Small Bites
May 16, 2023
Creating opportunities to amplify & sell VT products to more buyers in the northeast & beyond
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Mary Manghis leading the way with all her spirit |
Relationships Matter: Growing Our Food is Personal
Many moons ago, she was a part time cashier then produce stocker. At a time when the coop was a small store on North Winooski Ave, Mary would watch the lettuce sales dwindle as she ran the cash register. It didn't sit well with her. She wanted the local produce to be stocked so folks could buy it. That's when I hired her as a stocker. It quickly evolved to her calling in orders, building relationships with distributors & intimately working with our fruit & vegie farmers as an important part of our quasi-buying team.
Fast forward, she became a full time Produce Hero becoming the Produce Buyer when the Coop grew into City Market becoming the largest outlet of local food in the state. Mary's superpowers were her steady disposition, her brilliant aptitude to manage hundreds of items from dozens of sources, commitment to honesty & fairness in working with farmers of all sizes, & of course her radiant smile & unfathomable energy. And her love of working with farmers by helping to professionalize the buy-sell relationship.
Through the years she saw firsthand the growth of the organic" industry" with its impact on local farms. She saw the downward pressure on pricing that farmers get, the influx of globalization both in organic & non-organic produce, & challenges maintaining integrity as a buyer at a food coop with the integration of its "multiple missions".
I used to say Produce Buyers have a lot of power to drive trends, educate shoppers, create positive impacts, & train great people into good jobs. Mary concurred & we moved the needle together in building fabulous teams to support the sales of our local foods while also introducing new products that eventually became standard items in stores. Her longevity at City Market created the impact we originally crafted at the old store.
I speak to all who had the pleasure of working with her, I can say we grew with you & we carry your light within us. To all the farmers who sold through ORC/City Market, we were lucky to have had time together. Mary, your spirit soars through us on your journey with your remaining hours in our presence.
May we all let our light shine, radiating good things as a way to honor her.
With love, Annie
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It's All Relative
When we talk about the local food the relationships go up & down the supply chain. They also change as businesses grow. As an example, a food manufacturer often starts out selling at farmers markets where they have one-on-one relationships with customers.
Sales are brisk with regular shoppers & this is very much the "affirmation stage" of growth. With their cars acting as the delivery mechanism, next might be direct to store deliveries.
Then when sales are brisk there, it might be time to look to a distributor. This likely is a local solo operator or food hub with a targeted delivery area or which already delivers to targeted stores.
Depending on a business' aspirations they may keep expanding their distribution options. This can leave their original smaller-operator relationships in a tough spot. They want to see the food business grow, yet they might not be able to swing some of the benefits offered by larger distributors. The original distributor may be dropped in favor of the newer one. For the manufacturer, remembering who helped you grow your sales is a key to building your sales & appreciating the complexities of how important your product may be to the smaller distributors’ overall margin & value to your (& their) operation.
The further away one gets from the end consumer the more challenging the relationships can be as growth stages involve many more variables.
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Dave always remains so steady, calm & resourceful! You may not catch him in person very much during the daylight hours, but if you do you know just how kind and sweet Dave is. Myers Produce is lucky to have him on the team building & sustaining
relationships every day. Yep. Drivers rule!
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When things go wrong, wrong with you it hurts me too
That might be a line in a classic blues song, or it might be the way of relating in our localized food system.
Getting food from our farms to our food manufacturers, distributors, & to our stores has, as you know, many hands in the mix. Everyone wants what they want when they want it. However, pandemic upheaval provided a new perspective on our supply chain, our expectations as well as vulnerabilities.
Store Buyers know that the best laid plans can go south. We lived that big time with the 2020 shutdown. One of the lessons we took is that when things do go sideways, there is more patience, understanding, & support because by relating on a personal level, we can better provide empathy to current predicaments. Let that be an important ‘lesson learned' from the pandemic. We are also learning that changes in climate are impacting the global supply of food to the northeast, so it is high time to retool our thinking for more regional food production & its mighty economic multiplier effect.
