Local food, restaurants and brews give Northwest Arkansas unique flavor

Locally made food and beer are bringing in tourists, paying for locals' wages and otherwise leaving their unique mark on the region's economy, experts and business owners said this month.

Craft breweries, a hard cidery, farmers and the restaurants buying their products have formed a growing network in Benton and Washington counties. The local-heavy approach can be pricier or more complex, but owners said higher quality, regional character and keeping a few more dollars in the area are worth the effort.

"We're showcasing what this area can produce," said Chrissy Sanderson, chef and co-owner at Mockingbird Kitchen. "Now you've just helped support all the other businesses and their employees."

The restaurant, inconspicuous in a corner of the Evelyn Hills Shopping Center in Fayetteville, offers traditional Southern foods made with Sanderson's personal twists and vegetables, meat, bread and cheese from places such as Ozark All Seasons Farm in Winslow and War Eagle Mill in Rogers.

Rafael Rios of Bentonville is on both ends of the local trend. On one hand, his family's farm has been growing tomatoes, onions, greens and other produce for almost a decade. Much of it goes to The Preacher's Son in Bentonville and other restaurants, and demand is growing, he said, allowing the family to focus almost entirely on restaurant business and add greenhouses for winter produce.

On the other hand, one of those restaurants is Rios's own Yeyo's Mexican Grill, a 4-year-old food truck business he hopes to expand to a sit-down location by May or June, tripling from 10 employees to 30.

"So that's great, it's doing really well," he said, praising Downtown Bentonville and the city's farmers market for their support.

Drawing people in

Research into the economic power of buying local has been mixed. A 2014 report from a group of economists in the Northeast found it benefitted some regions but not others. The U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2015 found it couldn't draw conclusions on how much local sourcing affects a region because of too little research.

Some researchers and advocates point to a simple formula: If dollars can be spent here or sent into the winds, they'll do more good here. The idea is also growing. USDA reported the nation's farmers markets, regional food hubs and school districts that buy from local farms became two to four times as common between 2007 and 2014.

Mervin Jebaraj, an economist and assistant director of the University of Arkansas Center for Business and Economic Research, said the center hasn't analyzed local food's impact on Northwest Arkansas, but generally the ultimate destination of a dollar also matters. For example, most breweries buy hops and barley from the Pacific Northwest or other countries.

The other key is bringing in outside money, whether from tourists or new residents who are drawn to a place at least partly for its unique food, drink and other amenities.

"People don't travel to find a Wal-Mart, but they do travel for craft breweries or a museum they don't have," Jebaraj said. "If you ask people the kinds of amenities they want, they want these local clothing stores, local craft beer, local restaurants. This is definitely a very popular thing right now."

Several breweries and restaurants said they have visitors from Georgia, California, even other countries, especially on the weekends. Adrienne Shaunfield, who co-owns the Farmer's Table Cafe in Fayetteville, said fans of visiting universities playing the Razorbacks have filled her restaurant, for example. Downtown Bentonville was quiet on weekends a few years back but isn't anymore, said Jeff Charlson, co-founder of Bike Rack Brewing Co.

"It's just such a radically different place," he said, adding Bike Rack is one piece of several that help make it so. "I don't know if there's a different place in the country I'd ever want to be."

Craft breweries have grown in popularity all over the country for years, and while they're still relatively uncommon in Arkansas, they're multiplying quickly. The state had six small-scale, independent breweries in 2011, according to the Brewers Association. Now the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division reports 38, almost half of them in Benton and Washington counties.

Fayetteville's Visitors Bureau organizes the regional Ale Trail, which includes Bike Rack and 10 other spots. The bureau has distributed more than 30,000 "passports" for people to get stamped at each location, many of whom are visitors from surrounding states, said Hazel Hernandez, marketing and communications director.

Sending down roots

Many of the region's local food and drink places make their economic mark by setting up in otherwise sleepy, or at least unexpected, places. Mockingbird has become part of a push to give midtown Fayetteville more energy and investment, Sanderson said. The Farmer's Table stands near Fayetteville's 15th Street and donates leftover food to the nearby 7 Hills Homeless Center and Salvation Army.

Fossil Cove Brewing Co. sits between Gregg and Leverett avenues, often filling up a side street that leads to warehouses and storage units with parked cars.

Black Apple Crossing, the state's first hard cidery, set up on Springdale's Emma Avenue about two years ago, when the street felt "desolate," co-founder Leo Orpin said. Core Brewing Co. has since joined them, and Tyson Foods, the city of Springdale and others are making investments along the street.

"Absolutely we see a benefit in those being down there," Springdale spokeswoman Melissa Reeves said. "Businesses like that really help draw people to a downtown, and we've definitely seen that."

Some brewery owners hope to start buying local supplies. Jesse Core with Core Brewing & Distilling Co. said he suspected some new hops varieties and growing techniques could bring the plant to Arkansas, and part of the appeal of adding distilling is being able to use local corn and other ingredients. Orpin at Black Apple said the company buys some of its apples from south Missouri and is thinking about growing its own orchard.

Finally, besides any benefit specific to their craft, several local breweries and farm-to-table restaurants stand as successful small businesses, and some are growing. Fossil Cove is working on a second location down the road that should double its brewing output and add several employees, owner Ben Mills said this month while staining long wooden tables on one end of the mostly empty lot.

Bike Rack in Bentonville is expanding to the 8th Street Market, increasing production dozens of times over, Charlson said.

"Once there's momentum, everything picks up even more," he said.

NW Business on 03/26/2017