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Small Bites
May 23 2025
Creating opportunities to support & amplify regional food systems, not only in Vermont by sharing info & resources for relocalizing.
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The Grocers Project continues to meet the needs of producers to get food to retail, while also offering services to stores to order, price, & merchandise products to support the New England food economy. For example, in April we hosted a Farmer as Retailer pop-up session with two area farmers guiding others how to integrate their technology and POS systems to meet multiple market channels. Coming up in June, we'll host Jeanie Wells, known nationally for the Mighty Community Markets classes. For us, she is running a three-session on-line series that will tie together growing sales, managing pricing & margin, & utilizing category management for stores of all sizes. Jeanie is working with the Grocers Project to help tackle common challenges facing our stores. This mini-series will also provide opportunity for peer-to-peer b2b sharing guided by Jeanie to meet your store needs. Get more info & register here for this fantastic FREE opportunity to up-train staff (or learn about retail skills) .
Read on for current touch points brought to you through the VT Grocers Project which include connections among organizations to support a sense of together we are stronger.
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In the wee hours of the morning bordering on the dark of night on May 22, the House passed its spending bill by a vote of 215 to 214 to gut America's food assistance programs along with other significant programs & government services that are the backbone of American society & (agri)culture. With changes to the Bill expected in the Senate, it is yet to be determined what the actual outcome will be.
That said, there is uncertainty & anticipated deleterious impacts across food assistance services, farming, & the national food-supply chain, including grocery stores of all sizes. In 2024 one in five US kids were fed by SNAP. Deep cuts & alterations to USDA programs including SNAP benefits are expected with significant impacts to rural grocers: "A new analysis shows that 27,000 retailers in areas with the highest shares of SNAP participants would be the most likely to bear the brunt of proposed drastic cuts to food assistance. In these communities, even if a family doesn’t personally see their budget for food reduced, community residents could see their local grocer close. Families that see their benefits reduced or taken away entirely will have fewer resources to pay for the costs of rising food prices, meaning more people will go hungry as sales at authorized SNAP retailers fall."
This as we know the final Senate bill is an evolving story with destabilizing & negative implications for individuals, families, farmers, & organizations working across the local food economies in every region of the country.
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Onboarding Summer Bevies
Beverage season is upon us!
Ok it is not really a season, but summer offers opportunity for thirst quenching drinks to fly off your shelf as we seek to be revitalized when it is hot. (We'll get there!)
Aqua Vitea in Middlebury, VT has expanded its kombucha 'family' to include Tim Tam Tummy with a child-centered focus. Each small but mighty can gives kids a daily dose of probiotics & super-fruit vitamin C for proven digestive & immune benefits, with far less sugar than traditional juice boxes & no artificial ingredients or sweeteners. It’s organic, naturally gluten free, & vegan, with just five simple ingredients. Rainforest Distribution based in NJ has picked it up, making it widely available in the northeast.
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Vermont beverages offer strong summer sales. This category is very competitive-just look at any store’s cooler. Our brands include award-winning Savoure which is expanding its presence with increased production, & VT Switchel. This beverage has deep roots in agriculture as it historically was the go-to thirst quencher during haying season. On a hot summer day, slugging from a cooler of switchel, farmers regained their energy from a blend of maple syrup or honey, vinegar, a touch of lemon or mint & water. Little has changed with a natural blend of ingredients that is certainly not only for making hay. Both Savoure & VT Switchel are available through Pumpkin Village Foods, as is Plink a “make your own beverage” with a selection of electrolyte tablets.
| Krin's Bakery has expanded their distribution options with sales through Pumpkin Village Foods. The full line of exemplary goodies are available to a wider network of stores & farmstands in Vermont & New Hampshire. | |
Long Awaited
Good News
In July of 2023 Johnson's only grocery store was consumed by flood waters & never reopened. Now, the Johnson General Store has begun carving out its retail acumen to meet the wide range of needs for this community. It's been a long time coming to reintroduce a food store. Located on lower Main Street, it is easily accessed with a wide range of national & DSD from local brands.
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Fact or Fiction?
There is still a place for creativity & curiosity in retail. FACT
Many formulas & Key Performance Indicators help stores strive to engage repeat customers & gain a share of their wallet. Metrics can be the baseline of measuring success. Sales per square foot. Sales per labor dollar. Gross Margin. Attained Margin.
However, other elements include the creative space to foster staff engagement. Now it might not be that easy in the Frozen Food department, but it certainly can be utilized elsewhere such as in Produce, end cap creation, & targeted sales & marketing materials.
