RAYTOWN, Mo. — How often do you buy locally?
Buy Missouriweek is happening right now. It's an annual initiative from the Lt. Governor’s Office, held the second week of October, to keep consumers shopping Missouri businesses.
Started in 2017, the program now features more than 600 members vying for local support. The businesses are spread across various sectors. It is free for businesses to join. There is just one requirement: 51% of their product needs to be Missouri-sourced.
For Crane Brewing Company in Raytown, that's easy. They use water sourced in Raytown, wheat grown in Missouri and Kansas, they brew in-house and can their product on-site.
Crane Brewing has been a BuyMO member for a few years and doesn’t plan to quit.
“[The program] tells us that they’ve definitely got their mind in the right place as far as how to keep money in the area, how to grow small business and support small business and that growth,” said Alex Rodriguez with Crane Brewing.
Crane Brewing is located off the Rock Island trail. Rodriguez said they get decent foot traffic from the trail and have regulars. However, Rodriguez wants to grow where they’re planted, and that starts with an increase in support.
“It’s critical to have local support because, you know, being a local company, everybody, including the owners is from here. And so the money stays in town. And then also, there's a real feeling of community from the people that come in and patronize Crane Brewing,” said Rodriguez.
He mentioned that supporting them will also lower your carbon footprint since they don’t have to ship their products across the country.
