Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Leisurely on November 21, 2008, 20:16
-
I am thinking about starting a vegetable box scheme (selling) in my area, offering home grown or locally sourced veg. Do any others on this site do similar, what do you think, any ideas or suggestions.
-
I would love to try something like that so any advice would be great. You'd have to think about prices as well. And I think you would have to wait til harvesting season ? /June/July/August/September
-
I used to have a box delivered from riverford
excellent never had any problems with them infact I cancelled to go on hols and forgot to restart again, may have to look into topping up any veg we grow with a box from them, you would have to do alot of research as its a tough market and it comes with alot of competition :)
-
Sounds an adventurous idea, but you do realise that you can't use your allotment to grow produce for it?
-
Sounds an adventurous idea, but you do realise that you can't use your allotment to grow produce for it?
Yes, thats true :cry:
But you can set up a friends and family veg box scheme,with not neccesarily cash payments. Thats what I will do if I EVER grow enough (not sure if I can manage enough for me and my immediate, its a bad thing to be addicted to peas) :shock: :? :D
Paula
-
can I ask peapod which varieties do you like best ? And are peas hard to grow ?
thanks
-
you can't use your allotment for it :!:
Of course you can't 8)
-
you can't use your allotment for it :!:
Of course you can't 8)
Best re-phrased as "not supposed to!". :lol:
-
Nowt wrong in swapping, I swap veg for eggs with a couple who have chucks. I wonder if you could get away with swapping veg for cash :wink:
-
thats one thing about allotments that i love .its a bit like swap shop but without noel :wink:
-
you can't use your allotment for it :!:
Of course you can't 8)
Best re-phrased as "not supposed to!". :lol:
I agree Dave. I mean how are they going to now youre doing it,if they found out then you could deny it.Its not like youre going to be running a buisness empire.
-
I used to work as a buyer/business developer for a veg box scheme (that shall remain nameless) in London. I'm off to Moscow for work for a week, but I'm happy to answer questions to the best of my ability when I return.
For now, suffice to say that it can be a very tricky business. Depending on your market of course, but people wanted certain staples all year round which were often difficult to source, freshness along the supply chain was a huge problem, and customers often wanted supermarket standards of cleanliness, for local market prices.
I did a bit of business with Riverford, and I know that they invested hugely in their packing and cleaning operation to address some of these issues.
Payment is also a problem. The best scheme I ever saw never handled a pound coin - everything was done via direct debit. However this meant that they didn't reach anyone who had low or irregular incomes. Processing cash, cheques and DDs cost our scheme a huge amount - we had a very large back office.
Another scheme that I admire hugely, based in Dublin, old friends of mine, have a social agenda. They distribute a lot of boxes via a women's refuge - figuring that people in that situation need good food.
In short, you'll need to do most of your work before you put a seed in a pot. Who is my market? What do they want? What spread of veg and seasons can I cover? How do I control quality? How is my credit control? This applies even if it's a really small, local scheme.
I'll be back in a week if you want to carry on the discussion.
Best
Oscar
-
you can't use your allotment for it :!:
Of course you can't 8)
Best re-phrased as "not supposed to!". :lol:
I agree Dave. I mean how are they going to now youre doing it,if they found out then you could deny it.Its not like youre going to be running a buisness empire.
after all you'd only be accepting contributions towards your expenses... :wink: 8)
-
Another scheme that I admire hugely, based in Dublin, old friends of mine, have a social agenda. They distribute a lot of boxes via a women's refuge - figuring that people in that situation need good food.
Oscar
What a wonderful idea.
-
I started getting a veg box from a local source in Herefordshire, can't remember the name OTTOMH. The first box, left on the doorstep with no prior warning, was nicked so I just had some documentation shoved through the post box apparently "billing in advance", no other explanation or anything, then for the duration of my using them they kept rebilling for this though they told me they would cover it. I also wanted no potatoes and even though it said this on the box label I still always got them. Then got their email address wrong so when they didn't reply got naffed off and cancelled, but it was their fault really. Not a happy situation.
Then Abel and Cole until a local organic shop opened - their customer service by contrast was excellent but I always wondered if the food was shipped halfway up the country and still get junk mail from them now.
-
A problem you may have with veg boxes is that people demand certain things. For instance not everyone wants tons of courgettes and sprouts while others do, so you have to supply them with other veg to make the box up.
I for instance didn't want potatoes or sprouts ended with getting 8 courgettes a week by the end i so sick of them. Paying £14 for an organic veg box full of courgettes and rotten veg is not good.
So be careful before setting anything up just in case you do not have enough veg to make up for people who do not want certain things.
-
We started a scheme where locals could pop along to our allotment shop and make a donation to the site improvement fund in return for helping themselves to some lovely fresh veg. The old boys in the shop would have a quick nip round any sites that had signed up and take any spare produce such as beans, rhubarb or spinach. This encouraged more crops to grow and also got the locals interested in the site.
We have just expanded this idea so a huge fresh box of vegetables is delivered to a local school whereby mums who use the services there can help themselves and leave a donation to the growers.
I think it is a great idea. :)
-
It's a superb idea A_p !!
-
Well, no sign of Leisurely who started this tread :( All our expert advice going to waste :D
-
I would like to thank every one who contributes to this forum, I do find all the advice given to be fantastic especially when it is given to a topic I have raised personally. It may appear rude of me not to have replied earlier, this is because I do not always have access to a computer. I, like so many in this day and time have little and so often no money for things I would like to give my family. An allotment for me is not only a hobby for the weekend but a place where I can grow food to live more comfortably. My interest about veg boxes is mainly to raise a little bit of money from surplus produce. Today I put together a box of onions, potatoes, leeks, swede and carrots and took it to an elderly neighbour of mine intending to maybe get a couple of pound. She was so impressed with the box that she gave me some cake and a drink of tea. I realised very soon that she was less well off than me, but I left with a greater wealth than money, friendship
-
Hi there, glad to see you're back to read all the suggestions
Allotments are great places, and important too given the current straits we're in. Mind you I'd still grow me own even if I was a millionairess. It's just something that's ingrained :D
Have you thought of car boots for your surplus?