick.
She said it’s more than just cheese and beer that will be local.
"We've got a bunch of new local coffees that are coming in. We have local chocolates, new BBQ sauces that are coming in from Kansas City, and we are trying to represent some of the Missouri side and some of the Kansas side, like bringing it all together for the metro," said McCormick.
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