Shared Commercial Kitchen Roundtable

October 29, 2011

Rita Resick

Laurel Vista FarmsFarming at the Next Level:

Overcoming the Barriers

63 miles

Here’s our local market …

A SHORT HISTORY OF LAUREL VISTA …

Ken, Marian, Rita and Rick

Us…

Once upon a time, we grew potatoes …

We used this two row potato harvester…

Stored potatoes in this barn…

Delivered them in this truck…

And they ended up in this bag…

BUT ECONOMICS CHANGEDTHE MARKET CHANGED

AND WE CHANGED

Now we harvest with a new harvester…

We store in a new building…

We deliver in a new refrigerated truck…

And our potatoes end up in a bag with a new brand…

.. and we sell to stores instead of a chip factory.

Consumer reaction…

• Ed and I were grocery shopping at Giant Eagle and spotted the "Somerset Spuds". Naturally, loving and wanting to support our local produce, we picked up the bag of potatoes and saw the epistle… What a neat surprise!…Lynn and Ed Philibin

Consumer reaction…

• Suddenly, we see a large display advertising "Somerset White Potatoes” Let's get these, I say, they're local. The packaging is great, kind of like the J. Petermen catalog for the spud set…Ken Zapinski

Consumer reaction…

• ...went to the McIntire Giant Eagle before Christmas and found the Somerset Spuds... I loved the personal nature of your packaging...makes them feel special and a stand-out-from-the-crowd among all the anonymous potatoes from somewhere in Idaho (all the way on the other side of the country.... how fresh is that??!!) …Rhonda Schuldt

And we added Somerset Snaps Green Beans….

But our farm’s pride is …

Somerset Sweet Onions

But, it’s not enough to be a good or even the best grower of

Green beans,Sweet Onions, and Potatoes.

At our scale.

You can’t support a family.

So we thought …if only we could sell our products year round …

…something like this

So when we had the chance to do a Value Added

Product …

We jumped on it:

Consumer reaction…

• “I have to tell you that tonight I made squash fritters for dinner and put the onion and garlic jam you gave us on top. DELICIOUS! But the best part is that the kids liked the jam so much that they licked it off each and every fritter before eating.” Alana Cole Faber

So we are adding added value products:

WHY VALUE ADDED

• ADDED REVENUE AT LOW COST

• LOCAL FOOD BUZZ

• YEAR ROUND

• NEW USE FOR EXISTING PRODUCT

BARRIERS TO PROCESSING• FARMERS NOT KNOWING THAT IT IS AN OPTION

• FEW SMALL SCALE CO-PACKERS LIKE GOURMET CENTRAL

• NO DIRECTORY TO EXISTING ONES

• AGGREGATING, STABILIZING, STORING, SCHEDULING

• RECIPES

• FEW (IF ANY) OPTIONS FOR LOW ACID INGREDIENTS (e.g., POTATOES, SQUASH)

• PROCESSING COST

BARRIERS TO DISTRIBUTION

• PACKAGING (BARCODES, LABELS DONE RIGHT)

• SALES OUTLETS BEYOND FARM STAND/STORE (FOOD SHOPS, GROCERY STORES)

• PRODUCT PLACEMENT

• PRODUCT PORTFOLIS VS LONE WOLF

• UNDERSTANDING MARGINS AND PRICING

• LOCAL BRANDING

SO WHAT IF THERE WAS A PLACE WHERE …

• A FARMER COULD SELL HER UNSOLD OR OFF GRADE PRODUCT

• AND IT WAS PROCESSED, STABLIZED, AND STORED FOR USE LATER

• AS AN INGREDIENT FOR A VALUE ADDED PRODUCT

• WITH A BRAND NAME PROMISING LOCAL INGREDIENTS

• AND THERE WAS AN ARRANGEMENT WITH THIS PLACE BY WHICH

• THESE PRODUCTS WERE MERCHANDISED AND SOLD IN GROCERY STORES THROUGHOUT THE REGION

• ?

WITH THAT, I GIVE YOU …

GREG BOULOS AND ANDREW ELLSWORTHTO TELL YOU ABOUT RFEC!