article What’s Behind the New Products? (And How Our Sourcing Philosophy Is Evolving)
Over the next few weeks, you’ll start to notice a few new products quietly making their way into our online marketplace and into the farm market. Chocolate. Olive oil. Tea. Even sugar. A handful of things you might not normally expect from a local farm business built on eggs, beef, bacon, honey, and greens.
And if you’ve been with us for a while, you might be wondering:
Is Kakadoodle changing?
Is this a shift?
Are we becoming something different?
I want to talk about that honestly.
Because while this is an expansion in some ways, it’s also deeply connected to our mission — and it comes with a lot of internal guardrails to make sure we stay true to who we are.
This is one of those “bigger picture” moments where I want to zoom out and share how our sourcing philosophy has evolved, why these new products are showing up, and how we’re thinking about growth without losing the heart of what makes Kakadoodle… Kakadoodle.
How Our Sourcing Philosophy Actually Started
(Hint: It wasn’t “Chemical-Free”)
When we first moved to the farm and started selling eggs online, we weren’t using fancy terms like regenerative, chemical-free, or soil health. Honestly, we didn’t even know what regenerative farming was.
Our thinking at the time was much simpler:
Use technology to get local food into the hands of a modern consumer.
That was it.
One of the very first farmers we worked with was a sweet corn farmer. Local sweet corn in the summer is a staple in our area. But what many don’t realize is that it’s nearly impossible to grow sweet corn without chemicals. He sprayed his fields the way almost every local sweet corn farmer does.
At the time, we didn’t think twice about it.
It took years before “chemical-free” became something we even understood… and eventually something we couldn’t compromise on.
Once that realization hit, things changed. We parted ways with that farmer — even though we liked him — because his growing practices didn’t align with where we were heading.
A little side note: this past year we found a sweet corn farmer who doesn’t use chemicals. The corn was about a third of the size of normal sweet corn. It looked rough. And it cost about three times as much.
The taste?
Amazing.
But try selling tiny, ugly, $3-per-ear corn to customers used to perfect supermarket produce.
It reinforced something: the path we’re on is not always easy, but it is intentional.
And that’s what led to the three sourcing pillars we rely on today.
1. Chemical-Free First
(Our Primary, Non-Negotiable Filter)
This didn’t start as our main criterion — but it is now.
Why?
Because “chemical-free” isn’t just a philosophy for us. It’s personal. Cancer is woven into our “why,” and it reshaped the way we look at food, farming, and the long-term impact of chemicals on our bodies and our land.
Chemical-free food is
better for human health,
better for the soil, and
better for the small farmers who choose to grow this way.
And here’s the truth: it’s extremely hard to industrialize. You simply can’t run a massive confinement system without chemicals.
Which means:
Focusing on chemical-free naturally aligns us with small, regenerative farms.
This is the core of what we do.
If a product doesn’t meet this filter, it doesn’t come into Kakadoodle.
2. As Local As Possible
(But Not Local At All Costs)
Local is wonderful — and we prioritize Illinois and Chicagoland producers whenever possible.
But “local” is not the mission.
“Chemical-free” is.
So we don’t force “local” when it doesn’t make sense.
Coffee isn’t grown locally.
Olives aren’t grown locally.
Chocolate isn’t grown locally.
So we source as local as possible for the growing side and as local as possible for the making side.
For example:
• Our coffee roaster in Michigan works directly with a family farm in Guatemala.
• Our chocolatier in Illinois works with cacao cooperatives in Peru.
This approach keeps our footprint honest without limiting us to crops that don’t grow here.
3. A Farm With a Face
(Even When That Farm Is Across the World)
This one matters more than people realize.
Whether it’s eggs from our farm, beef from Illinois, granola from down the road, or cacao from Peru — we want a direct connection to the farmer.
A face.
A story.
A relationship.
If a local producer doesn’t grow their own raw ingredients (like coffee or chocolate makers), we want to know who does grow them.
Transparency and traceability matter to us because we believe the modern consumer cares about how food is grown just as much as where it’s grown.
This “farm with a face” pillar keeps us grounded even as we add more value-add items.
A Human Note About Adding More Products
(And Why I’m Still Cautious)
I want to be honest about something I’ve been wrestling with while writing this.
I’m always a little nervous about expanding our product line too far.
Not because I don’t love discovering great food.
Not because I don’t trust our sourcing pillars we've working through.
But because I’ve seen what happens when curated, farm-first marketplaces start inching toward looking like… online grocery stores.
Here’s the challenge:
The moment customers think you’re an online grocer, they start expecting online-grocery service.
Meaning:
• on-demand delivery
• huge assortments
• supermarket pricing
• instant fulfillment
• unlimited availability
• competing with Amazon
But regenerative agriculture simply doesn’t move at that pace.
When I think about expanding our product lineup — especially online — I can’t help but think about the story of Good Eggs. When they entered markets like Manhattan with scheduled weekly delivery, consumers naturally compared them to Amazon Fresh and other on-demand giants. Even though Good Eggs offered something totally different, customers placed them into the online-grocery bucket.
Once that happened, the expectations became impossible to meet. The economics didn’t work. The logistics were brutal. And they eventually shut down operations in Brooklyn.
(Here’s the article if you want to read it)
That story stuck with me.
Because the truth is:
We don’t want to be an online grocery store.
We want to remain a curated regenerative marketplace — not an everything-store with 1,200 SKUs.
And here’s where I’ve landed:
The farm market can carry more variety.
The online market should stay centered on core regenerative staples.
Most pantry items will still be available online — but not front-and-center. More like a tucked-away section for people who are intentionally browsing.
This protects our identity and lets us offer mission-aligned foods without overwhelming the online shopping experience.
Where We’re Headed
Our sourcing philosophy is still evolving. We’re learning, refining, debating, adjusting. I don’t pretend we have it all figured out.
But here’s what won’t change:
We will always prioritize chemical-free food.
We will always support small regenerative farmers.
We will always choose transparency over convenience.
And we will always grow at the pace of agriculture — not at the pace of Amazon.
Thanks for being on this journey with us, and for caring about where your food comes from.
These small decisions — yours and ours — are what rebuild a healthier food system over time.
Stay tuned.
More stories (and more incredible foods) coming soon.
