Farmstead Marketing: Here’s How to Start
As you lie in bed at night, do you find yourself tossing and turning with the thoughts of what it might be like to open your own retail store on the farm? Do images of owning your own creamery, cheese shop or ice cream stand pop into your mind throughout the day? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sell your own products at the local farmers market? If so, you’re not alone. There are hundreds of other producers having the same thoughts, but it takes hard work and dedication to be one of the few to turn those thoughts into a reality.
During a recent Dairy Signal podcast presented by the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin, Lolly Lesher of Bernville, Penn. and Kara Kasten-Olson of Watertown Wisc., spoke on their experience about owning and operating a retail farm business.
In 2015, Kasten-Olson and her husband officially opened and branded Little Farmer Meats, which direct markets beef, pork and chicken to consumers from their farm. At first, the Kasten-Olson’s only sold quarter, half or whole animals to their family and friends. But as time went on, the business grew and has now become a significant part of their farm’s income. This year, Little Farmer Meats will have sold around 90 pigs, 50 steers and 400 broiler chickens.
On the other side of the country, Lesher and her husband own and operate Way-Har Farm, a 250-cow operation not far from Philadelphia. Additionally, the Lesher’s run a 50-year-old retail store on the farm where they process, manufacture and sell their own ice cream, bottled milk, fresh cream and cheese curds.
With several decades of retail experience between the pair, Lesher and Kasten-Olson offered up advice to other producers looking to start their own retail farm business. Here are a few tips they gave during their presentation:
Do some soul searching
Before you dive headfirst into starting your own retail business, it’s important to know the “why” behind your decision. It might look and sound easy from the outside looking in, but starting a new business venture requires a long commitment.
“Do some soul searching,” Lesher advises. “How much time are you willing to spend away from your family because you are starting a whole new enterprise? Retail can be seven days a week, 365 days a year just like farming, so you need to figure out who is going to be the designated person to step up, take the lead and be responsible for all of this stuff.”
She also suggests starting small before going all in.
“It’s a nice way to get your feet wet and see how you like it and how well it’s going to go and what the responses is without investing in a full fledge processing plant or retail operation,” Lesher says
Think about location
Location is everything, but you shouldn’t let a bad location prevent you from opening up your business.
For Way-Har Farm, the retail store is located on a busy road that has approximately 17,000 vehicles pass by each day. But just because the business is located in an ideal spot does not necessarily make things easier.
“As much as people say they want to buy local and support local, that mantra only lasts so long,” Lesher says. “It still has to be convenient for them. Today’s society is so used to being able to buy everything online, so you have to make them want to come to you.”
In contrast from Way-Har’s location, Little Farmer Meats is located in a rural part of Wisconsin and is run directly from Kasten-Olson’s home. During the first few years of business, customers would often drop by the farm to pick up their goods. After the COVID-19 pandemic set in, however, Kasten-Olson had to find a way to keep business rolling despite her location.
“People want it quick, easy and convenient,” Kasten-Olson says. “We did a lot of meat deliveries because we wanted to make it easy for people. We spent our late nights and weekends delivering meat. We were trying to be like Amazon, and it was necessary to keep the business growing.”
Find your mentors
Another piece of advice before moving forward with a retail business is to find other producers in this line of work. Kasten-Olson recommends finding a few mentors who are working in the specific business that you want to be in.
“I had a lot of great mentors that I talked to about the meat business before we started doing it,” Kasten-Olson says. “Yes, it looks great and easy from the outside, but it is so different once you get into the nitty gritty of it. Always ask questions.”
Additionally, Lesher recommends “being a tourist” when you are off the farm. During vacations and traveling, she tries to visit other retail stores to sample ice cream and bring back ideas for her business.
“We do take a lot of time to go visit other jugging operations, dairy stores and grocery stores,” Lesher says. “You mine great ideas from other people, not necessarily create them yourselves.”
Pencil things out
No matter what type of business you’re in, it’s important to keep a calculator close by in order to run numbers.
“We are very much a numbers organization,” Lesher says. “I’m not going to go through all of this stuff unless I come up with a profit at the end of the day. We’re driven by making sure that we get a return on our investment for our time and our energy and have something to bank on to grow the business next year.”
For Way-Har Farm, that means making adjustments to the products they produce in order to drive volume. For example, the operation added “Mocha Milk” to its menu this year and plans to make it a permanent feature due to its large number of sales.
“I think that it’s really important to make a profit and the end of the day, and there is no reason to be ashamed or quiet about that,” Lesher says. “We’re in business to make a profit so we can provide for our families and provide for the community as well, and all of that has to come out of our profit.”
Start now
Once you have made the decision to move ahead with a retail business, it’s important to formulate a business plan and take actionable steps towards your goal. Doing your homework is also a critical component and you should research all of the options that are available to you. Last, but not least, don’t hesitate to reach out to your local extension agent to learn more about grants that are available for new business startups.