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Relationships are Everything
At the very center of Pittsford is the historic Kamuda's Country Market. You might call it the heart & the soul of the town serving as a default town center where everyone knows each other.
With a community focus they take care of themselves. When their meat cutter was diagnosed with cancer, the community stepped in with a robust GoFundme & a local artisan offering a beautiful hand-forged rose sculpture to raise money too.
Kamuda's uses AGNE as their primary distributor but are more & more engaged in local buying DSD from area producers & products from Vermont Roots. The store & ACORN Food Hub are working to build the relationship to foster more local food sales. Kamuda's is increasing its local food footprint; keeping money local is good for the economy while meeting the changing needs of its community.
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Category Mgt: Gluten Free
Available through our regional distributors here are a few notable VT producers of gluten free products.
Farm to Plate has been updating our producer database to help buyers find local companies to round out product mix. Reach out to us- we can find VT products to fit your needs & let us know of your DSD 'gateway' producers!
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Training Seasonal Produce
Our friends at Veritable Vegetable, a woman owned produce distributor in San Francisco has created a useful produce manual, a guide for training staff. It aligns with many of the values we hold here in the northeast. This tool is pertinent to stores & farmstand operations. Now is also a good time to remind you of Farm to Plate's retail tools to help get a jump on the upcoming busy summer retail season.
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The Agency (of Ag) along with members of Governor Phil Scott’s team recently spent the day in Franklin County meeting with businesses & economic development officials. Site visits included Franklin Foods in Enosburg Falls, makers of branded cream cheeses & SimplyV plant based "cream cheese" products. The tour continued with visits to Kalche Wine Cooperative in Fletcher and a visit to several downtown St. Albans City businesses that have started since Covid-19. A goal was to broaden awareness to Franklin County of state & federal investments.
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Working together to build the local economy |
It's the Whole Existence:
Part 2
For 50 years, Vermonters have been on a quest to build a local food economy based on several characteristics, many of which have become normalized & even evolving into trends. Some stick, some melded together for traction. Some faded away, others got caught up in the nationalization with investments behind them to become part of our everyday availability.
As time moves along, we have seen a homogenization of products, services, marketing, & with the past ten years so many more fast-tracked trends.
One thing that was the foundation of our earlier work to support our local economy is the backbone of being a "Vermonter" an historic deep connection to community & the role of relationships in business. As the world spins faster, we can get caught up in an unsustainable pace for profitability. Sometimes that translates to weakened relationships across our supply chain. It can also breed discontent where joy has been removed from the workplace.
Way back when, farmers relied on each other sharing equipment, helping at haying, sharing bounty, assisting transporting milk to the creameries, & grains to the mills. Stores knew I had personal relations with their vendor suppliers & their customers. Local products were the primary options. Kids worked the stores & communities prospered. In this scenario money was made & stayed in the hands of the community.
Relationships were the foundation of commerce. Points on the supply chain were places where people came together in nearly every community; at the farms, in the distribution network all the way to the stores. This is one of the primary touch points of the multiplier effect in the local food economy.
In the last 30 years, our emphasis on "local food" supported the foundation of "local relationships". This can continue to be cultivated at the many points of getting local food through to the stores from the farms & through localized distributors. In the name of scaling sales, food is sold further afield as part of the expanded growth stage. At this point, relationships change with distribution regularly diluting the relationship components that growth had been built upon. Remembering that people make our economy work by building relationships, we can continue to enhance our regional economy in the spirit of Mary Manghis.
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Farmer as Retailer
Dutton’s Farm are strong believers in sourcing locally. At their farmstand, you know where your food is coming from Any Dutton-grown product is at the most fifty miles from the field or orchard where it was picked. Their conveniently located farm stands in southern Vermont purchase products from local vendors & distributors. The employees are from southern Vermont, where they live and re-invest their money. When locals & travelers stop at their farmstands, they support the local Vermont economy.
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For 50 years, Bob & Kim Gray of 4 Corners Farm in Newbury have been building long-lasting relationships through its retail farmstand.
