The Genny got prime time exposure on a recent CBS Sunday morning slot
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The Value of Rural Stores
In a rural state community stores matter. When thriving, they are the center of community building offering a sense of caring & wellbeing. Across Vermont our stores support our farms, food manufacturers & solo operated distributors. This connection to “place” resonates economically as well as socially.
The April 16th CBS Sunday Morning program showcased New England’s rural general stores that are the center of community. In the small town of Albany, The Genny was featured with its “community supported store model” firmly aligned with the town’s values. Congratulations to Emily, Janna, & Kit The Genny operators for the interview with CBS & for taking on the project during the early days of the pandemic. (oh my!)
A different picture is currently being painted in Rochester; a small town nestled in the Greenies on Route 100. The only grocery store in the valley, Mac’s Market is closing May 19th. It is owned by the Sherman V Allen Group of Rutland with stores in several locales. With the impending closing, the community is coming together to create a new model. Perhaps it will be like The Genny with tons of community financial & intellectual support. A community -wide meeting is coming up to address the population that will be most impacted by the closing. Read more in a recent 7 Days article about the store closure & the community’s long term goal of regenerating its food store.
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Speaking of rural stores being the backbone of a community, a new operator is lined up to take over the Elmore Store. With deep family roots to the area, Jason Clark has lived in Elmore for 12 years, He knows all about the community & brings great culinary & business skills along with fresh
new energy to the town center. Congratulations to the store & to Jason for carrying on the community spirit of Elmore by sponsoring & supporting the
creativity of the town.
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Addison Four Corners: One Stop
Located at the intersection of Route 17 & 22A in the heart of Addison is the historic general store. A4Corners has the quintessential hallmarks of a country store with its aged, creaky screen door, well-worn steps & a welcoming porch facing East.
Upon entering it's a blend of clothing including unique tunics, dresses, shirts, shoes, a robust selection of chocolates, wine & a kickin' good deli. Intermixed of course are all the usuals; maple, local milk (it is the HEART of dairy country), beer, Cabot products including the ever popular Seriously Sharp Cheese Popcorn & then less perishable jewelry, cards & a host of baked goodies.
Locals might stop in for the groceries more than dress or shoe shopping but this busy intersection near the Dead Creek Wildlife Center, is a four season stop for many travelers & day trippers. The store is shifting generational ownership & 'young' Joe looks forward to spicing things up with some new products, services & community engagement.
As all our local stores do, they beat with the pulse of community. This is true in the heart of Addison too.
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Operating rural stores is hard. Often they are family run, are opened long hours & staffing can be a challenge. Added to that, distributors do not prioritize deliveries as the orders tend to be small. For small stores with tight cashflow, late payments push a store down the 'service rung' which can stress the relationship.
We know for a fact that these stores are participants in the community’s’ culture with supportive services & a healthy perspective on the town’s wellbeing. They are the hive of communication & they buzz with creativity that extends to the care of the community such as food deliveries or other services for shut ins.
When you are cruising the state, pop into some of our relics of the past with their eyes on the future. Meet the folks who are dedicated to growing community (& their family). Spend a little to get the full experience of the 'chatty' cashier running the register. These are the types of stores that CBS Sunday Morning featured in their recent story.
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Newly Rebranded: Mixed Up
As food businesses grow, they often partake in some rebranding. It may be due to feedback from store or distributor buyers, it may conflict with a similar named product competing for identity, it may have identified a market gap where some retooling can help it gain market share, perhaps the name or features did not resonate, or the name could be too long.
Whatever the reason for a rebranding it circles back to your "why" & your "what" to create a viable business in a very competitive environment: retail food.
Mixed Up Nut Butter has truncated its name to Mixed Up. It opens expansion of products to include seed-based spreads, is super catchy & fun for marketing, is shorter for promos & signage & was done just in time for a food show at Associated Buyers where they spoke one on one with store buyers. It is also available to stores & farmstands through Pumpkin Village Foods.
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Category Mgt: Gluten Free
Available through our regional distributors we share a few notable VT producers of gluten free products to round out the product mix include. (Several attended the recent Associated Buyers Trade show meeting buyers & other regional food producers)
Are you looking for products for a specific category? Farm to Plate has been updating our producer database to help buyers find local companies to round out product mix. Reach out to us to see if we can find VT products to fit your needs.
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Seasonality in Retail
This time of the year is all about shifts. Shoppers look forward to a diet change, lighter food, fresh greens, & farm fresh products that are easy to cook & align well with seasonal resets.
Stores should do deep cleaning of coolers & shelves & as needed add new display case liners . Create fresh displays & seasonal contrasts. Shift the products to enhance visibility. For instance, it is “freshening season”. Stores can reset the Ice House Farm locally made goat milk kefir so it gains new visibility. Front & center in the cooler with fresh signage about their happy, jumping goat kids can help shoppers recognize seasonal aspects to local foods.
Cross-promotion of products that cook or go together encourages easy to shop, easy to cook meals. Families are stressing about food costs; added to that are the Spring season school arts & sports shifting daily tasks at homes. Think of your displays as soft landings on stressful days.
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Hiring seasonal produce staff?
It is common for stores to bring in new staff for the summer season. Often, they may be workers new to retail food operations.
