Two former students are attempting to make healthy foods as accessible as the greasy fast food in many College Station restaurants.
“Ranch and Roots” is a fresh produce delivery service started by Colter Kaspar and Patrick Leach, Class of 2015 and 2014 respectively.
Kaspar and Leach both come from agricultural roots and created the business a year and a half ago.
“I did industrial distribution at A&M,” Leach said. “And so when I was brainstorming two or three years ago trying to think of companies to create that were cool, kind of unique companies, I would put together kind of company structures, company models and PowerPoint. I had one that I’d been working on for a couple of years with this company.”
Jessica Newman, communication senior and president of the Howdy Farm, said fast food is cheaper than eating natural foods, a phenomenon that the Ranch and Roots addresses.
“It goes back to education,” Newman said. “I think that people need to pay more attention to what they’re eating, learn what weird names actually mean.”
Kaspar said many think there is a stigma that College Station is a college town with a fast-and-cheap mentality when it comes to food.
“I think that’s wrong, to be honest,” Kaspar said. “You try an HEB run at 9:30 at night, it’s packed. People are here trying to get food, and I don’t think people are here just to get the fast food. I think that people want healthy options.”
Newman said college students should look to local farmers’ markets or local businesses for food purchases.
“If you buy local, it may not be certified USDA organic, but more often than not, local farmers live on their land, and they’re using the most natural methods possible,” Newman said. “They just don’t go through the process of getting certified organic.”
Leach said a lot of opinions surrounding healthy food are misconceptions.
“The first response we get a lot of the time is people want to work with us,” Leach said. “Everyone’s giving us pretty positive responses. They like the idea of eating healthy, it’s just connecting, liking the idea and taking the step to actually eating healthy.”
