As the Durham Farmers’ Market prepares for its new season, some customers are seeking clarity from the market board following a decision to restrict the products one vendor is allowed to sell.
Starting April 6, the sausage and charcuterie business Moonbelly Meat Co. will no longer be permitted to sell bacon, Italian sausage, breakfast sausage, or hotdogs at the farmers’ market due to “concerns of product overlap from the market board,” Moonbelly owner Anna Gibala, a guest vendor at the market since 2022, wrote in an Instagram post last week.
Gibala’s post was diplomatic. “Just a heads up,” she wrote. “Be on the lookout for future menu modifications!” But the post generated something of an outcry, with dozens of market-goers—including several vendors—sounding alarm bells and demanding that the board explain its rationale. Many noted that product overlap at the Durham Farmers’ Market is common.
“Can customers not choose who they want to purchase products from at the market?” one commenter wrote, tagging the farmers’ market account. “There is overlap in many products – flowers, produce, bakeries, why should this be any different?”
“We’re disappointed to hear this and stand with you, Anna,” wrote By The Brook Ferments, a plant-based protein vendor. “All vendors, including us, benefit from consumer choice and quality products like yours.”
Beyond the four products that have been banned, Moonbelly’s rotating menu includes beer brats, currywurst, chorizo, rillette, pate, prepared broths, and sausages that come in flavors like Korean BBQ, pho soup, and “cheesy pizza.”
“While I understand the concern around overlap,” Gibala wrote when the INDY reached out for comment, “I feel that all vendors should be able to sell what they want as it reasonably pertains to what kind of vendor they are.”
“A market that offers a variety of options, even regarding one specific type of product, helps bring in a more diverse customer base,” Gibala continued. “Bringing more folks to the market helps everyone.”
Besides Moonbelly, seven meat vendors are slated to have stands at the Durham Farmers’ Market during its main season, which begins April 6. Of those seven vendors, only two have apparent product overlap with Moonbelly: Chapel Hill Creamery, which sells Italian sausage and breakfast sausage, and Fickle Creek Farm, which sells Italian sausage, breakfast sausage, and bacon. The other five meat vendors sell poultry, lamb, beef, bison, and ostrich but not pork.
Fickle Creek Farm manager Noah Ranells is on the board of the farmers’ market, leading some community members to raise concerns over a potential conflict of interest.
Fickle Creek Farm was not available for comment. In an email to the INDY, market manager Kaitlyn Breedlove wrote, “yes, there is currently a farmer/meat vendor on the board. The board was specifically designed in its size and decision making procedures to mitigate any individual members’ personal interest; all decisions made by the board must be done so by majority vote.” Breedlove also wrote that the restriction on Moonbelly “is not without precedent” but did not expand on how the rule has been applied to other current or former vendors.
For guest vendors like Moonbelly, Breedlove wrote that market rules “specifically state” that the board has the power to approve or reject proposed products and “only products that complement the current product mix at the Durham Farmers’ Market will be considered,’” according to Breedlove.
In the market rules, a guest vendor is specified as a “a non-member who offers a product or service that enhances the overall market.” The rules state that guest vendors do not “attain any of the privileges of membership, such as seniority, space reservations, or voting rights.” There are several dozen member vendors at the market, including a fresh pasta business, a compost products business, and two photography businesses.
Gibala applied to be a member vendor this season but was approved as a guest vendor. She’ll be one of six guest vendors.
“Decisions like these are never easy,” Breedlove wrote about the product restriction. “The Board of Directors discussed at length how to make the market a tenable option for Moonbelly Meat Co, while also acknowledging that our current meat farmers rely on the sales of similar products to continue operating.”
Moonbelly is the only non-farmer meat vendor at the Durham Farmers’ Market. As the INDY reported when Moonbelly launched two years ago, Gibala’s background is in butchery. She operates the business out of the commissary kitchen at Redstart Foods in North Durham and sources her pork from Randleman’s Farm, 45 minutes west of the Triangle. She came onto the sustainable foods scene with quirky flavor combinations and thoughtful branding (Moonbelly’s logo, a smiling pink moon, is intended to be more approachable than the cleaver-heavy branding of typical butcher shops) and has since built a loyal following at the farmers’ market.
Gibala says the market board gave her the options of either selling a full menu twice a month or a restricted menu once a week. She chose the latter. The market is currently the only place where her product is sold.
“My business is based in the practice of whole animal butchery,” Gibala told the INDY. “Utilizing the whole animal is the most sustainable and ethical way to consume meat. Restricting the sale of bacon limits the utilization of pork belly. In this specific instance, removing bacon as a menu item throws off the strategy of whole animal butchery.”
The farmers’ market board will be discussing the restriction on Moonbelly’s products at its next meeting in April, according to Breedlove.
Follow Staff Writer Lena Geller on Twitter or send an email to lgeller@indyweek.com. Comment on this story at backtalk@indyweek.com.