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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It's the Whole Existence
The world of food is a bit nutty. What do I mean? Growing, manufacturing, distributing, marketing, packaging & selling is all about making money. Just think, that's a LOT of hands in this nutty pie.
Added to all these transactions are the additional ways money is made through payment structures, marketing allowances, slotting fees & off-invoice discounts. Food has become a proxy for profit in several points along the supply chain. It's hard to make money on food, as a result a 'plan' was hatched somewhere along the way to build in fee structures. This happens at large retail operations & with large national distributors.
As our food manufacturing businesses grow beyond Vermont, they are learning about the need to be well capitalized to include the fees in product pricing. The fees are not customarily part of an early-growth stage but become embedded as larger outlets are entertained.
Farm to Plate co-sponsored the Local Food Wholesale Assessment several years back that includes a glossary that is useful to "scaling" food businesses. Take a Look-see. Also, if you are inclined to play around on LinkedIn this might be good to follow. There are many other windows shedding light on hidden costs & the challenges incumbent on expanding sales to large regional or national accounts which we will continue to weave into Small Bites.
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Nationally, we are in a critical time for young farmers to access land. As featured in a recent The Guardian article, 'from 2021 to 2022 alone, value per acre increased by 12.4% and it now costs on average $3,800 an acre, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). In some states it’s even higher: last year farmland in California averaged $12,000 an acre. These record-high prices are making it nearly impossible for young and emerging farmers to break into the industry.'
As has happened in almost every commercial sector, investors have infiltrated with deleterious results.
Hedge funds, developers, & insurance companies have scooped up land, invested in multiple farm-based technologies, bought up competing businesses with their seemingly endless cash. That makes it near impossible for others to get a piece of the American pie. Across the food-landscape, independent farmers, food manufacturers, & stores are hit broadside by consolidation & corporate ownership.
“If 40% of agricultural land falls into corporate ownership as a speculative asset class or as a way to park money – rather than that land being used to support rural economies in our local food systems – I think that has big implications for national security, for our food security as a nation and the vitality of our local rural economy,” -Jordan Treakle NYFC
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Seasonal Cheese
There is a seasonal shift at our dairy farms that pasture raise cows, sheep or goats.
Grasses are growing, animals are birthing & fresh milk is in abundance. Along with that are seasonal cheeses. Be sure to include "spring" cheeses in your selections & add focused signage for customers to gain knowledge of on-farm shifts & promote the cyclical aspects of these local products.
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Seasonal Farmstands
Holy moly it is almost May! That means our farmstands are opening. Deep cleaning, new case liners, fresh signage, remodeling, product inputs into POS & a tidy dooryard are all tasks being undertaken to open the doors.
Chandler & Woods are three farmstands doing some or all of the above in preparation of opening. Lester Farm in New Haven is partnering with Full Belly Farm in a different kind of preparation. The two farms are bringing their individual strengths & creating a partnership model that will be advantageous to both operations.
Cheers to all the farmstands deep in the tasks of seasonal reopening while juggling all the other farm tasks!!
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Increasing Farmstand Sales
Looking to increase engagement & encourage sales Good Heart Farm Store, opened a year-round grocery in Worcester Village with a focus on local products.
Designed for those looking for fresh veggies & local food, & with more flexibility than a traditional CSA share, they created The Farm Store Membership Program.
Here’s how it works:
· Membership provides $285 in credit to use at the Farm Store.
· To become a member, purchase a physical card at the store or an e-card online for $285 & use the promo code “MEMBER” to receive 10% off.
· Membership cards never expire & can be recharged anytime.
· Membership discount is only applied when using the card/e-card
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Things are cranking!
All our farmers are busy! The early heat gave a huge boost, then a slowdown with the rain & cooler temps putting in place the reminder that a farmer expects the unexpected, adjusts to all the circumstances & continues.
Whoo hoo! Preparing for Mother's Day greenhouse or cut flower sales, freshly harvested greens, seed starts for field transplanting, stepping up or transplanting tomatoes in the greenhouse, or tending to Spring births out in the barns, there us so much activity on our farms. It’s been quite a ride this April. Yay for May on the way!
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It's happening!
Wouldn't it be amazing for New England to feed New England? Well, that is what we are doing supporting distributors, stores, producers & farmers through the work of Farm to Plate. But how well are we doing across NE? That is what a six-state consortium is tasked with figuring out. A team of researchers & analysts will be collecting sales numbers on the dollars of NE produced products traveling through distribution & sales channels.
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Farmers, Food Manufacturers
& Buyers
On May 15th from 2:00 PM-5:00 PM, Food Connects & Vermont Fresh Network (VFN) host chefs, farmers, cheesemakers, brewers, & other industry members for a lively session of networking, conversation, & light refreshments at the Retreat Farm in Brattleboro, VT. This is a great opportunity to connect with food producers in southern Vermont.
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Attention
Emerging Businesses!
VSJF created Business Sense, a six-module training series providing essential tools & information resources for entrepreneurs & small business owners. The series helps businesses thrive & accelerate growth while expanding the leadership capacity of entrepreneurs. Check out the resources available now & future ones such as Human Resource skills development. HR is a step all businesses need to get a handle on the legal aspects of staffing as they grow their business.
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