“Voices” can be a differentiator for your store. Coops have long had elements of uniqueness as the coop culture bred certain amounts of individuality. That has shifted in the past 25 years as nationally standardized sales & marketing programs evolved resulting in homogeneous shopping experiences.
But that does not have to supplant creative displays & engaged staff. For instance, a well-trained Produce staff can engage customers with their knowledge of terms associated with growing practices obtained through farm visits. These can help build a professional framework that will lead to sales by virtue of curiosity & conversations around organic, regenerative, hydroponic practices. A natural reciprocity exists to then build displays & engage customers that will drive sales of products from the farms they visited. add to that the value & the art of conversation between staff & shoppers.
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Flavor Saver: Black Dirt Farm
Black Dirt Farm brings to market stewing chicken through Green Mountain Farm Direct. They are perfect for prepared meals such as soups & stews.
Culled laying hens are more flavorful than roasting or fryers but due to their age, the meat requires longer cooking. They are raised on a dynamic foraging system of pasture & compost forage, & non-GMO grain. Always free-range, never confined to a cage or a small chicken tractor. This is superior quality meat with flavor desired by cafes & farmstands purchasing through GMFD & shipped via Farm Connex.
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Bringing Products to Market: Retail Ready & Food Biz Wiz
For food businesses seeking to better understand what happens across distribution through to retail, our go-to is Alli Ball Consulting.
Her Retail Ready program just closed this week, but I want to remind you of her podcast & accessible tips available across her platforms. If you missed her sign up, do take time to listen in for clues on what happens at store level-buying so you can effectively bring your products to the appropriate market channel with a plan for success in place.
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ACT 129 Defining Local Products
Krin's aligns with the definition of processed foods:
Made from ingredients not regularly produced in Vermont or not available in sufficient quantities to meet production requirements. They can still be “Vermont” food when it satisfies the “unique food” criteria. Two or more requirements must be satisfied
•The majority of ingredients (meaning more than 50 percent of all product ingredients by volume, excluding water) are raw agricultural products that are “local” to Vermont;
•Substantial transformation of the ingredients in the product occurred in Vermont; and/or
•The headquarters of the company that manufactures the product is in Vermont
Krin's Bakery is by Vermont
definition a "Local" product as they are headquartered & produce in Vermont with substantial transformation of ingredients.
Store POS systems can add the "local" attribute to this product for tracking sales which adds data to the NEFNE regional economic impact research,
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Organizations Need Support
From Green Mountain Farm to School, works to supply local food to its rural population & to area schools with AmeriCorps workers:
The wave of federal funding cuts this spring included the cancellation of the Local Food Purchase Assistance program, the Local Food for Schools and Child Care program, and the Patrick Leahy Farm to School program.
There are proposed cuts to SNAP nationally, and the proposed elimination of Universal School Meals within Vermont. We are deeply concerned about the implications for food access and local farms, and urge you to reach out to your elected officials to advocate for these important programs.
Read more on the impacts & support this organization with your donation if possible. As noted above, more federal restrictions are yet to come impacting our farm & food aligned economy & health. The cuts to SNAP will impact to rural stores & organizations working with food insecure populations will struggle to meet the ongoing, & future needs of their communities.
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Who Knew?
Who knew distribution was so complex? We did!
But that doesn’t mean we know everything. Take for instance, learning there exist businesses that capture raw & proven data to help businesses understand the viability of distributors. Seafax & Food One Reports provide insights into distributors that can illustrate business variables that impact decisions getting food to markets- regionally & nationally. In this age of consolidation, information can support your decision tree as regards the financial strength of a distributor or distribution sector.
We hear info all the time about trade spend/allowance & impacts on expanding food businesses. We share info on terminology to help folks learn the language of distribution. There is a way to grasp the strength of private companies of mid-market scale to aid brands in understanding the market positioning of existing or potential distributors.
Utilizing tools for assessing risk levels with real-time & verifiable data based on financials, credit apps, past due reports. This info can help businesses formulate a strategy such as who are “slow to pay”, what businesses are laying off or quietly reducing their logistics operations to save cash.
Leveraging credit reports & portfolio scoring, across the full range of food manufacturers, service & distributor companies provide knowledge that can help food businesses grasp the strength of potential partners or help you to understand large market forces influencing risk & distribution variables.
Learn more about Food One & Seafax & the many risk management avenues offered through their membership services.
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Changes Down the Road
Every year there are changes in our farm, food, & distribution companies as new ones come on & others may be bought or sold, or simply pack it up for new endeavors.
