OUTLET: The Virginian-Pilot
Karla Robinson doesn’t have to advocate verbally for her company Seasonal Roots.
Her actions speak louder.
Robinson, a director of teams for the Richmond-based produce delivery service, began her relationship with the company as a consumer. She found a promo code online and became a member with the company.
“I signed up thinking it would be fun to support local,” she said. “And maybe get my family to eat some more veggies.”
The relationship changed as Robinson became a delivery driver and then an area manager and now a director of teams overseeing the Hampton Roads area.
“I thought, ‘I won’t be responsible for money or anything. I’ll just drive around and deliver veggies to happy people,” Robinson said with a laugh. “Well so much for no responsibility.”
Robinson coordinates a team that delivers fresh produce weekly to Hampton Roads, from Virginia Beach to Williamsburg. The company also delivers in the Richmond area, to northern Virginia and north of Washington, D.C., to Montgomery County in Maryland.
Founded in 2011 by Duane Slyder, Seasonal Roots expanded to Hampton Roads in 2014. The company works with local farmers and artisans within about a 175-mile radius to receive fresh produce and goods. Most of those arrive in Richmond around Monday and Tuesday each week, and the boxes are delivered to Hampton Roads on Thursday.
Karla Robinson coordinates a team that delivers fresh produce weekly to Hampton Roads, from Virginia Beach to Williamsburg. The company also delivers in the Richmond area, to northern Virginia and north of Washington, D.C., to Montgomery County in Maryland.
The selection of goods changes every week based on season and availability, and customers can fully customize their order. You can order a produce basket, but the company also offers meats, dairy, baked goods, dips and spreads, plant proteins and other artisan goods. About 10-12 farmers fill out the selection every week.
“We really double down on the local niche, so you know you’re not going to get strawberries out of season from us,” said Sam Krivanec, a Chesapeake native who designs the weekly menu and works as the liaison to farmers and artisans. “You’re not going to find bananas. You’re not going to find some of the normal grocery store fare.”
Slyder grew up in Nebraska, and his family had horses and cows and a family garden. As an adult, Slyder yearned for that fresh produce that he said tastes best and retains most nutrients shortly after harvesting. He figured there were other like-minded consumers who wanted to support local farmers. Produce that comes from somewhere like South America is naturally going to take longer to get to a shopper, so Slyder also liked that cutting out such long travel distances would help with the carbon footprint and greenhouse emissions that go along with shipping food from another continent.
“We decided, day one that it was all about getting our members the best nutrition possible,” Slyder said. “And really the only way to do that is to be local. If you get local green beans, and you get them within one or two days, you can eat them fresh. You just eat them raw. They’re delicious. You could never do that from a grocery store. Because they’re five days to a week old, and they dehydrate enough to where they’re just not edible raw.”
Season Roots has about 400 customers in Hampton Roads.
The customer base in Hampton Roads tripled during the pandemic as people largely stayed home, Robinson said. While the orders have receded as people grew more comfortable venturing from home and shopping in person, the company retained a good amount of new customers. Slyder said the company grew 140% over the past year.
“I have a chart that shows where they anticipated (home delivery of groceries) to be in 2020,” Slyder said. “The growth rate was already where it was supposed to be in 2024.”
