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Business & Tech

Grace's Goodness To Hit The Streets Thanks To Community Support

The farmers market favorite used Kickstarter to reach its goals

Some of the city’s best pimento cheese, nut butters, hummus and soups will soon be on wheels and more accessible than before, thanks to the community’s generosity.

That’s right—Brittany Grace Shiver, creator of farmers market favorite Grace’s Goodness, has just exceeded her goal of the $7,000 needed to make her food truck dream a reality. For the last several months, she has been at the , and Decatur Farmers Market every week with her mason jars full of fresh and deliciousness snacks, spreads, soups and drinks, and soon, she’ll hit the streets.

“I want to have good food accessible to more people in Atlanta,” said Shiver, who began her new venture in fall of 2010.

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“It’s not traditional ‘fast food’—it’s hummus, homemade coconut-infused peanut butter, soups made that day with local vegetables, regional melon Agua frescas. Just getting that goodness to as many people as possible in all areas of town.”

She has raised the funds through Kickstarter.com, the largest (but still relatively new) funding platform for creative projects that currently exists.

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Basically, you run a very specific, creative idea by Kickstarter and they approve or deny it. If approved, you set your monetary goal and length of time to raise the money and your project goes up on their site. Then the pledges start coming in. But there is one catch: if you don’t reach your goal in your specified time frame, you don’t get any of the money (and folks who pledged aren’t charged).

“It’s a stressful process and definitely a gamble,” Shiver said.

But regardless of the risk, it was clearly a great fit for the project.

“I purchased the truck and right after I outfitted it to be the Grace’s Goodness truck, it broke down. To get it fixed and up and running was going to take a lot of money so I rationalized and strived to become a presence at the farmers markets while I raised the money. And I felt like I needed to see if people would embrace what I was doing.”

They certainly have. Grace’s Goodness has become a hit wherever she goes.

“It has been a climb and a challenge and me having to work really hard to get this where it needs to be, and I’ll still have a lot of work once I reach my goal. But I feel really inspired and motivated by the community and their support and love for what I’m doing.”

The money raised will go straight to getting the truck on the streets: new parts, a new generator, insurance, registration, etc.

Once the truck is street-ready, Shiver has big plans for extending its reach as far as possible.

“I don’t want to be limited as part of the Street Food Coalition events, like ‘I’m only going this day at this time.’ I want to be able to park at a church parking lot and drive around town with fresh foods and have more people be a part of it. Like the Riverview Farms’ Farm Mobile. It’s like a little general store on wheels.”

Shiver also wants to carry local products aside from her own.

“I’m in talks with Little Tart Bakeshop to carry their quiches and I have a few other surprises I’m excited to reveal.”

With thousands of dollars as proof, the Atlanta community is just as excited about what’s in store for Grace’s Goodness. 

You can still pledge until midnight on Thursday by visiting the Grace's Goodness Kickstarter page. And find Grace's Goodness at the Grant Park Farmers Market, East Atlanta Village Farmers Market and Decatur Farmers Market through the end of the season.

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