Farmer Spotlight: Gilcrest Natural Farm
How one NC Farm is keeping in touch with customers, and managing contactless pickup.
Amy Foster moved to North Carolina right after Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Originally from Hastings, MN, she grew up gardening and playing in cornfields around their home. When she met her husband and married in 1998, they wanted some control over their food and how it was produced. They bought land in NC with the intention to homestead and give Amy flexibility to take care of their two young children. Soon, they found a community of conscious consumers interested in purchasing their natural, sustainably raised chicken and beef. Amy shared their experience growing Gilcrest Natural Farm, and the ways they’ve adapted to shifting needs and demand during the pandemic.
“We were drawn to farming because we wanted more control over our food supply—in part because we have food allergies in our family. Our first solution was to buy from other Farmers, but eventually we purchased land. We learned quickly that we have only two hands each, and focused on just two species (chickens and cattle) — this kept us plenty busy. We all have to realize our limits!
Once we got into farming, we realized we liked not having to go to the gym for a workout, or the park to get outside. We just went out and did the things that needed to be done on the Farm — we were social distancing before it was trending! It’s just the reality of living on a Farm.
For many years, my husband and I would divide and conquer on Saturdays, each going to a different farmers market. Most of our customers initially came to us because they wanted to eat locally, support their local economy and enjoy the freshness of local food. Now, while they’re still interested in supporting the economy, many more people are purchasing for health reasons. We’re here because we needed allergy-free food for our family, so it was a natural transition to market those qualities.
We signed up for Barn2Door a year ago, knowing we needed a web presence with a convenient store. I’ve been working with our Barn2Door Account Manager to ramp up marketing, and then three weeks ago online orders just exploded. I think one of the things that has helped most is having the newsletter templates that Barn2Door made (through Mailchimp), with links to shop directly in the store. I’ve sent out regular newsletters for over ten years, and the updated design and convenience really resonated with our existing customers.
Due to the coronavirus, the demand for ground beef has been through the roof—people are stocking up. Then, our regular customers started talking us up to new customers who couldn’t find ground beef in stores. I started sending out two newsletters each week; one completely focused on supply (what I had, how you can get it, and any specials), and a second newsletter with our traditional updates from the Farm. People need some lighthearted information right now! It’s been effective to share pictures of our animals who are oblivious to the coronavirus; they’re just happy it’s spring! Between the newsletters and people researching us online, we saw an influx of new customers.
Our customers not only appreciate the food and transparency (straight from the Farm to the Buyer), they also appreciate our new, contact-free system. At both our Farm and at the closed farmers market, we shifted to a drive-through model. At the farmers market, Farmers pull up and park, then customers drive up and pop their trunks. Everything is pre-purchased online, so when Buyers pull up, we can simply put their items in their trunk. It is a great system, and our customers love pre-purchasing online!
Other Farmers are struggling right now. They see the cars queued up by my truck and ask how I did it. Who knew that Barn2Door was going to come in handy to this degree? I signed up a year ago because I knew online ordering was important to have; I’m so grateful that I was ready to respond to this pandemic and make it easy for customers to order.
Our experience with Barn2Door has been really good. Onboarding was smooth, we love Alessandro and Monica (Barn2Door Onboarding and Account Managers). I like the monthly marketing calls—it keeps my attention on what needs doing and working on new challenges. I'm grateful they were able to help me get my particular marketing scenario working in Barn2Door.
With the pandemic concerns, I’ve really come to appreciate the store features. Communicating delivery options and inventory has been much easier. For example, just because I don’t have something available today doesn’t mean that it won't be available next week. Patrick and Christian are phenomenal (Barn2Door Support Team Members)—I love that I know their names! They’re great at explaining how things work and taking my feedback as I learn the system.
We’re trying to think about how we want our business to look when we come out of this. We’re using our Barn2Door store to keep the information current, reach new customers, and re-shape our Farm’s selling options to make it convenient for customers to order and receive their products. Though the pandemic is a terrible situation, it presents us with some opportunities to streamline orders and marketing, and serve existing and new customers while preserving our Farm and other Farms nearby.
Last week we had a 200% increase in orders—how do we keep that business going? We suspect that contactless drive-through, market pre-orders and “grab-and-go” drop locations will be the new norm. Our customers love the convenience and it shows in our sales numbers.
Farming is always a work in progress, and unpredictable. Both Mother Nature and the market have their whims, and they don’t always align. You can’t control either one. Showing up to the market on Saturday with a smile was one option for a few days each month, but now we can’t do that. We’re grateful to have Barn2Door because the web is where people love to shop, and we can be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for our customers. We are realizing it diversifies our sales channels and it is a better way to run our business—from managing all or our orders to managing pick-ups, to serving our customers.
At Barn2Door, we’re happy to support Amy, her family and Gilcrest Natural Farm. If you’re curious about Barn2Door’s services for your own Farm, you can learn how it works in 5:40.