Monte Benz is from Steele, N.D., but picked up his vacuum-packed vegetable meal package business and moved it to Long Prairie, Minn., a few years ago after running into labor problems. Today, the revived business has expanded greatly and still gets onions from Steele, where he’s put up a new storage building. It still gets potatoes from the northern Red River Valley. It has expanded in part due to food consumption patterns during COVID-19.
Monte Benz is from Steele, N.D., but picked up his vacuum-packed vegetable meal package business and moved it to Long Prairie, Minn., a few years ago after running into labor problems. Today, the revived business has expanded greatly and still gets onions from Steele, where he’s put up a new storage building. It still gets potatoes from the northern Red River Valley. It has expanded in part due to food consumption patterns during COVID-19.
Home cooking trend makes vegetable kits from Minnesota and North Dakota take off
Monte Benz is from Steele, N.D., but picked up his vacuum-packed vegetable meal package business and moved it to Long Prairie, Minn., a few years ago after running into labor problems. Today, the revived business has expanded greatly and still gets onions from Steele, where he’s put up a new storage building. It still gets potatoes from the northern Red River Valley. It has expanded in part due to food consumption patterns during COVID-19. 5:31 am, Dec. 28, 2020 ×
Monte Benz, 66, of Steele, N.D., and 50 employees of Minnesota Fresh in Long Prairie, Minn., are producing 6.5 million “fresh, never frozen” veggie kits a year, in a market where more Americans are getting their nutrition at home. Photo taken Oct. 19, 2020, at Long Prairie, Minn. Mikkel Pates / Forum News Service