fruit and veg delivery business any views?

trixyben

my best mates father is getting made redundant in the next few weeks and is looking at starting a fruit and veg delivery service, he is mad into growing his own veg and eating in season and that...so just to put it out there to ya all would you use such a service on a weekly basis? he is talking about selling boxes of mixed different fruit and veg every week to regular customers...

has anyone any experience in this area? were is the best markets to buy wholesale he was saying there is a good one in smithboro in dublin i think but anywhere else? is there enough margin in it to make it a business on its own?

sandra06

my mum used to have a guy twice a week call ,,it was great ,we have a milkman call here but he does other stuff he very poplar,i say go for it exp if his veg are fresh the stuff you buy in the shop goes off to fast ,best of luck

martyoo

We use it here at work. Get fruit and milk delivered twice a week. Great service.

Could be a good idea.

seanaway

Always good to hear of people doing this. My advice would be to make sure he gets the model right.

I spoke to an organic garden centre that did this but stopped because people kept changing orders/number of weeks per month etc...

It might be an idea to get them to pay monthly in advance for a select box of veggies? That way he can be generous with overstocked stuff and it gives variety to the punter?Just a thought. I would be really careful about how he gets and plans to keep customers regular. The last thing he wants is to drive 50km for the sake of selling two half boxes of veg.

J

antoinolachtnai

Why would customers be willing to sign up and pay in advance for vegetables when they can buy similar vegetables in the local shop?

Really, if he is just selling what he gets in the markets and doesn't have any particular line to high quality product, he is just competing with Tesco and Dunnes Stores and he will end up having to almost match them on price. He will spend a lot of money on diesel and shoe leather whilst he builds up a round. He could probably make enough money to live on, but it'll be hard to turn into a decent business.

Bord Bia have a leaflet about this.

http://www.bordbia.ie/industryservices/producers/Documents/Guide%20to%20selling%20Through%20Farmers%20markets%20Farm%20Shops%20and%20Box%20Schemes.pdf

The trick with this is to find a niche but you have to make sure the niche is big enough to build a business in.

darrcow

i have just started this business up myself i grow all my own produce so everything is seasonal. I then sell them in 2 sized boxes. the easy part is the growing, its convincing people your not ripping them off with imported stuff. the pricing is also a major issue as super markets can sell 1kg carrots for 99cent and i cant retail at that price. im advertising on adverts.ie but ive only got a handfull of customers. there is a guy out in westmeath that seems to be doing great business. Im now suppling to 1 supervalu store but because of my prices they are only useing a small amount of my vegetables.

YouBuyLocal

Hi trixyben,

Have to say there are lots of people building these kinds of businesses around the country and in most other western countries at the moment. Its a really topical issue and a big consumer trend. Big research agencies like Mintel in the UK are saying that supermarkets are sitting up and are mildly concerned and its happening from Mexico to Australia. People are buying slightly higher priced local produce in a recession!

What I'll say is that it depends upon his plot-size. He will have to bring in some fruit & veg from other farms or wholesalers to supplement as this type of production fluctuates. He'd need to have built up connections with other farms to do this so he does is not short some weeks and thus becomes seen as unreliable.

Now I am not trying to sell your friends Dad anything but I am setting up<snip>. This will allow him to market his Produce and his service online for free as well as engaging with consumers and the community via social media, blogs, video, etc, allowing him to build up a personality online so people will trust and buy off him more.

Its totally free to people that produce their own, I am building the community and will charge the distribution chain, i.e. Supervalu and Donnybrook fair and restaurants, other ecommerce sites, etc.

So tell him that he is on the right track and when ProduceHere is live in December it will be even more viable. Follow us on facebook: <snip>

Kind Rgds,
C

PS I hope this isn't breaking the rules because I genuinely am not selling anything here, its a free service

ezspeeder

Lots of good points in previous posts. I would add that amongst consumers views on this are likely to vary greatly. Factors that will influence will include whether there is someone in the house to take deliveries, with kids or without, age profile etc. There really is nothing to beat doing some on the ground research - do a profile of what you expect to offer and then canvas households in your target neighbourhoods and see what their view is.

I myself was a customer of this type of service about a year ago and gave it up after a few weeks. I was paying a fixed price per mixed basket of fruit and veg, but I had no idea what I was being charged per item and therefore I couldn't tell whether I was getting good value or not. I didn't always get what I asked for and didn't always use the full amount in the basket each week so there was waste. I just found it a little inflexible. There were definite good points to the service and I think if it was more tailored to my specific needs it would have worked better.

