“My passion is good food and getting good food to people,” Winfrey said. Helping small farmers and food producers take part in the digital economy is a major reason she took this job after years in the Atlanta hospitality industry.
She has her feet in two worlds. As president of PeachDish, she oversees a company that delivers meal kits based on fresh Southern produce, products and recipes. But, she’s also co-founder, with her husband Joe Reynolds, of Love Is Love Farm.
“As the wife of a small organic grower, I have a real understanding of the importance of the work they do,” she said. “They are small business owners, but they are also environmental stewards. … I don’t know any small-businessperson who has to work as hard as a farmer does.”
Winfrey’s roots in farming extend back to her grandparents, sharecroppers in the Athens area. “I think Georgia doesn’t get the recognition it deserves for its contribution to agriculture, especially the sustainable agriculture movement,” she said. “I like to remind people that Georgia has been growing food since before California was a state.”
PeachDish sends out more than 2,000 meal kits per week, each selected from a menu based on a Southeastern harvest calendar. “We put out an annual produce forecast to all the farmers we work with, about 200 at this point. We want them to plan their crop rotation around us. We won’t be their only market, but we want to be a significant market for them.”
Read more about Judith Winfrey and PeachDish here:
About the Impact Speaker Series:
Since 2002, the Impact Speaker Series has brought highly successful business leaders from a variety of industries to campus to share their experiences and give advice to students and other entrepreneurs on topics ranging from "building a venture around intellectual capital" to "successful entrepreneurship in large organizations" and "socially responsible leadership." The weekly series provides Georgia Tech students, alumni and the Atlanta business community an opportunity to network and learn from successful entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, and notable business and non-profit leaders. The lecture series is sponsored by the Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship.
The series is free and open to the public. Reservations are not required.