FARMA 2010: Don’t allow the grass to grow under your feet

For Worcestershire farmer, Will Edmonds, the answer was in the form of a new fresh acquisition and ‘raising the game’ of his overall business.

Will, who runs Roots, at Rushwick, has developed his farm shop with the purchase of a second enterprise, while also tightening up on key financial disciplines.

Although his organic produce was selling well through the farm shop, it became necessary to refocus priorities and look at generating further revenue.

This came in the form of Little Verzons, in Ledbury, which was purchased in 2008. The 23-acre unit in Herefordshire offers orchards and a café and is just 15 minutes from his original farm shop.

“Despite the recent recession we have slightly increased average spends for our total farm retail businesses,’ says Will, who also runs a stall at two local farmers’ markets.

“I now carry out more critical and regular financial analyses of every enterprise. We are also stricter about what our staff wear, and equally, what they say and how when talking to existing and potential customers.”

Around 40 different types of vegetables and fruit are offered with a 75/25 per cent split between home-grown and bought in produce.

Will is now researching the potential for customer loyalty cards and how to actively engage the local community in his business.

Interaction

On the subject of interaction, Alan Downes, manager of Hawarden Estate farm shop, in Flintshire, believes farmers and staff must be passionate about food and communicate the message, at all times, to potential and existing customers.

The Hawarden Estate, owned by Sir William Gladstone, sells its produce from six tenanted estate farms in the shop, along with their own brand of milk and other core products.

With vast retail experience, including 12 years in various management roles with Asda, Alan explained research conducted on the farm’s produce highlighted key development areas.

“We turned over £1.2 million in our first year and are experiencing a year-on-year increase of 40 per cent as we approach our second birthday in March 2010,” he explained.

“We were buying in our own pies, selling £300 worth a week. After research we started making our own Hawarden Estate farm shop pies and weekly sales have risen to £2,000.”

Food festivals are held quarterly where local suppliers take sample tables with customers before deciding which products will be stocked.

Communication must be extended to everybody involved including staff, he sadded.

“A killer interview question to all employees at the estate’s farm shop can sometimes be as simple as asking them to talk to me about their passion for food.”

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