Plainfield 'Hufendick Farm Market' Owners Own The Farm, Too

PLAINFIELD, IL — From 1988 to half way through 2019, Miller's Butcher Shop sold meat and meat accessories in downtown Plainfield. Then in June, owner Cary Miller retired, and for a few weeks the people of the village had one less place to buy quality animal products. Then, in July, another meat-oriented business arrived to carry on Miller's legacy: The Hufendick Farm Market.

As its name suggests, The market is run by the Hufendick family, and all its products come from the Hufendick family farm.

"Our store is very unique [compared] to other butcher shops," Market co-owner Debra Hufendick said. "very rarely, I would think... that you could go to a butcher shop and it's farmer owned, farmer operated; and all of the animals are raised on our farm as well."

Though the Hufendick store opened in July, Debra said the Hufendick story began long before then. Both she and her husband Mike, who she said she met in college, come from farming backgrounds and wanted to someday own their own farm. That want was fulfilled some time ago, she said, with the Hufendick family farm currently up and running just south of Norway, Illinois.

"We have about 50 acres there, and we raise all of our own Black Angus cattle out in the pasture," Hufendick said. "and we have all of our Berkshire hogs and... free range chickens and turkeys, and we have ducks for duck eggs."

After establishing themselves on their farm, Hufendick said she and her family wanted to try and move into the distribution side of agriculture as well; to bring their passion for good farming and good food directly to the community. They began by bringing their wares to farmers' markets, and later started the Rogue Curbside Kitchen food truck business.

"We were constantly striving for quality. It's not just selling it, it's constantly telling your customers how you're raising those animals, how we're feeding them... we drive a considerable amount of distance to work with processors that treat our animals with dignity and respect, the same way that we raise them," Hufendick said. "Because we could have the best animal ever, but if you do not work with the right butcher, they can ruin that meat in one fell swoop."

It's only within the last several years that the Hufendicks have considered opening a brick-and-mortar shop, Debra said, partially due to the influence of Sunnyside Antiques owner Susan Bostanche.

"We started talking about having a brick-and-mortar... after we had the food truck for about the year," Hufendick said. "and we did the Plainfield farmers' markets, we actually did about five farmers' markets a week, and Miss Susie... She's like, 'You should go talk to Cary Miller. He's looking to sell that store, you should open that store.'"

They now own the property where Miller's was formerly located at 24032 Lockport Street, having bought it on June 15 of this year. Hufendick said that as the shop's day-to-day operations have taken up more of her and Mike's time, they have passed on the farm's management to their son Chas.

"Now that my husband has to be here 100% of the time, we were able to offer our son the opportunity to come back to the farm, pass the farm down to him," she said. "Now our son Chas actually runs the farm for us."

This type of vertical integration means customers can purchase the types of farm-fresh products that are hard to find in run-of-the-mill grocery stores, Hufendick said, especially around the holidays. It also means that the animal products at the shop were all free-range, hand raised and GMO-free; important distinctions for savvy clientele.

"The things that people come in and ask for are not generally things that you would be able to get at Jewel," Hufendick said. "You would have to be the real deal with a half of a hog or a side of beef in the back that you're actually cutting up."

That said, Hufendick acknowledged that some people may find it hard to trust a shop's claims about its food on word alone.

"We do have our Facebook page where we have pictures of our farm; that's one thing that my husband feels is very important to share with our customers," she said. "Where the animals are raised... we see a lot of people trying to pretend at the farmers' markets, so he makes sure that we're the real deal and we put those pictures out there of how we raise the animals."

Partially for that reason, and partially because she said she knew people find farm life fascinating, she said people are welcome to visit the Hufendick Farm in Norway - so long as they call ahead first.

"It is a working farm, and we do have the farms dog and everything, so we do ask [people] to give us a call ahead; and we'd love to have them out there as our guests," she said.

Though they opened in July, Debra said the Hufendick Farm Market never had a 'Grand Opening' event. Instead, she said they may try to have a one-year anniversary party of some kind in July of 2020. She also explained that her family hoped to keep this business going for many anniversaries after the first. For them, she said, this business wasn't just a business. It was a life's work.

As she told Patch in a later email, "Farming is not just our business, it is our life passion to provide quality meat for our customers and future generations."