Kroger's Kentucky Proud products tell a story

In a town renowned for that other brand of fried chicken, Catrina Hill's was declared best in Louisville by Courier-Journal restaurant critic Marty Rosen in 2006. The crust caught his notice, breaking off in tangy, crunchy large flakes.  At her restaurant, customers often requested the spice blend for their own kitchens. So Hill would scoop her flour seasoned with "a little somethin' somethin" into a plastic, take-home baggie.

Medical tests in 2010 ended that run at "Dinner is Done," her Middletown soul food spot. Her kidneys went kaput.

"I didn't have a pain. The next day, I woke up with a shunt in my neck," said the 50-year-old Hill. Too sick to run the restaurant, she instead endured a subsequent heart attack and 12 surgeries associated with acute kidney failure. In dialysis three days a week, she still runs a catering business on the side.

But her fried chicken taste came back last year inside red and gold cardboard boxes fueled by a big commitment from Kroger.

"Catrina's Kitchen" brand "Southern Seasoned Flour" or "Fish & Vegetable Seasoning" can be found for $2.99 on Kroger's special "Kentucky Proud" racks. The seasoning, branded as "A Little Somethin' Somethin'" came back too, as an 8-ounce all-purpose powder packed with garlic powder and secret goodness.

When Kroger launched "Kentucky Proud" racks from 34 Kentucky Proud producers in 87 supermarkets this time last year, store manager Joe Kannapel said he had doubts the locally-sourced and pricier items would sell at his urban store on West Broadway at 27th Street

“My customers don’t have a lot of money. I wasn’t sure it would go,” Kannapel said.

Video | Louisville's Catrina's Kitchen part of new Kroger/Kentucky Proud venture

Entrepreneurial stories like Hill's are fueling a retail renaissance for locally-sourced products. Anytime you want to connect to a small producer like Hill, stop by a Kroger Kentucky Proud rack or seek out like products increasingly available around Louisville at retailers like Liquor Barn, Garden Gate on Breckinridge Lane, or Paul's Markets, to name a few.

Those new Kroger racks generated $650,000 in revenue since last year's Kentucky Proud launch, according to James R. Comer, Kentucky's Commissioner of Agriculture.

From neighborhoods where incomes are high, like Prospect in Oldham county, Middletown or Stoneybrook, to working class sections of Shively and Pleasure Ridge Park in the south end, "our customers want these items," Kroger's Penny Goddin told a roomful of Kroger merchandising managers last month.

"People gravitate toward that rack because they want to support local," said Steven Smith, president of Fishmarket, Inc., a Louisville-based distributor to Kroger and other retailers dealing in locally-sourced foodstuffs. "You can go to one spot and buy anything from a lotion to a candle to barbecue sauce."

Not too long ago, consumers craving locally produced foodstuffs sourced purchases from specialty providers like A Taste of Kentucky, a mail order retailer with a shop in the Village Square shopping center in Middletown. Since last year, demand for Kentucky Proud from retailers prompted Smith to increase his warehouse space by 50 percent, adding 12,000 square feet to his West Chestnut Street depot to store, sort and ship dozens of those products to retailers.

"There is nothing that generates more authenticity than a personal connection to a story," said Smith. "It is not so much a price issue. People are connecting with this."

Best sellers at Louisville Kroger locations include the Louisville-made $10.99 Black Dog soy wax "Creme Brulee" candle, "Preferred Popcorn" at $1.89 for 3 bags of popcorn grown by Kentucky farmers, and the one-pound, $9.99 jar of Bee Boys Honey produced in Shelbyville, Smith said.

If you are assembling a gift basket - or just picking up one product for a friend - selection varies widely from store to store. A hunt through the aisles can reward, too, like the Pops Peppers Habagardil Pickles in the pickles section. You might find "Moonshine Pie" in the bakery section. That startup brand was born recently in Middlesboro when young entrepreneur Gina Renee Brewer invested savings of $42,000 in an oven that can bake 1,500 pies a day.

Briny, dry-aged, Homestead Heritage Meats Original Beef Sticks meat sticks give a satisfying chew with hints of salt, garlic and Worcestershire sauce. Put them in a gift basket, at $1.39 each, for your loved one to tear open and take a bite. Angus cows graze up to a weight of 1,400 pounds each on the valleys amid the rolling knobs of Springfield around Farmer Patrick Wimsatt's farm before he sends them to a local processor.

"Kentucky Proud helps us get into bigger markets, like Churchill Downs and Kroger," Wimsatt said. "The name recognition helps us get there."

Some products have debuted to limited sales and been scaled back, like Fine Teas from the Elmwood Inn, a small batch brand spun off from a bed and breakfast in Danville. Opening the $8.99 canister of "Christmas In A Cup," for example, leaves the senses awash in cinnamon and orange peel. You might still find it on Kroger shelves, but in more limited varieties.

"We need to keep the tea on the rack. It's high-priced and the tea is absolutely fabulous," Smith said. "A shopper buying that tea might buy the rest of the items."

Going into the second year of Kentucky Proud, Kroger will be stocking more products on those special shelves and throughout the store, including more selections in natural food sections, like Red Hot Roasters coffee and Sweetgrass Granola sweetened with sorghum from a young couple on an organic Berea farm, Smith said. Other products Smith picked up recently include Paradise Jellies of Louisville. Owner Kris Wissing got word Nov. 3 that his "Florida Orange" fruit jelly is soon to be stocked in 60 Krogers.

A construction project manager in Jeffersontown, Wissing is disabled in part due to post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from service in Operation Desert Storm. Gardening helps him cope. Promotional help from Kentucky Proud's new "Homegrown By Heroes" program, designed by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture to boost veteran entrepreneurs, aided the launch of his new business.

As the middleman who brings products from farm and field to Kroger's loading docks, Smith cultivates authenticity by feel, helping producers package attractive goods. That resulted in preserving hand-written labeling on fragrant lavender or pink geranium $5.99 soaps from Sunflower Sundries produced in Mt. Olivet where Jennifer Gleason runs her "local-centric cottage industry" from her small farm.

"It is just like it was made in her kitchen, which is where she started," Smith said of the entrepreneur who also markets heirloom corn chips, jams and jellies.

Exposure for local artisans like Gleason fuels increasing demand for consumers who want to make meaningful purchases, said Doug Scott, co-owner of Kilimanjaro Foods.

"Most of them are quite small businesses trying to scratch a mark," said Scott. "What is cool is that this is a way for folks to get into Kroger and try to prove themselves."

Jere Downs can be reached at (502) 582-4669, Jere Downs on Facebook and JDowns@Courier-Journal.com