Small Bites
July 1, 2022


Making a difference by creating opportunities to promote & sell more VT products to more buyers

West River Provisions in the shadow of Jamaica State Park loves its campers!
Vermont Summers:
Cranking or KickinBack
 
This is our season. Tons of everything Vermont is available on the cusp of July 4th weekend. Depending on store locations, travelers are coming in for all things related to feeding themselves for camping, biking, boating, hiking, & for simply kicking back.
 
Local products are instrumental in the Vermont experience. Summer is s season to engage with shoppers with key displays that cross promote & encourage sales to make your store, department & category margins.
 
Creating product mixes to meet your customers is what all buyers aim to do. With summer the mixes can be radically flexed to satisfy local shoppers along with the influx of travelers. Think Willeys' full-service store in Greensboro, mere steps from Lake Caspian one of our state's most precious summer enclaves. Or the boaters & summer camp renters that visit Keeler's Bay Variety seeking everything from fishing lures to beach umbrellas to fresh local Happy Bird chicken. And down in Jamaica, our friends at West River Provisions now have a year under their belt refining their product mix to feed campers with their house made specialties & a wide range of products in sizes suitable for weekly visitors. (Think smaller pack sizes for many products)
 
Despite all the challenges 2022 has brought us, we imagine you will find good things to celebrate as you reflect your own stores' independent mission that supports the Vermont economy. Across the state this weekend will prove to be hugely instrumental in reaching new customers tied to your mission & support of local producers showcased in your product choices & displays. 
Speaking of Summer...

Pin-Up Pickles made in Bristol, Vermont has a tradition of not only pickles but also of seeking support services to strengthen the business.
 
Rachel loves the science of pickles & the resources of non-profits & consulting services to build her customer base. She has attended ACORN workshops & participates in business services from Alli Ball Consulting. By learning the ropes from a buyers' perspective she is better positioned to grow her business. Her improved "sell sheet" helps store buyers efficiently order her pickles to round out their product mix at stores across the country. Pin Up Pickles are available locally through VT Roots & shipped direct by ordering through wholesale ordering platform Faire.
 
A Good Food Award winner, Pin Up purchases local produce & works hard to strengthen the multiplier effect for positive economic outcomes. Catch the WCAX Made in Vermont Series for more info on her business.
 
FYI for CPG manufacturers: tips, insights & tools are available for free via group links & podcasts from Alli Ball. She offers free tools along with contracted services to help food companies gain access to more customers & higher profitability. 
Positive Follow-Ups

Local drink magnate Joshua Pfiel of
co-packing & production fame has purchased Vermont
Switchel. Look for it soon in cans instead of bottles. Switchel historically has been a summer thirst quencher on farms & has an affiliation; it is great to know it will still be around under new ownership with a strong
commitment to continuing its growth.
The nationally renowned jumbo quail from Cavendish
Game Birds are born & raised on a small farm in Springfield,
Vermont. They are substantial in size & have a well-developed finish.
Streaks of fat under the skin help maintain flavor keeping them moist &
tender while cooking. This delicate meat pairs well with an abundance of complimentary flavors. Shipping direct to stores with missions that provide Vermont meat producers with discerning customers who appreciate quick cooking, slightly sweet, & easy to prepare meals. Their most popular cut is the semi-boneless quail. Cavendish also has available to stores & restaurants wonderful quail
eggs. (Did we forget to mention the quail is amazing when grilled?)
Sherry's of Vermont, fabulous trail bars are hand-crafted in their licensed kitchen. They source VT honey from proud members of the Vermont Beekeepers Association which actively supports the health of honeybees. 
 
When you buy Sherry's Trail Bars you are helping to support the future of honeybees, crop pollination, local farms, healthy forests, & Vermont's working agricultural landscapes. Every purchase helps protect the health of honeybees in Vermont.
 
