market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Market Farming
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- From: "Brigette Leach" <afhg AT ctsmail.net>
- To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Need Help with Sales
- Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:40:07 -0400
My sympathy to you...it must be very frustrating.
What kind of restaurants are you contacting? We are in an area where there are
something like 4,000 licensed food establishments within 100 miles, and
even when you take out the church and school kitchens, it leaves a lot. Then you
have to take out any of the chain/franchise stores, their distribution channels
are set.
I know there are a lot of ways to do things, but
let me share our experience. When we were writing the business plan for our
operation, some of the best advice we got was to know where we were going to
sell before we grew it. We looked at all the potential customers for
the crops we wanted to grow, then we starting making contacts to see what
they might be interested in buying and at what price. We asked
ourselves if we could grow it for what they were willing to pay. This process
took considerable time, but it has paid off in the end. Our restaurant customers
are loyal because they get the quality they want. We appreciate them because
they are willing to pay for what we are growing. We also learned that chefs take
a lot of tender, loving care...when they call at 10 pm and need something the
next morning, we break our necks to accommodate them. Chefs are also highly
mobile, so the relationship is critical, you will be dealing with the chef more
so than the restaurant.
Writing the business plan was critical to initial
success. We revisit the plan often and make changes, but the process of writing
it is the important aspect, because it forces you to think things through and do
the research.
We currently have several restaurant accounts
within about 20 miles of the farm, a 200+ member CSA, participate in 5 nearby
farmers markets, and sell a small amount of product at the farm. So several
revenue sources. But then conditions are constantly in flux and we find that we
have to work really, really hard at marketing and customer service.
Are you a one person operation or do you have some
help?
Hope this helps and generates some helpful
conversation from the list,
Brigette
SW Michigan
|
-
[Market-farming] Need Help with Sales,
TxBeeFarmer, 08/19/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] Need Help with Sales, William H Shoemaker, 08/19/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] Need Help with Sales, E C GRANATA, 08/19/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Need Help with Sales,
Brigette Leach, 08/19/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] Need Help with Sales, Laurie Allen, 08/19/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Need Help with Sales,
Jay Sleichter, 08/19/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] Need Help with Sales, Sweet Valley Organics, 08/19/2010
-
Re: [Market-farming] Need Help with Sales,
Richard Robinson, 08/20/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] Need Help with Sales, Road's End Farm, 08/20/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] Need Help with Sales, Pamela Crowe, 08/19/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] Need Help with Sales, Richard Stewart, 08/19/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] Need Help with Sales, Marcy, 08/20/2010
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
- Re: [Market-farming] Need Help with Sales, SaladG, 08/19/2010
- Re: [Market-farming] Need Help with Sales, clearviewfarm, 08/19/2010
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