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Small Bites
December 11, 2024
Creating opportunities to support & amplify regional food systems, not only in Vermont. Featuring producers, distributors, & retailers connecting global marketplace insights
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BIG NEWS
for Small(er) Stores, Distributors, & Food Producers
A federal judge in Oregon has blocked temporarily the merger of grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons, ruling Tuesday in favor of federal regulators.
The ruling makes it increasingly unlikely that the deal, worth $24.6 billion, will eventually succeed. A Washington state judge ruled the deal would harm both customers and workers. Kroger runs many familiar grocery stores, including Ralphs, Harris Teeter, Fred Meyer and King Soopers. Albertsons owns Safeway and Vons.
Litigation has left what would be the biggest grocery merger in U.S. history pending for over two years now. A ruling in a separate legal challenge brought by the Washington attorney general was expected later Tuesday. A third lawsuit is playing out in Colorado, and companies will now weigh whether to continue pursuing the merger or abandon it. -From NPR
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Good Things Come in
Small Packages
With holiday gift giving in full force, stores & food manufacturers are sending out packages to big cities & small towns around the country.
In-store displays often feature an array of small items & cross promotions to amplify co-branded complimentary products. For some food manufacturers selling niche products this can be a time of profitability through substantial sales both in stores & online.
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For Mixed Up, makers of premium tree nut & seed butters, 4th Quarter sales are strong for a "sampler of three flavors". The company has created smaller sized units to introduce customers to their line of products & now produces a premium cocoa spread that is topping the charts for good, clean food. For store buyers, various sizes can provide an opportunity to test out a line or cross merchandise to enhance holiday sales.
Product lines can be carried by buyers offering a full slate of SKU's as Cold Hollow Cider Mill does, or a store might offer exclusively top sellers. Pumpkin Village Foods delivers Mixed Up throughout its delivery routes. It is one of Vermont's small, yet mighty distributors of products that helps buyers round out offerings at independent stores & coops.
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Food Manufacturing:
Small Before Big
Growing food businesses benefit from community kitchen production spaces. Shared-use spaces can be the on-ramp for entrepreneurs to develop their products with minimal cash outlay.
The kitchens are licensed for commercial food production offering use for specialty food manufacturing at relatively low cost. The fee-based spaces are available to create a schedule of production. The kitchens are often run by non-profits, private for-profit groups, & state governments. Each site is unique in the kitchen set up & services.
Vermont has many such spaces with more being developed. Most well-known for supporting Vermont brands is the Center for An Agricultural Economy which for 12 years has helped 110 brands come to market. They started small & many have grown into regional brands, including Butterfly Bakery, Eco Bean, Fat Toad, Benito's.
Newer spots meet the needs of people from across the state. In Brattleboro, the Retreat Farm currently has openings for use. Check out their call for producers to see if you are a good fit. Grafton 58 in the center of Townsend is working to create a space for emerging producers as a 'waystation' of information to support the understanding of the many facets of building a food company. Critical information & understanding production variables helps reduce start up errors such as when a batch is not up to par, it is costly & can be demoralizing for a startup entreprenuer. The Townsend spot will be offering services conveniently located halfway between Manchester & Brattleboro.
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A Small Herd, Big Love,
Great Cheese
Size is relative. A small herd of Jersey cows creates by nature a small operation. The raw milk cheese made at Creek Valley Farm in Irasburg, VT has big flavor. The herd is rotationally grazed on well managed pastures & the handcrafted cheese is small batch made on on-farm.
The cheesemaker & herdsperson, Lorinda Campbell (Rin) has always loved Jerseys. She treats them as family, talking to them, teasing them, & giving them hugs. She jokes that she speaks two languages: English & Cow. Her herd is mostly daughters of the same matriarch; the generational love comes through from every cow to each finished cheese they send to market.
The cheese is available wholesale to stores & farmstands. They provide direct to store delivery (DSD) & it is available through Green Mountain Farm Direct & shipped through the logistics food hub Farm Connex, in Hardwick. Another distribution option reaching various corners of the state is Pumpkin Village Foods.
| Specialty foods drive December sales in Vermont. Eggnog gets to be in the drivers' seat along with heavy cream, ice cream, butter, maple, & chocolates! | |
Big Ideas & A Small Cup
At the Farm to Plate Annual Gathering, a fantastic conversation with Naga Bakehouse, led Julie to use her coffee cup to scribble follow-up notes. The cup became a metaphor for capturing grand conversations & inspiring ideas, the hallmark of the Gathering.
