Not sure where to buy locally produced food? In partnership with Illinois Stewardship Alliance, HLFN has solved that problem by bringing Buy Fresh, Buy Local, a nationally recognized marketing campaign designed to help local producers, consumers and retailers connect, to Bloomington/Normal and the surrounding community!

Find Local Food

A directory of participating farmers, restaurants, grocery stores and distributors is provided to help you make your local food connections. Directory profiles provide a description of the farm, business or organization including location, contact information, products, services and philosophy regarding sustainability.
Directories are available at member locations and online listed at Bloomington/Normal BFBL Directory.

Become a Member

To be eligible for a listing in the membership directory, members must be actively marketing locally-grown or locally-raised products in the Bloomington/Normal area as defined by the following counties: Champaign, DeWitt, Fort, Livingston, Logan, McLean, Piatt, Tazwell and Woodford.
Benefits of a Buy Fresh Buy Local membership:

• Use of BFBL marketing materials, including signs, labels and advertising templates
• Listing in the Membership Directory reaching thousands of Central Illinois consumers
• Professional and well researched marking campaign
• Participation in a growing network of restaurants, retailers, farmers markets and distributors
• Assistance with using marketing materials, including farmer profiles
• Promotion of consumer awareness campaign for the importance of locally produced foods

Local Flavors is a meal series running from mid-May until mid-November that allows establishments and organizations to offer specialty menus featuring local foods to their patrons. Local Flavors is a program of the Buy Fresh Buy Local Central Illinois Chapter operating in the Bloomington/Normal area in partnership with the Heartland Local Food Network Inc. The purpose of this program is to connect local farmers to area restaurants, retailers, institutions, farmers’ markets and consumers within the Central Illinois region.

Eat Local

Attend a Local Flavors meal at a participating restaurant. Join in on the fun and support local food at the same time. A list of upcoming Local Flavors events is provided:

• Tuesday, July 20 – Medici
• Thursday, July 22 – Rosie’s Pub
• Saturday, July 31 – Kelly’s Bakery & Cafe
• Thursday, August 12 – Rosie’s Pub
• Saturday, August 28 – Kelly’s Bakery & Cafe
• Tuesday, August 31 – Medici
• Tuesday, September 21 – Medici
• Saturday, September 25 – Kelly’s Bakery & Cafe
• Tuesday, October 19 – Medici
• Sundays – Coffee Hound features Local Quiche

For more information on these events, including menus, sign up for Heartland Local Food Network’s email list by sending an email to hlfn@hlfn.org OR by contacting the participating restaurants:

• Kelly’s Bakery & Cafe, 113 N. Center St., Bloomington, (309) 820-1200, http://www.kellysbakeryandcafe.com/
• Medici, 120 W. North St., Normal (309) 452-6334, http://www.medicinormal.com/
• Rosie’s Pub, 106 E. Front St., Bloomington (309) 827-7019
• Coffee Hound, 407 N. Main St., Bloomington (309) 827-7575 & 205 W. North St., Normal (309) 454-7575, http://www.coffeehound.net/index.php?link=home
• Garlic Press, 106 W. North St., Normal (309) 452-0987, http://www.thegarlicpress.com/

Host a Local Flavors Event

A growing number of consumers are interested in purchasing more locally grown foods – in restaurants, farmers’ markets and grocery stores. You can be in the forefront of the local food movement in Bloomington-Normal, attract new patrons to your restaurant, and benefit from Local Flavors publicity just by joining this special program.
Participating restaurants will be responsible for sourcing and preparing locally produced foods. There is not cost in participating in Local Flavors. Events are promoted in the Bloomington/Normal BFBL Directory, HLFN Inc. eNewsletters, and e-mail annnouncments. To ensure even greater success, participating restaurants are invited to include the events in their regular advertising and promotional campaigns.
For more information about participating, please consult the attached guidelines and application form.