Small Bites September 28, 2021
dedicated to creating opportunities to promote & sell more VT products to more buyers


Chapman's meets customer needs with a mix of VT products & hard goods for travelers & locals
Balancing Your Product Mix

Located on Route 5 in the heart of Fairlee, Chapman's General Store is geared to travelers. With many fun Vermont food & crafts they offer food & beverage provisions  to satisfy all those in need of a touch of "Vermont".
 
From April through November, their produce department is stocked with the seasonal bounty from Root 5 Farm including farm-made sauerkraut. Vacationers to Lake Morey on Route 5 or Connecticut river-runners stop in for a taste of Vermont. Balancing their inventory with food, seasonal-must-haves, & crafts keep this store vibrant while matching customer needs with a diverse product mix. 
Funj.Shrooming are produced in St Albans & fill the local mushroom niche at VT stores
Shifting With the Season

Fall is known as the season of orange foods, sautés & baking. For many it includes mushrooms & lucky for Vermont stores, Funj.Shrooming produces mushrooms available in retail pack sizes & kits for home production.
 
Transitioning our summer diets to autumn dishes is a fun & exciting time here in Vermont. Stores can praise our local growers with strong merchandising & information on their local products.
 
Planning displays with enhanced promotions bump up sales through complimentary products. Creating cross promotions with local mushrooms, squashes, & easy to prepare ingredients help shift diets from summer to fall. 
"We only have one world, we have to treat it, and each other, with love & compassion. We aim for nothing less than minimal harm and maximal environmental & social sustainability."-Kevin Melman,
founder Funji.shrooming
Social Justice: The Dark side of Chocolate

When buying chocolates for Halloween, there is increased pressure to steer clear of chocolate rooted in child labor. There is currently renewed action to boycott Nestle after the June 2021 Supreme Court Ruling giving a pass to corporate malfeasance in the cocoa industry.
 
Eliminating child labor in the global supply chain is the primary focus of the Dutch chocolate-bar company Tony's Chocolonely. Their goal is eliminating ALL illegal child labor in chocolate through a lean supply chain & full traceability for every production lot number. To effect significant change, actions need to scale. They have gained the attention of Callebaut, the world's largest chocolate supplier.
 
Vermont has many chocolatiers in our specialty food sector. By sourcing from transparent supply chains, our local chocolatiers can help drive positive change to extinguish exploitation. There is a push for all businesses to better engage in values-based purchasing & to be responsible for their entire supply chain. Regarding chocolate, social justice means making changes to eliminate children out of the labor cycle, providing livable wages for workers & assuming a more transparent supply chain. This might result in a decrease in profits, but for the greater good- benefitting workers & the environment.  
The Supreme Court said U.S. chocolate companies cannot be sued for child slavery on the African farms from which they buy most of their cocoa. -WAPO June 17, 2021
Product Highlights

Joe's Kitchen: It is soup season again! Known throughout the state for both
food service & retail 16 oz pack sizes. The food is flavorful food prepared
with integrity utilizing Vermont grown produce & other local ingredients.
Joe's incorporates VT ingredients-including Cabot. They have the capacity to private label for your prepared foods department. Shipped BOL to stores across the state & available as inventory through UVP. Contact Joe for contract production or shipping details for anywhere in the state.
Yoder Farm Maple Popcorn is perfect for day hikes up Haystack or road-tripping for fall foliage. It is made in small batches from regenerative ag
practices.
Mach's Market in Pawlet displays the popcorn from easy grab & go & the sign says it all.
Halladay Harvest Barn Pancake Mix is one of the "pantry" products from this craft-food producer in Bellows Falls. It is sold widely throughout Vermont
& is a hit at the Chapman General Store in Fairlee. Available DSD & perfect to cross promote for #Maple100.
Goodwill
To support Jon Satz's last wishes, let's rally $400 to reach $30,000 in support of the H2A family at Woods Market Garden. Jon & his crew provided quality produce to stores in every corner of the state. Please give what you can
How's Your Maple Promo?

Foliage is getting ripe! Travelers are arriving ready to buy maple products. Are you ready with your maple display? Chapman's General Store is. Celebrate all things maple with Vermont #Maple 100! Sign up today
 
Speaking of Maple-have your read the Maple Brief from Farm to Plate on the state of the maple industry? Learn more about the connection of the syrup to forest management, climate change & market conditions. It's worth the read.
Signs of the times

Dorset Garden Market draw in customers with the best of September & the transition to fall crops; Dan & Whit's in Norwich has it all from Darn Tough socks to Eddie's hand cut donuts; "Syrup & cheese" are painted on the old barn at Southwind Farm one of the Cabot coop member farms in NoRupert. Catch the video on how the farm operates.
Another sign of the times- fall squash is rolling in at stores & at farmstands. We love when stores highlight varieties. Here at Mach's they are featuring Sweetie Pie striped acorn squash.
At Cedar Circle Farm in Thetford, they require mask wearing & present the information in an appealing manner with beautiful flowers, squash & grasses, along with hand sanitizer. Well-done CCF working to keep staff & shoppers safe.
From October 2nd to October 24th, Migrant Justice will embark on a 3-week speaking tour to 7 states. The Dignity Tour will share the success story of the Milk with Dignity program & the “new day for human rights in dairy.” Check out the many VT tour locations & align your store purchases with your values. The unique
potential of Milk with Dignity & worker-driven social responsibility
programs was just recognized in the latest issue of the academic journal Nature Food.
Expanding product availability helps producers across categories access new markets
Big Picture: Small Distributors

For a decade increasing scales of operation has been seen as a positive & viable business model. The idea is that gaining access to more larger distributors is a goal. Also in this ten-year span, trying to keep more food sold locally has been a focus.
 
