Farm Shop Setup

[Watty]

We are thinking about starting up a farm shop locally and wondered how others had got on with the local planning people and the clause stating that the '....would need to stock primarily goods grown/raised on the land'. Doesnt say whose land but by inference its on the farm where the shop is. Now every farm shop I have ever been in might contribute one or two lines from the farm but the rest is bought in from other farms. Surely it is unreasonable to expect the farm with the shop to have grown/raised the pork, beef, lamb, poultry, veg etc etc?
Any other info gratefully received.
TIA

 

[Still Farming]

Just call it a shop or village shop maybe ???

Whats the demand like locally ?

 

[Kidds]

Top tip: if a farm shop is not local it really won't work.

As for selling produce from off farm, you could ask the council who will say no or you start off producing as much stuff as you can for it. Then slowly add other lines (such as bananas for example) as you go along. Then after a few years the council will come along with a demand for business rates.
Food Standards, Weights and Measures and the like are going to be as much a problem as the planning dept.
Good luck but you need to work V. Hard to make it work and make money. Seems the world and his dog is opening one these days.

 

[DrWazzock]

Keep it simple. We just shove a barrow load of sacks of spuds out in the yard. Wouldn't buy in as there isn't enough margin in it and transport kills it. need to be on a busy road as well. Up a back lane is no good.

Don't spend money or try to please customers, just try to produce quality at a reasonable price, not too cheap. Never had a visit from the clipboard squad.

Don't do deliveries as it doesn't pay and don't reserve stuff for people. They never collect. It's strictly cash on collection and when they are gone they are gone.

Our old barrow rakes in 5k in a good year. Not a king's ransom but every little helps and it doesn't cost us a lot. We have an honesty box with a video camera on it which the old man watches like a hawk. No good if you have to pay extra staff.

With regard to regulatory authorities its best to let sleeping dogs lie. Just make sure you have adequate insurance cover, for public liability and in our case "garden gate sales". Be sensible with hygiene, prevention of salmonella, E. coli etc.

 

[Wink]

We are in this very process at the moment with planning etc. though I am personally not that involved with the process. We would primarily just be stocking our pork as we are there processing anyway and then my lamb. Everything else would be bought in locally from other local producers with obviously a mark up. Some shops seem to produce all the meat themselves but others specialise and buy the rest in. Would think the key is to keep it local, quality and cost effective. Do a good job and word of mouth should spread.

There are farm shops that as far as I am aware wouldn't produce any of what they sell but have the ethos of locally produced etc.

Best of luck with it and look forward to hearing your progress.

 

[permapen]

Speaking as a potential customer, I rarely go near farm shops because it's always quickly obvious it's actually just 'a shop', with goods of unknown provenance and quality, so what's the point of it; why would I travel to it? The few times I do it's because I know the farm and specifically want their produce. If the shop is truly an outlet for your fabulous produce, that's all it needs to be (for me, anyway).

 

[DrWazzock]

Speaking as a potential customer, I rarely go near farm shops because it's always quickly obvious it's actually just 'a shop', with goods of unknown provenance and quality, so what's the point of it; why would I travel to it? The few times I do it's because I know the farm and specifically want their produce. If the shop is truly an outlet for your fabulous produce, that's all it needs to be (for me, anyway).

All valid points IMO. What's the point of selling nationally available products that people could buy anywhere for a tiny mark up. You need your own special quality products unique to your business. We have customers that search out our potatoes because they particularly like them. Others don't. That's fine by us.

 

[upnortheast]

Agree with DrWazzock above .
We sell our milk into a number of local farm shops. The ones that do well are the ones concentrating on their own produce, Beef , lamb veg etc. A number have tried just retailing bought in stuff and don`t last.
Alongside your farm shop a coffeeshop in a nice location with home made baking is worth considering

 

[Netherfield]

Can't profess to know the rules anymore and maybe local authorities have different criteria, when we started it had to be 70% home produced,this was by monetary value not weight, not a problem when producing Beef and Pigs, would then try and source at least Yorkshire produce for anything else. Not always as easy as it sounds,for instance,early spuds start Jersey,Cornwall,Lincolns and then local.
Up until maybe 10 years ago buying local milk wasn't a problem,now the family tell me it's nigh on impossible to find a reliable supply.

Another point is what does home produced mean these days, home bred or stores which may stay on the farm for a short period before slaughter, I know of at least two in the area who are buying 70 to 80% of the meat from wholesalers,it looks good to have a few animals on view around the place and one could say con the public.

What are you hoping to sell @Watty meat and hygiene regs are a nightmare, finding good reliable butchers even worse, I dare say that so called butchers employed and trained by the supermarkets if presented with a side of beef wouldn't have a clue where to start.

 

[Ladybird]

Agree with Netherfield, trying to find a good reliable butcher has been the greatest challenge. Oh and keeping him!!!!

 

[Chasingmytail]

Local is classed as 30 miles radius. And plenty of farm shops sell produce that is from all over the UK (say cheese biscuits). In retail once you have someone in a shop you need them to spend more and spread the word. I like all the specialist bits when in a shop that I cant buy in the supermarket. There is a cracking outfit near Cirencester http://www.theorganicfarmshop.co.uk/ in which we had a fantastic vege meal and spent £100 in store on cheese, butter, beef, chocolate, salt, organic herbs, oils etc

Agree sourcing a good butcher is a nightmare and like anything you want good and retain you need to pay top dollar. You would need to find ways of supplementing the shop like running courses - could be curing, sausage making etc. As for having just your produce in a shop could be difficult as we know fillet steak sells yet there isnt a lot of fillet on a beast and once you sell out are you going to kill another while the rest lies unsold? Then you get in the realms of having to freeze so different packaging and labels. You would def have to gauge your market, know the weather in advance of making anything. Therefore selling just your own stuff doesn't work as the shelves would be empty and you'd be better going for a box scheme or direct sell over the internet.

Think location is prime on a farmshop. Its always fun doing research by visiting as many as possible and asking questions.

 

[Chasingmytail]

also if anyone is thinking of going down the route you should see if there is any grants through the RDP (your local authority rural development plan) there is plenty of EU funds for farmers and local food. Usually 80% funding. You could use these funds for using a marketing company to gauge demand or for purchase on equipment. IT system, advertising lit etc.

 

[MissA]

Where are you based, I'm in East Yorkshire, we have lots around us and they are all very successful, although most have diversified further and find the biggest profits are in cafes and restaurants within the farm shop with the produce on sale to compliment this.

 

[Happy]

Where are you based, I'm in East Yorkshire, we have lots around us and they are all very successful, although most have diversified further and find the biggest profits are in cafes and restaurants within the farm shop with the produce on sale to compliment this.

Certainly seems to be where the money is in the ones around me.

Teas, coffees, reastaurant is what draws the crowd and where the money is. Actual farm shop/produce bit increasingly seems to be the secondary source of the income.

Bit like the garden centres. The likes of Dobbies must bring in 5-6 times the money through the restaurants than they get from selling plants.

 

[n.w]

we have a small farm shop (shed) we started selling own veg then added local seafood and now home baking and meals, we operate an honesty box which works very well, 99% of our customers are holidaymakers, its good to do value added in the shape of processing your produce

 

[spikeislander]

Is your avatar a selfie?
I am sure we have met in Cuba!

 

[MissA]

Is your avatar a selfie?
I am sure we have met in Cuba!

What's an avatar?? I've never been to Cuba unfortunately!

 

[spikeislander]

Not you @MissA
@n.w the post above mine!
An avatar is the picture you choose to go with your name.
I thought his looked funny that's all.