Small Bites
March 21, 2023
Creating opportunities to amplify & sell VT products to more buyers in the northeast & beyond
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Bennington Community Market
is Open!
The mission of the year round Bennington Community Market supports local farmers & food producers, access to healthy food for all members of the community, & revitalizes the downtown. A giant round of applause to all the folks working on the multi-year project.
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South Royalton Market:
Keeps the Green Flowing
With a wide range of upgrades in 2021-22 sales hit an all-time high at the community store. This year they continue the upgrades that will surely expand the sales trend.
One area that maintains green in a sea of vibrant colors is the veg cooler. Year round they stock salad greens from Luna Bleu Farm & from the regional Little Leaf Farm a largescale hydroponic closed-circle greens operation based in Devens, MA & shipped by several regional distributors including AGNE & Upper Valley Produce.
The store sells lettuce & greens available in a family size pack out, which saves on store labor. By supporting growers in the region, they can create a product mix that supports their community farmers & the greater New England economy too.
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Great display!
Great work by the produce heroes of Royalton. All the Luna Blue farm labels are facing the shopper, prices are on the bag & the bags are tidy. That's how they keep the green flowing.
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Expanding Brands:
Dosa's Kitchen
You are going to be seeing a lot from Dosa's Kitchen this year! They were one of the recipients of a VAAFM tradeshow grant & they participated in the Winter Session on Growing Your Food Brand with a focus on distribution to retail stores. With the grant they attend trade shows & are now selling some of their products through Associated Buyers & Food Connects. One of the newly onboarded with Dosa is Powers Market in Bennington. Recently they began reaching stores out of state including the River Valley Coop in Easthampton, MA
Their ready-to-pour pancake, crepe, & waffle batter has all the flavors, & culture of South Indian cuisines. Store buyers now is your chance to diversify your vegan & sugar free product mix to incorporate their chutneys, stew & their namesake, Dosa batter.
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Keep Your Eyes Peeled
George & Karen, the original goat farming power couple, founded the dairy over 30 years ago to make great-tasting, easy-to-digest, nutritious milk that honors goats & the land. When they retired, their goats & the Oak Knoll way found a new home with a goat loving couple, Ryan & Annie at Bridgman Hill Farm.
In reaching their dream of a conscientious goat dairy Annie & Ryan teamed up with award-winning cheesemaker, The Cellars at Jasper Hill to create Bridgman Hill Farm. It’s where all the milk for Oak Knoll Dairy is made. The highest quality standards & a special goat diet results in superior artisanal raw milk cheeses. The farm produces fresh milk for sale as well as providing for cheesemaking. Watch them grow reaching more local markets. Available through Provisions International, Myers Produce, UNFI & Alberts.
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Food Service Pack Sizes Available
A reminder that many of our producers have food service pack sizes to be incorporated into cafes staples, meal prep, & grab & go.
Creating a signature item with sales focused once a week contributes to the multiplier effect while helping brands grow their sales. Because local products tend to be higher in cost creating a "one day a week on-ramp" can make good sense. Your plate cost may be higher due to the local ingredient; however, you have a marketing & promo advantage especially when the product is produced right in your community.
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It's happening!
Vermont's Local Food Count stretches out to all New England states.
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 for all of NE? That is what a six-state consortium is tasked with figuring out.
The team of researchers & analysts will be collecting sales numbers on the dollars of NE produced products traveling through distribution & sales channels. It's a big lift but we can do it. How cool to have a benchmark to build off & drive future production & sales of our six New England states' products. Stay tuned for more on this unique regional project.
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Independent Grocers:
New Resources
Through her 25 years helping stores she knows first-hand the challenging dynamics faced in a sea of fierce competition. Her area of specialty includes a "tool chest" geared to small coops & independent grocers to develop the skills necessary to understand the drivers of their business enabling to survive in their markets.
Check out her Boot Camp & new intensives to strengthen community stores.
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"Jeanie Wells was drawn to developing this program after seeing how deeply communities are negatively affected when their local grocery store is struggling."
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Attention!