Like others have said - you need to identify what your key differentiator is and sell on that.

darrcow

ezspeeder wrote: »

Lots of good points in previous posts. I would add that amongst consumers views on this are likely to vary greatly. Factors that will influence will include whether there is someone in the house to take deliveries, with kids or without, age profile etc. There really is nothing to beat doing some on the ground research - do a profile of what you expect to offer and then canvas households in your target neighbourhoods and see what their view is.

I myself was a customer of this type of service about a year ago and gave it up after a few weeks. I was paying a fixed price per mixed basket of fruit and veg, but I had no idea what I was being charged per item and therefore I couldn't tell whether I was getting good value or not. I didn't always get what I asked for and didn't always use the full amount in the basket each week so there was waste. I just found it a little inflexible. There were definite good points to the service and I think if it was more tailored to my specific needs it would have worked better.

Like others have said - you need to identify what your key differentiator is and sell on that.

I found this a problem with some of my customers so ive just stated picing at €1.00 weather it be a bunch of carrots/bag of mixed lettuce or potatoes. but some customers just ask for a set priced box.

mikemac

We use this in work

Ok many businesses are slashing costs but still some buy in baskets of fruit for staff on Friday mornings or other days

Where in the country are you OP?
Get a business card and get around the local office complexes and industrial estates

You should market baskets of fruit, a bit of variety, a few of everything and do it at a good price

Staff help themselves and management are happy

YouBuyLocal

ezspeeder wrote: »

Lots of good points in previous posts. I would add that amongst consumers views on this are likely to vary greatly. Factors that will influence will include whether there is someone in the house to take deliveries, with kids or without, age profile etc. There really is nothing to beat doing some on the ground research - do a profile of what you expect to offer and then canvas households in your target neighbourhoods and see what their view is.

I myself was a customer of this type of service about a year ago and gave it up after a few weeks. I was paying a fixed price per mixed basket of fruit and veg, but I had no idea what I was being charged per item and therefore I couldn't tell whether I was getting good value or not. I didn't always get what I asked for and didn't always use the full amount in the basket each week so there was waste. I just found it a little inflexible. There were definite good points to the service and I think if it was more tailored to my specific needs it would have worked better.

Like others have said - you need to identify what your key differentiator is and sell on that.

I think a lot of that is about communication problems, its age old, but is changing with online systems.

G.D.M

Hi, I run my own FoodBox delivery service, I started it 1 year ago when I lost my job, I didn't know if what I was going to do would work, but I had noting to loose, instead of growing food, I sourced it from local growers in my area & I also went to Smithfield Market in Dublin to source fruits, my 1st FoodBox was made up of 10kg Rooster, 1kg Carrot, Turnip, Cabbage, 1/2kg Onion & 1/2kg Parsnip, I ordered it all from a local grower, my 1st week I collected 30 orders, as I took the orders I also took my customers mobile no.s the day before delivery i would text them to tell them what time I'd be delivering at & if they weren't home to leave money under mat or with neighbour, because i had my customers no.s i would text them the following week instead of calling & concentrate on a different area, That was my 1st week, on Monday 10th of october I'll be on TV3 @ 8.30am telling people about what I do & how anyone that has the desire to work can make a success of this, I do a mixed FoodBox today which comes in small, medium & large I work with local growers & fruit importers to bring high quailty food to my Friends & community, who in turn keep me in a job, I make a living from what I do, I inturn spend my money in my town, Buy Local, Spend Local. Pat McGreal, Growers Direct Mullingar.

LimeFruitGum

Lovely idea, OP. I'd be interested in it, but I live on my own and there is no way I'd be able to use up all the veg every week as these boxes are often pretty substantial.

But if you were able to offer family-sized and individual-sized boxes, offered people a chance to order one a week, fortnight, month, I reckon that would appeal?

ArtSmart

G.D.M wrote: »

Hi, I run my own FoodBox delivery service, I started it 1 year ago when I lost my job, I didn't know if what I was going to do would work, but I had noting to loose, instead of growing food, I sourced it from local growers in my area & I also went to Smithfield Market in Dublin to source fruits, my 1st FoodBox was made up of 10kg Rooster, 1kg Carrot, Turnip, Cabbage, 1/2kg Onion & 1/2kg Parsnip, I ordered it all from a local grower, my 1st week I collected 30 orders, as I took the orders I also took my customers mobile no.s the day before delivery i would text them to tell them what time I'd be delivering at & if they weren't home to leave money under mat or with neighbour, because i had my customers no.s i would text them the following week instead of calling & concentrate on a different area, That was my 1st week, on Monday 10th of october I'll be on TV3 @ 8.30am telling people about what I do & how anyone that has the desire to work can make a success of this, I do a mixed FoodBox today which comes in small, medium & large I work with local growers & fruit importers to bring high quailty food to my Friends & community, who in turn keep me in a job, I make a living from what I do, I inturn spend my money in my town, Buy Local, Spend Local. Pat McGreal, Growers Direct Mullingar.

