GREEN EARTH ORGANICS: THE SELLING BIT

Selling in a recession: how does your garden (business) grow?

Kenneth and Jenny Keavey of Galway's Green Earth Organics farms 15 acres of organically certified land, with another 15 acres for a wild life biodiversity area, 3000 native trees and grassland.

(see previous post here)

They have six different routes to market for their produce: a box scheme, farmers' market, farm shop, restaurants, food sector and retail sector.

Of these, the box scheme is the most significant. “There are 150-180 regular deliveries each week, where people sign up and a set box is delivered to the house every week. Another 30-50 boxes are ordered on line but not preordered on top”.

“Its great to know that you have pre-established markets for produce – its more reliable than the farmers' market. Because its pre ordered and made up of very seasonal veg, we can offer good value to box scheme customers. What would cost E25e at the market you would get for E21 from the box scheme, plus free delivery.”

While they only do one farmers' market, it is considered one of the best in the country: Moycullen market in Galway. “There's a great range of produce there, and its very well organised - not all markets are” according to Kenneth. “Gerry the manager is there every Friday, it works well, it brings business into the town. There's a good bakery, fish, meat, veg, as a base,which allows for the hot food to be added on. Markets are great for learning about what people buy and expect, they are great market research.”

“We run a farm shop every Wednesday of the summer months – we really encourage people to visit and see where the produce comes from.”

“We also supply 3 Supervalu stores direct in Mayo, which has been great. We've really grown into that, we employ six now, and its partly because of that. Overall organic horticulture in Ireland is growing now because of the Supervalu arraignment – selling direct, as opposed into centralised distribution, is key”.

A small amount of their sales go into the food sector. As an example, Cork's Just Food company uses Green Earth Organics' cucumbers for their salads.

Restaurants are the final piece of the puzzle. Aniar, Massimos, Cava, Kai, Oscars, Ard Bia and the Malthouse, all in Galway, are supplied by Green Earth Organics.

“Restaurants are going very well for us at the moment – there has been an explosion in food culture in Galway” says Kenneth. Local connections are strong – restaurants come to us even though we're not as cheap as some supply options. They want to have something local on the menu, even if its just being able to say on the menu 'this wild rocket is organic and from 8 miles away'”
“I find that, again, its the regularity of it that works out well. They all take weekly, or twice weekly deliveries of farm produced veg, and they love unique elements. So sprouting broccoli, fresh garlic, things they can't get everywhere, are especially popular with chefs”

There must be some trickiness involved in supplying restaurants, especially in a recession?

“When we deliver to restaurants for the first time, we go cash on delivery. All of our places are good for paying, there's four week credit terms, and we nearly always get paid within that. If you were waiting months and constantly making phonecalls to get paid, that would be a problem”.

Regarding payment, Kenneth also says that “it probably helps that we are a fraction of their costs, but very prominent on their menus. Being used in highly regarded places is also an endorsement for the box scheme buyers - it reinforces our quality”.

He also points out that “for restaurants, the organic premium isn't what it used to be. Cucumbers work out at 90c a piece into restaurants, they would be paying 80c for conventional anyway. It won't break the bank. For some of the more distinct things, like say wild rocket and herbs, our produce can be cheaper than conventional, taste better and its also fresher because we are picking it that morning and just delivering it a few miles down the road”.

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