With sixty percent of their sales to restaurants, and the remainder going to a CSA and a farmers market, Siri and Jason take a low-tech, high-touch approach to marketing. We get into the nitty gritty of how they manage their restaurant sales, from crop planning to receiving orders and managing shortages and overages. Siri and Jason also explain how their multiple marketing outlets work together to sell a high percentage of what they grow.
All three of us dig into our Latin roots (yes, that’s a pun), and Siri and Jason tell us about how that’s influenced their choice of chicories as a major focus of their wholesale operation. We talk about how they use QuickBooks and other data to drive business decisions, and how they monitor business performance throughout the season to avoid surprises.
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Quotes from the Show
[Siri] We're business people and trying to make good business decisions, and so we're not afraid to give up on something that is maybe not profitable, even if it's something we really love.
[Jason] when Felix was born, we really deliberately said, "Hey, we have to make our farm bigger, so that we can hire more people, so that we aren't the ones doing all of the work all the time."
[Siri] The biggest thing that we keep coming back to, for the personal and farm sustainability, is our employees.
Show Links
John Navazio from Johnny’s has been working with growers in the area on chicory.
Jason mentioned Farmer to Farmer-guest Chris Field from Campo Rosso’s work on chicories.
Latin Translations
Nosce te ipsum carborundum – Don’t let the bastards get you down.
Alea iacta est – The die is cast. Attributed to Julius Caesar on the crossing of the Rubicon River.
De gustibus non disputandum est – In matters of taste, there can be no disputes.
Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum videtur - Whatever has been said in Latin seems deep.