As a cornerstone of its community, their farming is an integral part of our local food system, building relations with people & with the land. At a public forum in 2019 Bob tells the tale of the farm in a fabulous piece of oral history. Checkout this video & learn of the Four Corners Farm’s contribution to Vermont's ag history & current impacts with lots of anecdotes & experiences from their years of working the land.
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Dutton Farm irrigating its strawberries to prevent freezing this week |
Cold Temps Ahead: YIKES!
Fruit producers are nervous this week. The cold temperatures forecasted will put our summer fruits at risk. Depending on the cold & the state of the blossom open-rates, there may be significant production gaps in our berries, apples & stone fruits. If the cold is significant it might result in lower harvests reducing sales from the farm & at stores.
Vern Grubinger, AKA all things fruit & veg has some useful info for farmers as well as Produce team members to better understand production variables.
Here are the critical frost temperatures at different bud stages for blueberry and tree fruits. Open strawberry flowers usually cannot tolerate temperatures lower than 30°F, popcorn stage flowers and tight buds may tolerate temperatures low to 26 and 22°F, respectively. Vegetable seedlings vary depending on species and extent of hardening off.
Sprinklers can be used to protect blueberries, strawberries and other fruit crops from spring freezes, as described by Michigan State Univ. Extension. Sprinklers can be very effective but may lead to increased injury if insufficient water is applied and/or if it is windy. More water is needed to protect at lower temperatures and higher wind speeds. Lots of detail in this Ontario publication, too.
If you won't be using sprinklers for frost protection, irrigating before the frost event may help, if the soil is dry. Irrigate early enough in the day for moist soil to absorb heat; plants should be dry at night. Avoid cultivating soil ahead of frost as this can promote heat loss.
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Relationships=Seasonal Cheese
Dawn & Dan Boucher have been handcrafting blue cheese on their multi-generational farm in Highgate since 1998. This was the early days of building the artisan cheese economy. Their award-winning Boucher Blue is sweet, earthy, delightfully creamy & is made from the morning milk of their 140 head herd of Holstein, Guernsey, Brown Swiss, & Jersey cows.
Looking to increase capacity, Dawn & Dan have hired their niece, Kayleigh Boucher, who is tasked with expanding cheesemaking that allows for the transfer of skills & knowledge from one generation to the next. Amber Machia has for ten years been the herd manager (monitoring animal health, breeding, & milking 10 shifts a week). She has also been fielding orders at Pumpkin Village Foods for nearly a year getting well versed in sales & supply chain variables. These relationships demonstrate the values that drive the local food system!
The Boucher raw milk blue cheeses are aged a minimum of 60 days on the farm & are available to you via Pumpkin Village Foods in 3-4 lb wheels.
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Fresh Grass, Fresh Flavors
The new-pasture season has just started at Miller Farm in Vernon, VT! Right now, the cows are grazing on a mix of
triticale & other fresh grasses. The herd is a mix of Holstein & Jersey; Miller Farm turns their exceptional quality milk into whole & flavored milks (maple, anyone?) along with half & sometimes heavy cream known as creamline milk (non-homogenized). Available DSD & through Myers Produce.
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Do you need HR help? Business skills support?
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Changing Our Ways
A team of researchers & analysts are collecting sales numbers on the dollars of NE produced products traveling through distribution & sales channels. The project New England Feeding New England will be launching several economic impact reports later this Spring & looking at ways to strengthen our regional food shed.
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Spring is a happy time at Does Leap |
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Farmstands, stores, PYO & CSAs expand summer bevies with the wide selection of artisan producers available through Pumpkin Village Foods. They are definitely in the know on how to grow this category of our emerging brands. The beverage category is one they taken on with great results. See if your business is on their routes & find out more of what they offer at PVF.
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Small Bites comes to you via USDA & High Meadows grants. Content is created for farmers, food manufacturers, distributors, & grocers to increase VT food sales
Contact: Annie Harlow
Unless otherwise noted, photo credits are from company social media, websites or Annie Harlow
Dutton Farm Store: Vermont.com
All info is subject to change; thank you to all who contributed to this issue
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