Matching scales of operations in distribution matters. Aligning values of business & expectations for growth are an inherent part of the distribution equation. Shifts within cultural & market factors requires a certain ability to flex while also staying true to your business’s ethos & mission.
 
Smaller scale food manufacturers can gain new markets through the VT Food Hub Collaborative & its distribution core Food Connects. By balancing product mix with its customer base it is able to both drive trends & respond to shifts. Relocalizing food purchases is a way to enhance the regional economy. Opening new markets beyond DSD can be highly beneficial financially for food producers while reaching stores & institutions with compatible values.
 
Miller Farm, a single source, organic dairy, produces a product line of cream-line (non homogenized) milk. It has long favored DSD & building relationships with its store buyers but has gained valuable new accounts by selling through Food Connects. The network has opened sales across the state reaching stores & hospitals including Grace Cottage. Miller Farm is seeking new accounts buying through VT Way Foods. As they expand distribution, they welcome stores, hospitals & other institutional accounts in VT & in the northeast. Contact Pete for milk details. Shipped DSD & through Food Connects. BTW, their maple milk is perfect to feature for #Maple100! 
Not so good news for dairies & stores
Staffing or lack of it is taking a toll. This week Cabot announced it is limiting production & temporarily halting production of several cheeses. This will have a downward impact for its distributors, stores, & end-users. It will have an upstream impact on the dairies that supply Cabot. You've heard us say it, disruptions have many covid related variables: staffing both upstream (dairies) & downstream (stores) are facing the impacts.
 
Food manufacturers are adjusting staffing to focus on high margin items or items where both ingredients & packaging are easiest to obtain. The current endless supply chain loop is this: warehouses are not supplying suppliers, suppliers cannot sell to stores, & stores cannot fill their shelves to sell to shoppers. The bottom line gaps in availability circle back to decisions companies have to make when staff is not available. Do the pre-covid methods of gap analysis still pertain?
As one food manufacturer said this week:
 
"It is all weird. It's getting worse. I thought it would be better- easier- by now. It's hard. We've had to make so many tough decisions about our business all due to not only our staffing but the challenges we face throughout the entire supply chain."
Autumn Vegies from VT Growers

Turnips & rutabagas are members of the Brassica family closely related to cabbage. Rutabaga are larger & have a brownish orange exterior & a light orange-blush interior. Turnips are smaller, round & tend to be white & purple or white with white interiors. Both turnips & rutabagas are incorporated easily into seasonal autumn roasting vegetables. With flavors that range on the bitter side of a scale, they sweeten when roasted.
 
Store cafes are switching up their menus incorporating in-season root crops & fall vegies. Fall harvest salads are gaining ground in prepared foods departments to continue supporting the crops grown within their community. Purple & white turnips are also suitable in fall salads with shredded sweet carrots & apples. Farmers find new outlets for their crops when prepared foods departments extend their season of local food purchases.
 
The famed Vermont Gilfeather Turnip tends to be a large ruddy whiter root with a sweet nutty flavor. In May of 2016, responding to pressure from the town of Wardsboro, then Governor Shumlin signed into law the Gilfeather as the state vegetable.
"It’s half-rutabaga, half-turnip hybrid that was developed by John Gilfeather, hence the name. The earliest reference we have in print to it is about 1902 here in Wardsboro. It's white instead of yellow and it doesn't have that little back-of-the-throat bite that normal turnips have — they're sweet and creamy." -Anita Rafael
Cedar Circle Farm in Thetford is a full-service farm store that updates shoppers their top freshly harvested & seasonal produce. The range of varieties is inspiring bringing in customers who value their regenerative growing practices on the educational farm. The pumpkin harvest has begun in earnest. It is officially "orange season" in Vermont!
Local money sign
In these challenging times, maybe you need a new set of eyes on your business to help identify unseen costs to your business. Foodmoneystuff.com
is a team that can help your food business-including stores & cafes with decision making to help your business. They are Vermont based, but will work with Small Bite readers across the country.
Utilizing Farm to Plate resources, stores can learn about purchasing & vendor relationship building tips & broader food system topics. The tools guide processes & procedures to expand local food sales through sound operations & management. Also, we have a handy purchasing attribute guide to help steer your purchasing philosophy. Our network partner Vern Grubinger has helped craft a customizable purchasing matrix to help define your philosophy.
Signs of the times
A few sights spotted around Vermont this week.
Deep Roots Farm in Pawlet, selling DSD & through the online CSA Northshire Grown Direct. Laughing Child Farm sells sweet potato pie at their farm stand; Random Acts of Pumpkins are seen across Vermont including in Wells-Pawlet.
Reminder for Vermonters

When promoting local foods, be aware of the Vermont definition as enacted by ACT 129. Check out the fact sheet so that your purchasing values-based strategies & promotions comply.
Farm to Plate network partner Center for Agriculture & Food Systems has a handy Labels 101 guide to help navigate what is required legally & optional value-based claims. It is one of the many resources provided by the VT Law School.