Farmer Spotlight: Dirty Girl Produce - 1 Year Later
Dirty Girl Produce is located in Watsonville, California, where Joe Schirmer and his team farm 42 acres of certified organic produce. Joe sells direct through his online store while also maintaining a wholesale business selling to local restaurants in the Northern California area.
Last year, we talked to Joe as he just transitioned to selling direct to consumers online with Barn2Door. We recently caught up with Joe on the Direct Farm Podcast to get the scoop on how Dirty Girl Produce has evolved and adapted over the past year.
The Return of Wholesale Businesses
The last year has kept Dirty Girl Produce on its toes between new employees, training staff, shifts in responsibilities, and continually adapting to changing market conditions and consumer demands. The biggest change Joe pointed out, however, was the return of wholesale businesses:
“Over the last few months in the San Francisco Bay Area, restaurants are coming back, and they've been coming back in a big way.” After 12 months of restaurants struggling to keep their doors open, businesses have finally begun to return. Dirty Girl Produce always sold through the wholesale channel before shifting their Farm business online. “It's been great because we've adjusted our whole system online now. When we first started with Barn2Door, the main reason was that restaurants were closed, and we wanted to sell directly to customers. But now, with restaurants picking back up, we can still use Barn2Door for wholesale customers. Having an online store has saved our wholesale business a lot of time, and we’ve been able to serve both audiences.”
Wholesale Buyers Adjusting to Online Ordering
With Joe’s retail storefront already built out online, copying items into the wholesale store was easy. Using a separate three-tiered pricing system, Joe can offer the same products to both customer groups but adapt prices based on wholesale and restaurant volume needs.
As restaurants began to pick up again, Joe admitted that the change to purchase his products online was a surprise to many at first. But, as they used the store, buyers quickly realized the new system was better. “In the early years of doing business, we would write a paper receipt and hope that the accountant gets it and returns a check. But, it’s so much easier to have people order online. They place the order, it automatically uploads to our pick and pack list, it's sorted, and the addresses go into our routing software. It's just so much easier and saves me so much time!”
Read: Delivery Made Simple: Announcing Barn2Door + Routific Integration
Selling direct to wholesale and restaurant buyers online also allows Joe to track and receive payments more consistently. In the past, it wasn’t uncommon for restaurants to go bankrupt before submitting payments. Using Barn2Door to service these buyers makes it easier, where payment is due at purchase, and Joe doesn’t have to track people down to collect money. Joe said: “We all buy things online anyway. But, some restaurants aren’t used to buying from Farmers this way. But, when they try it out, they quickly realize it's easier!”
Read: How To Get Your Buyers To Order Online
Watch: Manage your Business & Improve your Margins with QuickBooks Online
Balancing Wholesale & Retail
Along with the return of their wholesale business, Dirty Girl Produce also focuses on growing its online retail sales. “We've navigated the framework that Barn2Door offers to work specifically to our needs. We've been able to get our Farm box program on the retail store and send a newsletter to retail customers. We have a separate store and newsletter for our wholesale and restaurant customers - keeping the two separate to satisfy both buyers’ needs.”
When we spoke to Joe last year, he was in the process of implementing new programs such as a direct delivery service and a Farm box subscription to generate consistent monthly revenue. Today, Dirty Girl Produce has scaled both of these programs: “I try to continue to tweak the knobs and drive our retail sales as much as possible. If we can do the same thing that we're already doing, save money, and get paid more for the same work, that'd be great.”
With their Farm box program, Joe can satisfy customers with a wide variety of produce through direct delivery or consistent weekly pickup options. As a Subscription service, Joe can plan inventory in advance, reduce waste, and ensure that no product remains on the shelves. “It’s served us well because it allows us to put stuff in a box every week that we have overstock. For example, if we have a lot of cranberry beans in one week, then everybody's getting cranberry beans!” Having a streamlined system to manage inventory and orders makes it easier for Joe to ensure he’s providing a quality selection of products in every box: “People won’t pay $40 to get a box full of dandelion greens. The box program allows us to include what we have available, and that's just great!”
Read: Earn More with Bundle Box Subscriptions
Watch: 3 Farm Success Stories with Subscriptions
Accessing New Customers with Local Delivery
Over the last 12 months, Dirty Girl Produce’s direct delivery program has taken off. Initially, Joe launched delivery to reach customers that weren’t able to attend farmer’s markets. But, once the service was announced, demand skyrocketed where customers were opting in to pay for delivery. “We gained a lot of new customers that had heard of us or ordered from us once but couldn't make it to farmer’s markets regularly. So, when we found that we have a huge local fan base of people that weren’t buying before but are now consistently purchasing because of our delivery service - I'm just like - why didn't I do this before?”
Joe’s Advice to Beginning Farmers
As a former student turned Farmer who built a successful business over the last two decades, we asked Joe what his advice would be for Farmers just starting their businesses: “Put the time in beforehand, learn small business, accounting, horticulture - which for most people is the fun part. Get to know other Farmers and spend time on their Farms because if they're running a business, there's something they're doing that works.”
Joe emphasized the importance of investing in business skills before taking on the responsibility of a Farm, employees, and all other aspects of running a small business. “If you can save yourself from having to reinvent the wheel, it will reduce the amount of stress and pressure later on.”
What's Next for Dirty Girl Produce?
Looking ahead, Joe hopes to continue to reach new customers and ensure that Dirty Girl Produce can adapt to the needs of both wholesale and retail markets. “Everybody's going online or paying with their watches or phones at farmer’s markets. We have to make the changes now and constantly evolve to keep up.”
Joe was candid about Dirty Girl Produces’ future: “My first goal as a small Farm is survival. It’s sustainable if we’re doing it next year, but we’ll keep evolving. I don't know where we'll be in two years because I'm sure there'll be something new that we're doing to improve our reach and ability to sell to more local people.”
We are honored to work with Farmers like Joe, who are committed to feeding communities and providing customers with convenient access to local, healthy food. Barn2Door is an all-in-one solution for Farmers selling direct – online and in-person. Learn how we can support your Farm in this 5-minute video.