Farm shop & cafe

[Muddyroads]

Hope that's OK @Muddyroads , that you're not too camera shy
A successful day I would say

A very successful day thanks, even my wife was pleased with it! Hopefully it helped to put us on the map with more people. Grateful for your support @Poorbuthappy, as we were from @bluepower and @sahara.
I did smile at this father & daughter picture when I just looked through my phone.

 

[Poorbuthappy]

A very successful day thanks, even my wife was pleased with it! Hopefully it helped to put us on the map with more people. Grateful for your support @Poorbuthappy, as we were from @bluepower and @sahara.
I did smile at this father & daughter picture when I just looked through my phone.
View attachment 1132945

Oh but I'm camera shy! And as for Amy...

 

[Jerry]

Oh but I'm camera shy! And as for Amy...

Smartest I’ve ever seen you…

 

[Oldmacdonald]

Is your shop an old church? Sorry if covered previously!
Looks great.

Are you growing veg on top of what you do (still?)(if it is you im thinking of) for Riverford?

 

[Muddyroads]

Is your shop an old church? Sorry if covered previously!
Looks great.

Are you growing veg on top of what you do (still?)(if it is you im thinking of) for Riverford?

It’s in the old chapel of the house I’ve referred to in the previous page. Last year it opened as a cafe with the kitchen at one end and our shop is now based at the other.
Yes, the vast majority of our veg goes to Riverford but we’re trying to increase our retail side as well as promote and sell other local produce.

 

[CPF]

I don’t know if it would be of interest to you and your wife, but there is a documentary on the farm shop on the m5 on channel 4 tonight.

 

[Steevo]

I don’t know if it would be of interest to you and your wife, but there is a documentary on the farm shop on the m5 on channel 4 tonight.

If the rumours are true, @Muddyroads started drawing up plans for the Exeter Services Farm Shop & Cafe as soon as he had watched the first episode a couple of weeks back.

I think they are hoping to open on 1st April 2024.

 

[Devil's advocate]

Keelham Farm Shop issues notice of closure after shock news

KEELHAM Farm Shop, currently known as Keelham Food Hall, closed its doors for business yesterday (Thursday) after only telling staff of the…

www.cravenherald.co.uk

Did not realise the founders had sold the business.

Either got out at the right time or new owner not up to it.

Retailing is not easy at the moment. That might be the third big one to go under in Yorkshire.

I'm very happy to just farm now, but enjoyed 41 years of retailing.

 

[xmilkr]

Keelham Farm Shop issues notice of closure after shock news

KEELHAM Farm Shop, currently known as Keelham Food Hall, closed its doors for business yesterday (Thursday) after only telling staff of the…

www.cravenherald.co.uk

Did not realise the founders had sold the business.

Either got out at the right time or new owner not up to it.

Retailing is not easy at the moment. That might be the third big one to go under in Yorkshire.

I'm very happy to just farm now, but enjoyed 41 years of retailing.

Who were the other two farm shops?

 

[Devil's advocate]

Who were the other two farm shops?

Balloon tree North Yorkshire can't remember the other one.

Morrison's are struggling, so slashing the price on a thousand items today.

 

[Gordon Geko]

Balloon tree North Yorkshire can't remember the other one.

Morrison's are struggling, so slashing the price on a thousand items today.

think Balloon Tree still open as normal Ainsty farm shop (a59) skip bridge has closed and one just north of Boroughbridge

 

[Devil's advocate]

think Balloon Tree still open as normal Ainsty farm shop (a59) skip bridge has closed and one just north of Boroughbridge

Yes you are correct just found them on google.

I was told it had closed, by someone in wholesale odd.

It also says on the website Makin family (perhaps the strawberry/roobard people) sure it used to be the Sykes family.

 

[Netherfield]

The original Keelham is at Thornton near Bradford and Keighley, now called Robershaws, seems brother and sister broke up a partnership, and brother had one shop and sister the other, further reading shows sister sold out to 'outside investors'.

 

[Gordon Geko]

Yes you are correct just found them on google.

I was told it had closed, by someone in wholesale odd.

It also says on the website Makin family (perhaps the strawberry/roobard people) sure it used to be the Sykes family.

Machin family have Balloon Tree Sykes had farm shop/animals,now called Piglets,entertainment for young children, Boroughbridge was started by Newby Hall,then run by Listers now turned into vets practice

 

[ridger]

It’s in the old chapel of the house I’ve referred to in the previous page. Last year it opened as a cafe with the kitchen at one end and our shop is now based at the other.
Yes, the vast majority of our veg goes to Riverford but we’re trying to increase our retail side as well as promote and sell other local produce.

How's the shop going? So much wet weather is killing my trade, noone wants to be out in it

 

[Still Farming]

How's the shop going? So much wet weather is killing my trade, noone wants to be out in it

January terrible month always.
All on diets, skint or miserable.

 

[ridger]

January terrible month always.
All on diets, skint or miserable.

Hasn't been a dry spell since end of June really

 

[Muddyroads]

How's the shop going? So much wet weather is killing my trade, noone wants to be out in it

We’re doing ok thanks. Won’t be threatening Tescos any time soon but it’s a useful addition to our business. Been trading for 6 months now and building up regular customers. Beef seems to be particularly popular.
We’re in an unusual position in that we currently open just at weekends as we’re based in the cafe of an historic house, reliant on volunteers (this does at least keep staff costs down). The plan is to increase the number of days during the coming year. It’s a learning curve to find out what sells and what doesn’t. Thankfully the EPOS (electronic point of sale) system that my wife has set up gives us daily reports on sales which is useful. What really makes a difference to sales is when my wife is able to be there to talk to customers.

 

[ridger]

We’re doing ok thanks. Won’t be threatening Tescos any time soon but it’s a useful addition to our business. Been trading for 6 months now and building up regular customers. Beef seems to be particularly popular.
We’re in an unusual position in that we currently open just at weekends as we’re based in the cafe of an historic house, reliant on volunteers (this does at least keep staff costs down). The plan is to increase the number of days during the coming year. It’s a learning curve to find out what sells and what doesn’t. Thankfully the EPOS (electronic point of sale) system that my wife has set up gives us daily reports on sales which is useful. What really makes a difference to sales is when my wife is able to be there to talk to customers.

It takes a long time to get built up. Il soon be 22 years in the same place and its going well, but always learning.

 

[SteveHants]

I've done both farming and selling food that we produced, although it was pre 2008 financial crash. Most of my part time jobs when I was a kid/student were in pro kitchens (hotels and pubs, mostly)
We never did much out of the farm shop, because it was pretty out of the way, did much better when we took the food to people, ie farmer's markets.

Adding value is always going to be key for any of this, in my view - its hard to do that with veg, so you need value added products alongside with a greater margin. We ran a smokery, to that end.
If I was going to run a catering business now, I'd make pizza, seems like an absolute no brainer to me. You need only one type of cooking implement (an oven and pizza shovel), they cost pennies in ingredients (dough, a scraping of tomato sauce and scattering of toppings), with the right prep you can make one in under 10 minutes, cook several at once and flog a ready to eat, family size pizza for almost £15 in most places.