Simplify Management of Wholesale & Retail Accounts
Joe Schirmer has sold products to the Santa Cruz, San Francisco and Berkeley areas since the 90’s with Dirty Girl Produce. The Farm grows a variety of organic row crop produce on 45 acres. Since he was in school, Joe had a passion for sustainable agriculture, and learned how to successfully run a Wholesale and Retail business.
In 2020, Joe made the switch to Barn2Door’s software built for Farmers. Instead of using analog records or a horizontal ecommerce solution (formerly Shopify), he moved the business to an order management solution, designed to support Retail (consumer) and Wholesale (restaurant) buyers. While Joe has seen other Farms constrained by commodity prices, he has maintained premium prices for his products by selling Direct-to-Market.
Listen to how Joe simplified his business after two decades of tracking orders with pen and paper:
Automating Sales with Software
Taking Orders
In the early days, Dirty Girl Produce would send a fax, then eventually an email, with a “fresh sheet” to Wholesale Buyers with their product availability. Orders would come in over phone, text and email then be tracked manually. Joe had issues with fresh sheets because if one Buyer bought up his entire selection of a given product, then he could not easily and simultaneously let other Buyers know that he was out of stock.
Farm employees would keep a phone in their back pocket to track orders as they came in, and manually update their inventory on a clipboard, then input to a spreadsheet. If orders were written down on a piece of paper, one employee may be at a Market while another is on the Farm, making it nearly impossible to keep up with what orders are fulfilled and what products are available.
If a product sold out at Markets, they would have to call an on-Farm employee to see if more were still available in the field. This would cause confusion, stress and add too many steps to the Sales process.
With Farm software from Barn2Door, Joe no longer has to worry about overselling products or communicating every inventory update to customers. All of his inventory is “live” and will automatically update as Sales close online or in-person, so he never has to worry about overselling. If more product is picked while Joe is at a Farmer’s Market, another employee can simply update the inventory online, so Joe is made aware of any changes.
Point-of-Sale at Markets
Not every Buyer will attend markets with cash. They may only have their card, or just a phone. It is important for Farms to take various payment methods for online and in-person Sales, to avoid missing any opportunity. Cash can be hard to track when inventory is manually updated. It is crucial to have a system in place to serve Buyers using various payment methods and efficiently track Sales and inventory.
A POS (Point-of-Sale) allows Farmers to accept a variety of payment methods (e.g. credit, debit, cash, check, mobile wallet, or a smart watch). With Barn2Door’s POS, your Farm inventory automatically updates with each Sale. Joe never has to miss a Sale when he uses POS at Markets.
Running Deliveries
Dirty Girl Produce offers local delivery to Buyers for a fee. This ensures that the Farm is paid for the time and money spent on delivery runs. Buyers see the value in paying a fee for the convenience of direct delivery. Before using software, Joe would have to print out directions to various locations and manually map out his routes, leading to a lot of back and forth, and wasted gas, time and money.
Now, Joe uses the Barn2Door + Routific integration. All delivery orders are synced into the mobile routing app, and optimal delivery routes are displayed for each driver. The software delivers efficiency without the manual input of addresses or routes, which is especially convenient for larger Retail routes and Wholesale orders.
Joe has over 15 retail pickup sites across the community, including Farmer’s Markets. With so many retail orders being placed, he is able to run these pickup sites year round, leading to a consistent revenue and a convenient fulfillment option to entice Buyers. The Farm can easily track and fulfill orders using the Pick and Pack Lists feature from Barn2Door. Workers can print out Pick Lists of inventory to collect on a given day, then use the Pack List to fill each order, automate Label creation, and prepare for fulfillment (with one-click to Routific).
Introducing CSAs to the Farm
Initially, Dirty Girl Produce avoided CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), choosing to instead sell what they had in stock to Wholesale and Retail buyers. During the pandemic in 2020, Joe elected to try something new since restaurants were essentially closed, and introduced CSAs.
CSAs readily helped Dirty Girl Produce cover the lost restaurant business and maintain a steady income during that period. CSAs quickly picked up and became a big seller for the Farm. Within a matter of weeks, Joe was fulfilling 250+ CSA orders.
Dirty Girl Produce offers a variety of CSA boxes with different fulfillment options, package sizes and products. Buyers can choose from a half or whole Farm Box with various veggies and strawberries or a Salad Box with greens. They can choose to receive boxes on a weekly Subscription, or make a one-time purchase.
Pricing Tiers for Buyer Types
Buyers know what to expect from the Farm, and Joe is not having to determine a price for each purchase. He knows he has to set prices high enough to get paid to maintain the Farm. Buyers who appreciate the value of his products and have a relationship with the Farm are willing to pay a premium.
With Barn2Door, Dirty Girl Produce can offer 3 tiered pricing to their Wholesale customers. Live inventory allows restaurants that need bulk orders to see how much product is available without calling Joe. His 3 tiered Wholesale pricing offers several bunches for the regular retail price, then the cost goes down as you purchase more bunches. For example: Bunches may be $3 at the Farmer’s Market. If a restaurant buys 12 bunches, they will be $2.50 each. If they buy 36 bunches, they will be $2 each.
Bulk pricing gives Wholesale Buyers an incentive to to shop more from Dirty Girl Produce, and helps the Farm push more product while still maintaining profit margins. If inventory is low for a certain product, Joe can turn off bulk pricing on his online store so all products are listed at their base retail cost. This gives him the freedom to manage his Sales, and eliminates the need to over communicate to Buyers.
Conclusion
Dirty Girl Produce uses software built for Farmers to streamline his business and serve both Retail and Wholesale customers seamlessly. Using a platform that can switch between Wholesale and Retail accounts makes it easy for Buyers to independently purchase from the Farm and set up fulfillments that are convenient.
Joe is able to offer a variety of purchase options at premium prices to maintain healthy margins for his Farm business. His team no longer has to spend multiple hours tracking and fulfilling orders, printing delivery routes or updating inventory via email. By saving time with software automations, the Farm has increased sales and saved time.
Barn2Door offers software for Independent Farmers to create and promote their brand, sell online and in-person, and save time managing their business. If you’re curious to learn more, watch this 5-minute video.