nice model


see a local van deliver in my area. i'm thinking its handy for older folks, but hard to know.

like the idea of tx msging. but the produce would have to be good and good value - what you could also add i'm not sure -flowers? eggs? home made jams, breads? you'd need a refrigerated type van, nothing too fancy i'd imagine. best of luck with it,

ArtSmart

LimeFruitGum wrote: »

Lovely idea, OP. I'd be interested in it, but I live on my own and there is no way I'd be able to use up all the veg every week as these boxes are often pretty substantial.

But if you were able to offer family-sized and individual-sized boxes, offered people a chance to order one a week, fortnight, month, I reckon that would appeal?

that might be an idea.
the fiver box, the tenner box, the 15 and the 20. keep it simple, no messing, no change, no nonsense. i'm sure that would be acceptable to people, long as they believed the box price = the goods inside. (they could text if not happy maybe?)

trixyben

G.D.M wrote: »

Hi, I run my own FoodBox delivery service, I started it 1 year ago when I lost my job, I didn't know if what I was going to do would work, but I had noting to loose, instead of growing food, I sourced it from local growers in my area & I also went to Smithfield Market in Dublin to source fruits, my 1st FoodBox was made up of 10kg Rooster, 1kg Carrot, Turnip, Cabbage, 1/2kg Onion & 1/2kg Parsnip, I ordered it all from a local grower, my 1st week I collected 30 orders, as I took the orders I also took my customers mobile no.s the day before delivery i would text them to tell them what time I'd be delivering at & if they weren't home to leave money under mat or with neighbour, because i had my customers no.s i would text them the following week instead of calling & concentrate on a different area, That was my 1st week, on Monday 10th of october I'll be on TV3 @ 8.30am telling people about what I do & how anyone that has the desire to work can make a success of this, I do a mixed FoodBox today which comes in small, medium & large I work with local growers & fruit importers to bring high quailty food to my Friends & community, who in turn keep me in a job, I make a living from what I do, I inturn spend my money in my town, Buy Local, Spend Local. Pat McGreal, Growers Direct Mullingar.

you sound exactly how he wants to operate, he is very much in the keeping it irish keeping it local way thinking! are you in business long? how you getting on now, as i no he has bought a van a hi-ace i think and has been contacting local producers, the market in dublin is it just fruit or do they sell veg to?

do you grow much yourself? he has a right bit of land and he is talking about getting a poly tunnel and getting the ground ready for the coming season...he has recently bought a couple were he will sell the eggs to (i dont know if health inspections have to be done?)

all in all he is very much firing ahead with this one, he has gotten great positive feedback so far from potential customers.

darrcow

trixyben wrote: »

you sound exactly how he wants to operate, he is very much in the keeping it irish keeping it local way thinking! are you in business long? how you getting on now, as i no he has bought a van a hi-ace i think and has been contacting local producers, the market in dublin is it just fruit or do they sell veg to?

do you grow much yourself? he has a right bit of land and he is talking about getting a poly tunnel and getting the ground ready for the coming season...he has recently bought a couple were he will sell the eggs to (i dont know if health inspections have to be done?)

all in all he is very much firing ahead with this one, he has gotten great positive feedback so far from potential customers.

i know this question wasnt aimed at me but as ive written on this thread i thought i would answer some questions. the main point i would say is if growing and delivering own produce you should expect to work 7 days a week and 12-18 hours a day ( depending on the time of year) . ive been growing and selling my own stuff for the last 2 years so have some experience. i honestly think it would be better to choice either growing and selling at farmers markets or buy produce at wholesalers and sell boxed vegetables. The selling of eggs not 100% sure on this but there are 2 different rule 1 for under 50 hens or 1 for over 50 hens. You will need to get a flock number for your hens even if you only have 1 hen. sorry grower direct for jumping in on your thread

trixyben

darrcow wrote: »

i know this question wasnt aimed at me but as ive written on this thread i thought i would answer some questions. the main point i would say is if growing and delivering own produce you should expect to work 7 days a week and 12-18 hours a day ( depending on the time of year) . ive been growing and selling my own stuff for the last 2 years so have some experience. i honestly think it would be better to choice either growing and selling at farmers markets or buy produce at wholesalers and sell boxed vegetables. The selling of eggs not 100% sure on this but there are 2 different rule 1 for under 50 hens or 1 for over 50 hens. You will need to get a flock number for your hens even if you only have 1 hen. sorry grower direct for jumping in on your thread

hi thanks for your reply all very welcome!

