“We are constantly inspired by our local food businesses. Over the past year, they fought hard to serve customers, support their families, and nourish our community.” -HDFFA
Shelley and Jeff Akers of Bohemian Roastery:
When we began our wood-fire coffee business journey in 2017, little did we know what the future would store for us! We built a custom roaster and a sweet coffee shop in a new mobile trailer with a deck on the back. When the pandemic hit, we pivoted our business model to exclusively roasting and selling beans directly to our customers and markets around town. Thanks to our loyal, local community, the farmers markets were a godsend in 2020! Making the drastic decision to change our plans for our business truly saved us. We are so thankful for our strong customer base, and look forward to continuing to wood-fire roast small coffee batches long into the future.
Kristin Bergh of Compassion Kombucha:
“When the initial blow of COVID hit, 25 generous supporters helped us ride the wave by signing up for essentially a kombucha CSA. By paying upfront, we were able to pay the bills and had fun delivering growlers to doorsteps each week! Once we were able to get our feet back under us, we knew we needed to pivot and took the leap of purchasing a bottling line to finally launch our product into 16oz bottles in the fall.”
Randi Holm of Holm Made Toffee Co., LLC:
“2020 brought a ‘back to basics’ approach and A LOT of change to survive:
- Downsized kitchens to maximize rent/square footage
- Increased visibility on social media, including a campaign featuring fellow small-businesses
- Launched a new website focused on D2C
- Created a safe curbside option for locals
- Curated gift sets featuring other local businesses’ products
- Renewed focus on community and fundraising
Our tagline “Happiness, Plain and Simple” seems to be filled with more meaning than ever intended the past 12 months!”
Sarah Frost-McKee of Super Belly Ferments:
Aside from farmer’s markets, our business relies almost entirely on wholesale and grocery sales. This last year, most of the larger accounts that we had planned to roll out in paused on bringing in new products, so our projections for growth in 2020 were not met. We pivoted and focused on selling direct to consumers via our website, which has been a success. We now cold ship our products nationwide, allowing us to reach a much greater customer base. In addition, we spent the better part of the year working to strengthen the relationships we have in the regional food system. Our new partnership with The Local Food Trust is helping us achieve our fundraising goals, which will enable us to continue to connect philanthropy and food systems. For more information visit our website www.sbferments.com and consider getting involved and donating!