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Small Things Add-Up Big
@KBV
Across the state we 'give small', yet when added up we are making big impacts. The seasonal ongoing toy drive at Keeler's Bay Variety continues to shed light on the value of giving small. For over 50 years the store has been the center of giving in the tight knit island community of Hero.
In addition to her role managing the Deli & Bakery, Val Hunter is instrumental co-chairing the Caring & Sharing Program meeting the needs of over 40 families. Her dedication to community comes through her cooking as well as her volunteer time to help make the holidays special for all. Customers give generously dropping of toys, food, gift cards, & cash donations. They also support the store with vigorous sales across all categories including purchasing meat from Jason. He, like Val, is a long-term employee tied to the community. They both guide customers on choices for their holiday meal prep needs. All year the KBV team is about customer & community service, shining especially bright in December.
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Cavendish Game Birds
Small, Yet Mighty
Quick cooking, super easy & a great product to bring in for winter sales. Is there a better winter meat protein than this diminutive option?
For over well over 35 years high quality quail have been the hallmark of Cavendish Game Birds located in Springfield, Vermont. Definitively small wonders of flavor, the farm is bringing to market the highest quality game birds & eggs produced in New England. They have been expanding beyond their consistent restaurant accounts across New England & the northeast, reaching stores through in-person sales & expanded distribution options.
The easy-to-prepare, nutrient-dense Vermont farm raised & on-farm processed quail can enhance winter sales. Products are available fresh or frozen to stores including Springfield Coop, Putney Coop, Woodstock Farmers & Brownsville Butcher. Contact the farm for details on distribution of both quail & the eggs.
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Small Towns, Big Presence
Across the state are quintessential "old general stores". Many have closed, some are on the verge, & some are staying afloat through community centered fundraising enterprises. Some are retooling with shifting demographics with more emphasis on ready-to-eat meals.
In our rural stores it can be hard to balance product mix & pricing with making money. Distributors often impose high minimum orders to meet their costs to stop the truck. They do not process the orders if stores cannot meet the threshold. This adds to the challenges for stores as they work to have a consistent supply of products. The small daily decisions by stores are a balancing act of pressures. More often than not, our smaller regional distributors help stores with smaller minimum orders built into their tactical decisions as they build their delivery routes. (see links of regional distributors below)
From Calais to Elmore, Putney to Shrewsbury, to Wallingford to Addison stores are holding on with small, incremental decisions intended to meet community needs & make an income commensurate with keeping a strong presence in the town.
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Small Trucks: Big Impacts
By crisscrossing the state in designated routes independent distributors make their mark on local food sales. VT Roots, Lesser, Pumpkin, Killam Sales are a few 'smaller' independent distributors.
Often these businesses operate a solo truck or a small fleet. They have distinct lines of complimentary products that go well with the stores they target to get the most sales from each & every stop.
It is not an easy road to drive. Food manufacturers need to gauge their production to dovetail with the distributor pick-up days. Delivery routes are designed to be efficient for both picking up the product they purchase, & the sales to the stores they sell to. For emerging brands learning the ropes of distribution, having products available at the time of pick up is of utmost importance to the success of relationship building for your brand. Professionalism breeds sales as store buyers can stock the product because it made it onto the distributors' truck for timely delivery.
Independent, locally owned distributors tend to offer smaller minimum orders. This benefits rural stores & smaller coops. With the upcoming Wednesday holidays, many distributors are anticipating large orders at all stores to cover the days without deliveries. Myers Produce is taking a week off for staff to enjoy time with families; no small feat preparing their warehouse & team in making this big decision.
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Did you Know?
Farm to Plate's events/news/jobs page is a go-to list to connect & learn. Check it out regularly & share your good stuff too! Ooddles of updates that can include agroforestry, women farmer summits, butchering seminars, staffing news, & so much more.
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Calling All Legislator Readers
We cover food production, delivery, sales, & global supply chain variables to support viable regional food systems. Email a constituent pic, link, biz buzz, etc. In a world half crazy, let's share our good things! smallbites802@gmail.com
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Special Thanks for this truncated Issue:
Pumpkin Village Foods, Lesser Distribution, Retreat Farm, Mixed Up, Keeler's Bay Variety, Pam Knights Communication, 58 Grafton, Cavendish Quail
Small Bites comes to you via grants & is created for farmers, food manufacturers, distributors, & grocers to increase VT food sales. We 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.
Created with support from the Canaday Family Charitable Trust
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