Families shop, make last-minute Thanksgiving food preparations

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Wednesday's beautiful weather helped draw crowds to the State Farmer's Market in Raleigh, where Jackie Nordan had his stand set up.

"We're picking up apples and stuff for Thanksgiving, because we give out these apples for presents," said Terri Oberholtzer, who shopped ahead of a planned family meal tomorrow.

"I've gone ahead and pre-cooked a lot of fresh peas. I've slow-cooked them for an hour-and-a-half, so all you have to basically do is just heat them and eat them," said Jackie Nordan, who runs Fresh Farm Fresh Produce in Johnston County.

He made the trek to Raleigh to capitalize on holiday sales.

"I was starting to see a higher and higher demand for my produce locally, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to expand my business," Nordan explained.

Besides reaching new customers, he welcomes the chance to share more about his offerings.

"Most people don't have a chance to see a lot of the different products that I sell and make, so taking the time to educate them somewhat on the processes that are involved, the manual labor that's involved," said Nordan.

Nordan is appreciative of the strong support, particularly as the agriculture industry has been impacted by tariffs.

"Being a small farmer like myself and most farmers are, when you start looking at the cost of one particular item being three times more than it cost last year, it's a little bit difficult with the margins being so thin," Nordan shared.

Those cost considerations also impact the food and beverage industry.

"We have said for now, let's share that hit. We as a company will take on half of that increase and we're going to parcel the other half of that increase to the customer. We've been honest about it. Customers are seeing it in the grocery stores, so they understand that we are having our inputs increased in price and therefore the end product is going to increase. We have not sacrificed all the quality," explained Daniel Jackson, co-owner of Ladyfingers in Raleigh.

While grocery staples like milk and eggs have seen price increases since the pandemic, shoppers are getting relief for their Thanksgiving meals this year. According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the average national cost of a feast for 10 people is $55.18, a five percent decrease from last year. The South has the lowest average price, clocking in at $50.01.

Jackson notes Ladyfingers sees sharp upticks on both sides of its business - its brick-and-mortar location off of Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh and from shipping food across several states out of its production facility.

"We do hire up over the holidays. You could talk to any person in the restaurant food business right now (and they'll say) staffing is extremely difficult at the moment," Jackson explained.

Jackson said they expanded hours at their production site in order to keep up with rising demand.

"We pride ourselves that we have a good, solid business all year round. But I will say the wholesale side of our company and the catering side of our company increase is probably around 23% over the next two months, which is a lot," said Jackson.

Wednesday morning, customers were stopping by to pick up their Thanksgiving orders.

"Those offerings range from the whole beef tenderloins to turkeys. We do 9X13 casseroles. We do everything from the classics that your mom made, green bean and broccoli casserole, to some elevated stuff," said Jackson.

Despite the challenges, Jackson said the team is excited during this time of year, especially as they see repeat customers.

"There are still some ladies here in Raleigh that drop off their casserole dishes and have us make our casseroles in their dishes. And I think they get away with a little trickery there with their family and have been doing that for a long time, so we still honor that," Jackson said.