Sherry is a member of the Farm to Plate Network & cares deeply about the partnerships associated with her business including Vermont's outdoor recreation & local foods economy. Join the many stores already selling Sherry's Trail Bars & up your outdoor snack category- they are not just for trails don't you know! The bars are available to stores & shipped DSD. If you want to reduce your Clif Bar inventory & go with local, Contact Sherry for pricing & shipping details. 
Douglas Sweets, makes perfect summer cookies! Join the bandwagon & crank your cookie sales with their shortbread made in Shelburne. Available online through Faire or contact them via their online form for pricing & shipping details.
Local Produce Cafes & Meal Prep

With the influx of summer produce farmers may offer up a "B grade" or “second-tier” quality for kitchen prep. Sometimes sold in larger pack-sizes the contents may not be "display quality" but perfect for quick knife work. Sold at reduced rates so farmers can grab some revenue, it is important to know that the "lower tier" still takes the same amount of labor to seed, grow, & harvest. A farmer may choose to have these crops go to the charitable network instead of selling for processing at cafes & prepared foods departments in stores. Everyone Eats & the gleaning program of Salvation Farms benefit from the availability of local 2nd tier produce.
Conditions: Impacts on Produce

Parts of the state are seeing dry conditions impacting the size & scope of some produce at harvest. The multitude of produce growing variables are unique not only every year, but to differing micro-climates. Overall, we have had great/good growing weather. Some farms have had to increase their irrigation to maintain soil moisture. One advantage to drier conditions is the reduction in plant diseases & keeps insects (mostly) at bay. Earlier flea beetles were reported to be significant in all corners of the state. The life cycle has moved along so crops that withstood them -like broccoli- are looking strong.
It's a July first trifecta at Wayward Goose Farm in Pawlet. Produce buyers are juggling their order forms to reduce products from away & take great advantage of shoppers' love of local cukes, zukes, summer squash & all the other crops being harvested right now.
In Case You Didn't Know

Farm to Plate updated its website in June. With its new layout, there is new content relevant to Vermont's food & farm economy. Remember to post your job announcements along with activities that move the local food needle all while staying up to date with F2P news.
Growing a brand is the intersection of production, operations, marketing & visioning
Did You Ever Wonder?
Growing a Brand

Food entrepreneurs are inherently optimistic. Taking a brand from a kitchen table idea requires so many aspects of on-the job-training for a heap of "just in time learned skills."
 
With each decision a business has opportunities to grow & expand (or not).
Often it is a learning curve that balances operations with capitalization for each step to grow sales. Skipping waaaaaay ahead, let’s look at what can happen when a business succeeds in a goal to sell to a large national or international firm.
 
There has been a ton of news recently so you may have missed these two examples of businesses that scaled or have been sold. Clif Bars, the top of the energy-bar snack category, has agreed to sell to Mondelez for $2.9 billion. (Yup that's a B). Employee pay-outs may exceed $580 million. Begun with a strong values-based mission; company creator Erickson led Clif Bar to become one of the country's pioneering 
purpose-driven businesses, dedicated to not one bottom line, but rather five pillars of success that include sustaining people, community, the planet, the brand, and the business. He strove to create green production facilities, pay employees well in salary and benefits--and in 2010 made them owners of the company, too, by adopting an employee stock ownership plan that pays annual dividends." -INC
 
Elsewhere in the news this week, another business Little Leaf, located in Massachusetts is the largest lettuce supplier that uses a controlled indoor environment. Using a hydroponic peat-based operation it is expanding having secured $300 Million through The Rise Fund, an investment fund founded by TPG, U2 guitarist Bono & Canadian businessman Jeff Skoll, & Bank of America.
 
The popularity of Little Leaf is partly due to the cleanliness of the "end product", 100% viability where customers have no waste in the kitchen. The expansion could quite possibly deleteriously impact sales of soil-grown regional lettuces. The money to expand will expand to new production facilities in Pennsylvania & North Carolina. The PA operation is expected to increase retail sales by 50% & into more than 3500 grocery stores.
 
