This August, King of Crops opened their farmers market stand in Ponce City Market next to the prominent King of Pops business. Just six weeks ago, Cory Mosser, the partner and farm consultant for King of Crops, joined the project and helped start a farm in Douglasville GA.
“We use produce from other farmers all around Georgia,” Mosser said. “Everything in the store—meats, cheese, honey—everything is local to the area around Atlanta or at least in Georgia.”
The stand did pretty well on its first day, according to Mosser. King of Crops sells fruits and vegetables like apples, tomatoes, peppers, okra, cucumbers, lettuce, arugula, pears and honey. The stand also offers an arrangement of salts, nuts, energy bars and “King of Crops’’ t-shirts.
The King of Crops farm has been supplying crops to King of Pops for about two and a half years. The farm supplies fruits like strawberries and melons to put in their popsicles.
Steven Carse, who co-founded King of Pops with his older brother Nick Carse, thinks that the new business will be successful.
“I think it’s a different type of success, but I think it’s just as important,” Carse said. “It’s good for us as a brand because it pushes us to learn more about the farming community and our food ecosystem.”
King of Crops also recycles their waste through a new company, Compost Wheels.
“We recycle all of our vegetable and fruit waste, and they do the same thing in the [King of Pops] kitchen,” Mosser said. “They turn it all into compost at the King of Crops farm and then use that compost to make soil to grow the next round of crops. Instead of throwing all of that stuff in the dump, it gets recycled.”
The King of Crops stand is open every day at Ponce City Market with fresh fruit and vegetables. The produce, however, does not only come from their farm in Douglasville, GA. That farm is just one out of four or five all around Georgia that Mosser talks about.
“We don’t have plans for any other stands yet, so we will just have to see how this one goes first, but it’s certainly a possibility,” Carse said.