Small Business Saturday: Wagner's is the apple of Sanborn's eye

Farm to table (and then some) at farm market & grill

By Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

To borrow a phrase, neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night can stop Wagner’s Farm Market from providing fresh apples to its customers.

So, whether it’s a snowy winter morning, a rainy fall day, a burning-hot summer afternoon or following a Buffalo Bills loss to the Miami Dolphins, apples are awaiting.

Many, many, many apples – 15 different kinds, to be more precise.

The secret, the Wagner family noted, is in the preparation.

“They're put in refrigeration storage and controlled atmosphere storage, so they have that crispness all winter long,” Amy Wagner Winkelmann said. “We're selling our own apples year-round from season to the next season.”

She explained the apples “are basically put into rooms, sealed up, the oxygen is pumped out, so the apples don't give off the ethylene gas that ripens them. Apples’ lenticles – this is how the apples breathe, is through these holes. So, when they're put into these rooms and sealed up, they don't give off the ethylene gas that ripens them.”

Her nephew, Troy Wagner, noted, “Cold storage has come a long way the last couple of years, so we do try to put a lot of apples away till after the first of the year; till even into March and April.”

The stored apples, “They come out very fresh,” he said. “Some of them come out just like the day you put them in, which is really nice.”

Some of the myriad fresh items inside Wagner’s Farm Market.

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So, too, is the fact that, “We specialize in apples, but we're a year-round market,” Wagner Winkelmann said. “We always have fresh produce available. We deal as much local and homegrown from other farmers in the area that we can. So, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts – all local cabbage; potatoes; we deal with a lot of squash, everything for your holiday tables.”

Plus, “You're always going to have stuff that's not grown in Western New York. Oranges, pineapples, bananas – certain stuff just isn't grown around here. We don't have the climate for it, with cooler weather. We're out of homegrown tomato season now, so now these are coming in from Florida. They also come in from Mexico, California. We try and focus as much on the local for as long as we can.”

Wagner Winkelmann takes these local products and does one better than farm to table: farm to next-door kitchen.

A cup of homemade chili from Wagner’s Grill.

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“What I use” at the adjoining Wagner’s Grill “comes from here,” she said. “Right now, I'm making a pot of chili; so, peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes goes into a pot. That's how I start my chili. I make all my soups.”

In the restaurant, “We have daily specials,” Wagner Winkelmann said. “We have a fish fry every Friday with fresh haddock from another small business in Lockport, Montondo’s. I try and keep the quality as high as I can.”

Sandwiches, subs, award-winning fries, and Perry’s Ice Cream are also on the menu.

“Our gyros are very popular,” Wagner Winkelmann said. “My Reuben is so popular. Some of the simple things, like grilled cheese, I sell a ton of; but even BLTs. I mean, every day is different here. But there's some days I'll do 10 Reubens. The word gets around; if somebody has something good, then it gets other people in.”

“I cook the corned beef here and slice it. So, it's a different product than like a deli corned beef that you get in a store. I make my own barbecue pork.”

A popular service offered at Wagner’s is gift baskets – and, “year-round, we make our own gift baskets,” Wagner Winkelmann said. “We do a lot at Christmastime for gift giving, but we also do them year-round. They're such a good idea for if somebody passes away, or if somebody is sick, or a thank you – there's a lot of different reasons to give a gift basket. And it is the gift of food, which is something. It's not a gift card. It's a gift of food.

“We take our own apples and other fresh fruits that are available, and we also add other things to them, like cheese, sausage, crackers, chocolates, candies, jams and jellies. So much of what you see in here we can incorporate into the gift basket.”

Customers can decide what products go into a gift basket.

“Everything's custom made,” Wagner Winkelmann said. “Very close to Christmas, we have them made up, so you can just pick them up and take them with you. But, we specialize in custom making a basket. You tell me what you want – I don't tell you what you want to give, because there's a million combinations. You have to think of the people that you're giving it to.”

Gift baskets can be ordered and collected the same say.

“We're always ready to go; we're always on,” Wagner Winkelmann said.

Wagner’s Farm Market is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday in the offseason, adding Sunday in the warmer months (Labor Day through Halloween). Wagner’s Grill opens at 11 a.m. each of those days, and stays open an extra two hours each Friday for the fish fry.

Visit in person at 2672 Lockport Road, Sanborn; and online at https://wagnersfarmmarket.com/. Call 716-731-4440 for more information.