VT Dry Ice is Here
Sisters of Anarchy produces & sells dry ice in pellets & 5 pound blocks. If you are shipping or exploring shipping frozen products contact Becky (802) 846-7978
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Our Forests are Known
for Their flavor
How many states can honestly say that?
Our renown sugarbushes are in every corner of the state. Some are small home-based operations with 2'x2' pans on a makeshift outdoor arch, others are large scale operations with pipeline, reverse osmosis, & use tanker trucks to haul the sap.
Whichever scale, the days are long, the end-product uncertain. There are so many variables to making the sweetest syrup, or even the darker, less sweet but more robust flavor often sought by bakers & as an ingredient in food manufacturing.
To create a great sugarbush requires knowledge to maintain the health of the trees & an ecosystem that creates the way of the harvest. Working Lands Grants offer business support, research & infrastructure improvements to sugar makers of all sizes.
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Maple Bliss, the ultimate lead in to Mixed Up Nut Butter's Mud Season blend! The line of products is readily available through many of our regional distributors including Pumpkin Village Foods, VT Roots, Associated Buyers & Food Connects. Products are also available direct to stores through 3rd party wholesale platforms Mable & Faire.
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Promotions: They Work
Now is the intersection of Spring greens & maple, cross promoting Vermont Vinegars with freshly harvested greens is a win with a multiplier sales effect. The vinegar is available DSD & through Pumpkin Village Foods. Stores & farmstands can contact Deb for other shipping options.
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Things are Heating Up!
Luna Bleu Farm is seeing its richly flavored winter spinach give way to
early Spring varieties. The winter spinach is kissed by freezing temperatures & stimulates spinach to convert starches to natural delicious sugars that act like a natural antifreeze. Spinach grows so slowly in winter; it develops a complex delicious flavor. In the long daylight of Spring, the fast-growing leaves are a harbinger of so many tonics to cleanse the soul (& make great meals!) The crew harvests in the warm greenhouse then delivers locally to the Royalton Market.
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Farmer as Retailer
Balancing product mix is one of the great challenges for farmstands. One thing we learned in the Winter Session is that farmers start by bringing on products their families like to eat (just in case they aren't top sellers).
Making sales & meeting margin expectations requires keeping an eye on such things as sales per day, sales per week, top sellers, top sellers with strong margins. These circle back to product mix. Yes, there are industry standards for margins & yes you can deviate from them for your customer base & your goals. If you have a moment between kidding, greenhouse work, lambing, making new farmstand signage, or organizing your retail space, watch the Andrew Knafel & Rose Wilson MOFGA pricing session. It's a good one to get yourself prepped for seasonal farm store sales & margin goals.
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Peaceful Harvest Mushrooms
Sometimes it can take a village. Stores working with local vendors supports the community & can really set the tone for growth of an emerging business.
Peaceful Harvest Mushrooms knows this firsthand. As they began building a customer base it was the community of the Hunger Mountain Coop that helped them land on the shelves. The coop counts as a premium account for them to this day.
The Peaceful team worked closely with the business support services at VHCB Farm & Forest Viability Program to fine tune their business & marketing approach to reach their community & build regional sales. To get into the Coop was a big step in building their business. They are forever grateful to the staff in helping sell their products created within, & for their community.
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Business Services & Grants
Now more than ever, there are business support services to help with organization, accounting, & marketing.
Emily Grey provides online trainings that some VT farm & food businesses have engaged in with great results.
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Yoo-Hoo... Coming Right Up!
Weights & Measures hosts scale inspection events in April for anyone who uses scales at farmers’ markets or farm stands to sell produce or other commodities. This testing is required by law. Attend one of the inspection sites listed here. Bring your legal for trade scale & any accessories that you use with it for weighing items for sale.
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In Case you Missed This...
A federal judge said it was entirely appropriate for attorneys for former employees of Vermont Bread to “follow the money” in determining who made the decision to shutter the bakery in 2021.
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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 H Harlow
smallbites802@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, photo credits are from company social media, websites or Annie Harlow
Photo Credits: Ewe & lamb courtesy of Seven Days, 2009
All info is subject to change; thank you to all who contributed to this issue
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