can i ask you where would be a good place to source at wholesale? or you better going to markets or is there companies that deal in only wholesale?

from your experience what would be the best/easiest things to grow? i was thinking go mostly potatoes (dont know what type though?) as they will be in demand the most year round id say...can i ask do you use a polytunnel at all? the reason im asking is because he is commited to this idea due to the wether we get here.

darrcow

buy your fruit and vegetables from smithsfield market in dublin. Most of the wholesale fruit and veg men buy there produce from here. this year i grew potatoes/onions red and white/ carrots/parsnips/white turnip/scallions/swiss chard/celery/peas/leeks/beetroot/curly kale/pumpkins/yellow turnip/ savoy cabbage/york cabbage/red cabbage/brocolli/sprouting brocoli/cauliflower/radish/runner beans/broad beans/fine beans/black french beans/cougettes/lettuce/spinach/winter squash/tomatoes 6 varieties/cucmbers/ peppers/aubergines/and herbs.
asfor growing potatoes i found queens for 1st earlies and earlies. king edwards for main crop and for lates pink fir apples as you can keep theese in the ground until the first frost. i have 1 polytunnel which i use to sow all my seeds in.i also use it to get an early crop of lettuce/carrots/cauliflower/cabbages. then its used for tomatoes/cucmbers/peppers and aubergines. im currently growing cauliflower in the polytunnel and will plant some cabbage for next year. i also keep and breed hens for eggs. dont go for mostly poatoes as they are very cheap and if you havent grown enough you can buy them at the market. the only thing i struggled to sell this year were the black french beans and runner beans. i hope this help. if you want more info pm me and possibly meet up and i can show you my set up.

trixyben

have to say from the people this idea has been put to most would really be for the idea and using the service...

can i just ask for any of you that would maybe use the service what would be the most important part of the service i.e local produce, delivery days etc

thanks in advance

major25

I'm considering setting up something similar, fair play to GDM I admire you for getting up and starting this. I need to put a plan into action and get started on this myself

hinault

An interesting thread.

A pal of mine has run this type of business for years.
He got himself a van and started buying fruit and veg in the fruit/veg markets located at the back of the 4 Court and selling product to restaurants/pubs etc
around the city.

It's a tough business. He had to get an in at the markets and then had to try to get punters to buy the stuff off him.
But he stuck at it and made a very good business out of it.
It took a lot of hard work (getting up early to be in the markets for 5.00am - delivering the product all over the city - following up with paperwork and getting paid).

Joey the lips

personally this is not a business i would go into. In order to do well you need a lot of luck and a good market. Not to much fruit and veg and its short life cycle. Then when you add low cost sellers like aldi and lidl into the equation i think its a poor choice

However i would start by looking at my overheads per month consider what wage i would like per month and then you will realise what you need to sell.

Best of luck.

YouBuyLocal

The key to this business is local suppliers, direct from the farm. You try do this any other way and you are competing directly with supermarkets again, as the consumer doesn't care about one import over another, so therefore goes for the cheaper Lidl/Aldi option. But consumers (and this isn't a high-end thing, I mean consumers from all income backgrounds) are buying more local stuff than they have for years. This is statistically verufied by Bord Bia and Mintel reports and the supermarkets, again, have been perfectly aware and are switching to a "support local" branding model. Its mostly nothing to do with the environment as Organic has topped out in the UK & Ireland (although its doinf better than expected in a recession) because people don't really care as much for the environment as they do the local economy and keeping money flowing locally, rather than into the profits of corporations and out of the country. Thats a global trend, its economic retrenchment that people are substituting for political protectionism.

Find local producers, import a little to supplement. Don't try to under-cut the supermarket, sell at their prices or thereabouts until you build up a large enough route, whereby you can work a low margin/high-turnover model, if possible. Don't reduce prices until you have the subscribed customers though.

Use online resources as much as possible. Google Produce Here

darrcow

ive found dont try to undercut the supermarkets. sell as local produce. during the summer month 100% of the produce is the stuff i grow and the rest of the year i top up with produce bought from local suppliers. i alo store a lot of vegetables using traditional methods. In the last 4-6 weeks ive started suppling to my local supervalu you wont make a fortune this way but it keeps the money coming in plus ive picked up some customers for boxed vegetables as they have seen my name and number on the labels