Much is yet to come with these two expanding brands. As we have seen before with acquisitions & expansions of iconic food brands, the road can be a bit uncertain. 
High Summer Crops

Farmers have started harvesting what shoppers consider to be high summer crops. This weekend at farmers’ markets, farmstands & grocery stores an abundance of tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, & broccoli will be displayed along with the trifecta of berries -straw-blue-rasp for "peak Vermont".
 
Attention to details in harvesting & post-harvest handling are instrumental in upholding product integrity. Over the past 15 years UVM Extension has increased resources to educate farmers on food safety via product harvest & handling.
 
UVM Ag engineer, Chris Callahan has a fantastic 8 part video series on a systems approach to farm efficiencies. The info is useful to farmers & produce managers looking to improve their product handling info. Learn how farmers remove field heat & undertake processing to maintain quality getting food from the field (or greenhouse) to the point of display & ultimately into shoppers' hands. We advise all readers to catch some, if not all the video series.
Farmstands across the state are working with several local & New England distributors to round out their farm fresh produce & other products. With so many folks seeking to lower food bills”, shoppers are looking at ways to make healthy meals with an eye to saving money.
 
Stores & farmstands are enhancing sales through the promotion of Ramen bowls. The base price is considered affordable, often under $2.00 per package. Simple promotional signage can encourage folks to add a wide range of products for in-season quick meals using ramen as the base. Fresh greens, summer squash, & micro greens such as Grateful Greens added at serving time provide a bonus of flavor & crunch. Protein can be anything from leftovers in the fridge from prior meals to VT Soy tofu.

The tie-ins are endless. Associated Buyers of NH has packaged ramens that tend to the natural end of the spectrum & are an invitation for a wide range of low-cost meals. Stores & farmstands can help drive sales & low cost meal planning.  
Summer is a great time to promote Halladay's Harvest Barn seasonings & herb dip mixes. With strong merchandising presence, buyers can pick flavors & choose a rack size that fits their stores' needs. They are perfect to promote to campers to up their flavor-game at our state parks. The burger blend alone is one to stock, however, their Blog is another reason to stock them as they are always promoting their products to help you make sales. This week the blog is timely & all about juicy burgers. Their entire line of over 70 blended dips & flavor enhancing blends are available in a variety of point of purchase display racks. The popularity of Halladay has seen double digit growth since 2020. Find out why! Based in Bellows Falls but available nationally. Order direct for DSD shipping.
Signs of the Times

Travelers from every state will be tripping around enjoying our farms & farmstands. Is your sign out? Are you waving your "open" flag high & wide? This sign as seen on Rt 30 on the western edge of New England.
Strawberries Edged out by
Other Berries

Strawberries, blueberries & raspberries are just now starting their days of overlap. It is always a great July 4th weekend at berry farms across the state. Dutton's in Newfane, Full Belly in Monkton, Blueberry House Apple Hill Orchards in Bennington are all ready to crank out the PYO & direct sales at farmstands.
 
Favorable weather is in our future the next few days so ripening will be great, as will be the opportunity for families & friends to be out in our berry patches across all corners of Vermont. The picture below is kids heading out to pick at Dutton's Berry Farm in Brookline, VT.
Vermont Blueberry Water, from Crystal Springs is a unique product that extends the flavors of blueberry season.
 
The juices are combinations of cold pressed blueberries picked from their blueberry farm, plus juices from organic or all-natural produce & other Vermont products including maple syrup, honey lemon, ginger, elderberry, rose hips. Different flavors become available at different times. Killington Market has been selling them for years to locals & travelers coming to the area.
 
The full line of products can be shipped direct to stores. Contact them directly for pricing & shipping info
Small Bites comes to you via USDA & High Meadows grants. Content is created for farmers, food manufacturers, distributors, grocers to increase VT food sales
Contact: Annie H Harlow
smallbites802@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, photo credits are from company social media, websites or Annie Harlow
photo credits: Carrots Maplesweet.com
All info is subject to change; thank you to all the who contributed to this issue!