This year, on June 1st, Lesser Distribution based on Waitsfield will be acquired by Wilcox Ice Cream & Specialty Foods in Arlington, VT. Both companies have built their businesses within the local food economy & both sell a fare amount in the frozen food category. Wilcox has a wider distribution range than Lesser, which operated a solo truck crisscrossing the state. Both Wilcox & Lesser have been a great friend to the Grocers Project providing insights on products, stores & trends.
We wish the Lessers great relaxation, & the Wilcoxs a fantastic transition with partnering businesses, products & new stores to sell to.
| Green Mountain Smokehouse in Windsor has been smokin’ since 2020. In its 25-year history, it has offered a range of foods for nearly every occasion. This USDA approved facility produces under its label, while also offering production & smoking services to other businesses. Their products are available through locally-owned distributor Upper Valley Produce as well as national companies including Performance Food Group, & (dba) Black River Produce. They are open to discussions with other distributors & food hubs. | |
Their products include but are not limited to bacon, smoked chicken, ribs, & sausages which are sold to New England farmstands, specialty & general stores, Hannaford, & into food service channels. Some of the many stores that carry their products include Littleton Coop & Mill Village in NH, The Putney Coop, & Woodstock Farmers Markets.
GMS is open to expanding sales to reach stores, farmstands, cafes, & corporate kitchens in New England with retail & food service pack sizes. Contact them for details on products & shipping.
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So it's been a bit cold, wet & somewhat miserable. However, strawberries are still plugging along with a flowers in bloom in every corner of the state. Other areas of NE are already harvesting & shipping fresh berries wholesale through Myers Produce just in time for Memorial Day Weekend.
We are hearing that strawberry blooms are strong but the cold weather is slowing down the ripening time.
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Cory Froning, MSW provides nature-based, farm-based, & telehealth therapy accessible to farmers. She knows first-hand the lack of understanding & inaccessibility from therapists. As an experienced social worker & a fellow farmer she is versed with the farm-specific stress of finances, workload, climate change, work/life balance, etc.
She is seeking to work closely with famers. She accepts Cigna, BCBS, GMCare insurance & offers sliding scale self-pay services. If you are interested in connecting, reach out cory @ aspectcounseling.group
Farm First is a free program providing farmers and their families with support, resources & information to reduce stress.
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Produce in Season:
It is officially asparagus season! All across the state harvest is upon us. At 4 Corners Farm the temporary-visa H2A workers harvest efficiently. Pack-out for the retail farmstand & wholesale accounts provides welcomed early-season cash.
Farm-gate asparagus prices are reported to the highest in memory due to a number of factors: employee wages, costs of farm equipment & virtually all farm supplies are up. Selling through wholesale channels to stores such as coops the prices are often even higher up to $9/per pound. Some stores are bundling & pre-pricing to streamline sales but the bundles can also be prohibitive for folks cautiously watching their spending.
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True Love Farm
The over-wintered spinach & baby kale headed out to wholesale accounts in Southern Vermont. The race to plant a beautiful & delicious summer farm picked up the pace in April including transplanting several thousand lisianthus destined for florists, small grocers, & directly to consumers come July through September.
The May rain might be slowing down some of the operations, the cold air a zing to the flower transplants, but glory days are ahead with retail & wholesale accounts lining up.
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Cross Dock/Farm Store
A retail farmstand & cross dock opportunity awaits on Route 7 north of Middlebury. Lester Farm has all the necessary infrastructure for a retail operation. Interested? Contact Sam 802-349-8410
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Farmstand Updates:
Act 181 includes changes to Act 143 governing Accessory On-Farm Businesses (AOFBs). Farming is exempt from Act 250. AOFB businesses are defined differently than “farming”. When it originally passed, Act 143 applied to your town’s zoning only, not Act 250.
Changes for AOFB's provide some exemptions from Act 250 to increase revenue for Vermont farms. Please explore this VAAFM page.
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Apologies for any oversights & typos as there is much to process right now,
with the potential to over look details
Special Thanks: Karen@ True Love, Michelle @ Helianthus Partners, Mark @ Organic Options,
Dave @ Green Mountain Smokehouse, Seth @ Pumpkin Village, Michael & ML @ Lesser Distribution,
Mike @ AGNE Retail, Jerry @ Seafax, Jeanie Wells
Created with gratitude for the support from the Canaday Family Charitable Trust
Small Bites comes to you via incredibly valuable grants. We directly support the New England State Food System Planners Partnership effort to strengthen the regional food economy.
Contact: Annie Harlow
smallbites802@gmail.com
All info is subject to change. One small bite at a time.
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