7 Steps to Build a Happy Family Farm
The Shenk Family Farm in North Carolina is home to a pasture-based livestock farm, including chicken, pork, eggs, and Thanksgiving turkey. The husband and wife duo rely on hard work, core values, and volunteers to lead a successful, and ethical, farming business.
Barn2Door spoke with Rachel Shenk to discuss her family farm and how local partnerships helped their business flourish:
Starting Small
Shenk Family Farm got their start in 2016 after wanting to start a family. Joe and Rachel Shenk wanted to raise their kids close to home and bring them into their work. Since Joe had past farming experience, they decided to establish a business in the Spring of 2017. They started with just 40 meat birds and 5 laying hens in their backyard, expanded slowly, and eventually decided to farm full-time. In 2020, the pandemic allowed Shenk Family Farm to focus 100% on their business, which in turn doubled their sales their first year.
1. Support Within the Community
Joe and Rachel acquire help from friends in the area for certain work, such as chicken butchering. However, the family has never had to ask for volunteers; rather, they’re fortunate to have several community members offering to help. From prior customers to people who have reached out on social media, Shenk Family Farm regularly has extra hands to help with packing orders and pick-ups.
2. Prioritizing the Core Values - Happy & Healthy
Inspired by Joel Salatin and Polyface Farms, the Shenk family values maintaining a happy and healthy farm. The family seeks to manage animals in their natural environment, without stress or harm to their intended way of life. As a result, the meat is tastier, healthier, and more nutrient-dense.
“We really just try and mimic nature in all that we do, letting the animals express their natural instincts.”
Rachel and Joe have brought their kids into their farm business as well, helping to build a sustainable family rhythm. Shenk Family Farm enjoys involving their community in their work. They’re intentional about communicating with their customers while striving to maintain fair prices and service. To foster these relationships, they host Farm tours every Fall and Spring to encourage transparency, build trust and customer loyalty.
3. Maintaining Morale
Rachel and Joe know the family farm business can be challenging at times, so they regularly revisit their priorities. Having a “why” behind the business helps them stay focused, avoid burnout, and maintain their personal health and well-being. Their work is an act of service to their community, to their animals, and promotes good stewardship. Shenk Family Farms also appreciates leaning on others for help and advice, which draws them closer to their community.
4. Local Partnerships
To expand their reach, the farm connected with vacation home rentals in the area to encourage tourists to purchase from local businesses. This partnership has enabled Shenk Family Farm to broaden their customer base and get feedback from visitors and helped fuel steady growth. Rachel and Joe appreciate the value of local partnerships to access new customers and increase Brand awareness within their own community.
5. Working with Barn2Door
Rachel and Joe began working with Barn2Door after attempting to build their own website and ecommerce experience during the pandemic. Unfortunately, most other ecommerce platforms do not offer options to Sell by Weight, automatically assemble a Pick-and-Pack list, or offer a variety of Subscriptions (seasonal or ongoing). Barn2Door solved all these challenges, helping their farm to increase sales, while minimizing questions from customers.
Barn2Door has enabled Shenk Family Farm to offer their customers a variety of purchase options, including one-time purchases, deposits, and subscriptions (most popular). They have tailored subscriptions for different kinds of buyers, such as those who purchase once every two weeks, once a month, once every three months, or once a year (for those with chest freezers). More than one-third of Shenk Family Farm sales now come from subscriptions, which provides a consistent base of recurring cash flow for their business.
Rachel and Joe have also appreciated all the support that comes with working with Barn2Door. Unlike other solutions (do-it-yourself), Barn2Door has provided Shenk Family Farm with live support throughout the entire process of building and growing their business, including a custom website, inventory setup, product pictures, scheduling, and order management. Working with an Account Manager has provided their farm with access to ongoing training and best practices to help streamline their operations.
6. Going Beyond Farmer’s Markets
Shenk Family Farm has found success in marketing efforts to grow their customer base. Since less than 1% of Americans regularly attend a farmers’ market, Rachel has focused on email marketing to encourage strong customer relationships.
Using the Barn2Door + MailChimp integration to create engaging emails has helped their farm to stay top-of-mind with customers and build strong brand affinity. Additionally, Rachel can track the revenue that comes from every email (to see what works when targeting their ideal customer). Investing in email marketing, especially the first 6-12 weeks for new customers, helps to build and maintain customer loyalty.
When you’re trying something new, remaining consistent, whether that’s 6 weeks, 3 months, or more. Give your marketing efforts some time, because it takes people time to learn a new rhythm.
- Farmer Rachel
7. Expanding Online
Farmers’ markets took a lot of time and effort; inconsistent foot traffic and weather can make markets expensive. With the success of their online sales, and consistent recurring subscriptions, Shenk Family Farm bought their own trailers to make online buying and local pick-ups easier (and a better use of time). The family can pop-up in locations around town to ensure that they can offer customers convenient options that work for their buyers.
In-person sales at the farmer’s market averaged $40 per sale, however, moving online has increased their average order value 2x+. Buyers shopping online add more products to their cart (versus spreading the dollars across vendors at the market), and it is just easier and more convenient.
Shenk Family Farm recently joined our Farm Advisor Network, which makes Rachel and Joe available to speak with other Barn2Door farmers seeking advice and feedback to grow and manage their business. Sign-up to Connect with them.
Barn2Door is delighted to serve 1000’s of Farmers in all 50 states. We provide an all-in-one solution to help Farmers grow and manage the online and in-person sales. If you’re curious to learn more, watch this 5-minute video.