In a Venn diagram of those who love bikes and those who love food, the local food pedaling peddlers interviewed below would be smack down the middle.
Environmentally friendly, health-focused, and lovers of good things to eat, they can be seen towing hundreds of pounds of food on Bay Area streets. Some may think they’re crazy. Others may think they’re some of the most forward-thinking in the food business. In either case, their leg muscles must be as hard as the steel of automobiles.
1. Natalie Galatzer: pie maker, Bike Basket Pies
What do you sell?
I sell miniature, handheld pies. I focus on using local and organic ingredients and base my offerings around what’s in season.
How do you incorporate bicycles into your business?
I deliver all the pies by bike, do all my ingredient shopping / foraging by bike.
What’s your ride?
I have a red road bike with a huge basket on the front, a rack on the back that I attach saddlebags to, fenders in the winter.
Why did you decide to use a bicycle?
Being environmentally friendly certainly helps, but moreover it’s a speedy way to get around the city, especially the downtown areas. San Francisco has a really positive bike culture and much of the city is accessible by bike – yes, there are some hills, and sadly, no, I don’t deliver to the top of them. Parking’s a breeze, missing your turn is no problem, and it’s a little exercise.
What about San Francisco makes it a good choice to have your business here?
A lot of San Francisco residents are really interested in their food — where it comes from, who makes it — and that is all very apparent in my business.
Any good wipeouts?
Luckily none while delivering!
2. Matthew McKee and Mikael Kirkman: co-owners of Bicycle Coffee
What do you sell?
McKee: Fresh locally roasted coffee beans, delivered by bicycle. We only use beans grown on organic, fair trade coffee farms.
Why do you deliver by bicycle?
Kirkman: Because it’s just as easy to distribute by bicycle as it is by motor vehicle in a metropolis city.
Any future plans to further incorporate bicycles into your business?
McKee: We are building more bike carts so we can get our coffee into more community events. Our company is very hands on. We build nearly everything ourselves, from our roaster to silk screening our own bags. Folks are beginning to approach us about building bike carts for their business ventures.
What’s your ride?
McKee: My personal bike is a steel track bike made by my friends at 14 Bike Co. in London. I built out their shop last summer and they gave me the bike as a gift. It is a simple, hand-built, unpainted frame. I have a front brake for the hills, cozy BMX pedals with hold fast straps, and a cleverly made plastic bottle fender (made by the 14 Bike Co kids as well).
Kirkman: The bicycle I ride was donated to us by Specialized, and they have a new company called Globe. It’s really nice, some fenders, some gears. It works great.
Any good wipeouts?
McKee: I get nudged by cars everyday. If you drive, don’t text at the same time. Seriously. Most of the bad drivers are cabs and people reading their phones as they drive.
3. Max Cadji: co-founder, Phat Beets Produce
What do you do?
We connect small farmers to urban communities via farmers markets and farm stands. We also work with obesity prevention clinics to set-up gardens and produce distribution programs. We use bikes to deliver our CSA at the Childrens’ Hospital in Oakland and to set up one of our school farm stands.
What’s your ride?
A Specialized Rockhopper with Aosom bike cart and sometimes an Xtracycle Radish.
What led to your decision to use bicycles?
Necessity. It makes exercise a part of healthy eating and it is fun to see people expressions when they see you carrying a farmers’ market on the back of your bike!
BONUS INTERVIEW: Sal Bednarz: owner of Actual Cafe
Located at San Pablo and Alcatraz Streets in Oakland, the cafe devotes one interior wall of its premises to a bike rack.
Why do you incorporate cycling into your cafe?
I just wanted it to be accessible. There are plenty of places that I go [where] the only option for locking up a bike is a tree…I wanted to make it easy. Also, I wanted people to feel safe bringing their bikes here after dark.
Do you have any future plans for further incorporating bicycles into your business?
I have a cargo bike that I started to use before the weather got crappy for running errands. It’s in the shop right now — I’m getting a new drivetrain put on it so that it’s a little easier to carry loads on. I run a lot of errands, carry four or five hundred-pound loads on a bicycle. It’s a big rig now, we’ve got an 8-foot trailer and a Baker’s bike with a front rack.
What’s your personal ride?
I have an old Raleigh steel bike that I ride around town. I have some modern carbon bikes that I do long rides on.
Any good wipeouts?
[Laughs] Yeah, just two or three months ago, coming down Claremont, my rear tire blew out on me at 40 miles an hour on a turn and dumped me all over the place.
