In wintertime, they used to buy all their produce from the Boston wholesale market, although now they procure through direct-sourcing, both nationally and internationally. We'd have drive trains fall out of trucks on the way to Boston. There have been plenty of other highway disasters over the years, says Curran, including one truck that flipped over in a freezing rain storm, blocking traffic for six hours, and two others that caught fire. Thankfully, he says, no driver has ever been injured. By the time he and Birge had amassed about 20 restaurants as customers, they needed more space, so they purchased an old livery stable in Ludlow to serve as their new center of operations.
Cooperatives are another large component.
By 1987, Black River was becoming too big for its barn-warehouse. There wasn't enough office space or room in the parking lot for their delivery vehicles. With such a visible location on a well-trafficked road, they decided to start retailing again on a small scale. That's where we would pile up corn or watermelons. Curran and Birge have since added on three times to their two-story headquarters by enclosing porches and constructing new ones.