Has anyone else noticed that the competition for CSAs has ramped-up hockey-stick style in the last few years. Since we’ve been in the CSA biz (started in 2004) we’ve seen quite a few competitors enter the market. When we started it was typical that a CSA farm was organic, small (5-20 acres, maybe up to 40), and family-owned/operated. The farmer knew his/her customers and the customers knew his/her farmer.
Then it all changed — slowly at first. The initial wave was when large-scale (over 100 acre), wholesale, organic farms started offering “CSAs” in the mid-2000s. “Obviously if small, organic farms were succeeding as CSA farms this was our ticket to the 1%”, is what I thought they thought. Then this decade large-scale, non-organic farms entered with their “CSA” programs. “Since more people are eating organic produce if I sell my chemically raised produce as a CSA share they may think I am organic and buy my product since my market share is dwindling”, is what I thought they thought as the reason for adding a “CSA”. It seemed like every farmer thought selling a CSA was the way to a lucrative retirement!
Then more recently this decade we see the non-farm “CSAs” offering their take on the this obvious pot-o-gold known as CSA. “Thousands of small, independent farmers can’t all be wrong. Obviously this is where the money is”, is what I think they think as the reason they are spending $400+ capturing each new customer. The types of companies I am talking about here are companies like Blue Apron, Hello Fresh, and a few others I have never heard of.
Then finally earlier this year our largest competitor to date made noise about entering this market. A small startup called Amazon. Amazon is testing pre-assembled meal kits in the Seattle area and if successful (and considering their recently announced purchase of Whole Foods I anticipate they will throw money at it until it is successful) they will take it nationwide. This got me wondering, why do all these people with all this money think direct to the consumer food distribution is going to be such a lucrative market? I would not use the term “lucrative” to describe my experience serving this market.
I certainly don’t know the answer to the question but in some ways I hope they are right and that I get my piece (hey Amazon, we are for sale for half what you paid for Whole Foods!) But I suspect it is a fad where many companies will fail. Unfortunately most of the recent failures have been the small farms.
I think there are a wide variety of food consumers and that no one model will even come close to capturing half the market. There are those who eat only because they are hungry. There are those who see food as medicine (eat well, stay well). There are those who like to be served. There are those who want it fast and want it now! There are even those who like to cook. And within that group are those who like to experiment and those who like to follow directions.
Orthogonal to this analysis are the varied tastes of the consumers. Some like it bland. Some like it spicy. Not enough salt. TOO MUCH SALT! I don’t like the texture. No food with eyes — except potatoes. High-carb. Low-carb. Sweet. Sour. “I’ll try anything!” “We eat the same things on the same day every week of the year.” Trying to please all these different tastes is impossible! Just look at all the pre-packaged meals you find in the freezer at the grocery store. How may of these capture even 1% of the market? Unless you have wide-spread distribution there will never be enough customers that enjoy the particular recipe of that particular pre-packaged meal.
And I foresee this same thing with these delivered, pre-packaged meal kits. Sure some of the recipes will be great. Some will be ok. Some will be fast. Some will be easy. But if you have a bad meal that you spent good money on and a considerable amount of time preparing, the likelihood of purchasing something from that company again will diminish. And each time you have a bad experience will reduce the chances of trying it again. I would imagine if this model successfully changes people into cooks they will start wanting to learn how to cook from scratch, thus defeating the business model. So though I think there is something of a market for these delivered, pre-packaged meals I don’t see it as a wildly successful endeavor. I just don’t see enough customers that are specific to this niche.
“But what is different from that and what you provide farmer Chris?” is what everyone is asking right now. Let’s use a lego blocks analogy. I see these other companies as providing the lego models that include the specific and unique lego parts that if assembled using the included lego directions will result in the specific lego model that you purchased. If you like the model great. If not, too bad. If following the directions was too difficult, oh well. You got what you paid for. I see us as more like providing the generic lego bricks for you to assemble into whatever you feel works best for your family. Sure we’ll give you a few sets of instructions on how to assemble them into something delicious. The instructions might require you to have a few other lego bricks from your lego pantry to complete the model. But you can use the blocks to create something completely different and imaginative that is ideal for your family. It might take some extra work the first time but after you’ve made that particular model once it gets easier each time!
Of course the lego block analogy breaks down since these blocks are single-use only. But I think having the basic ingredients — much like the basic lego building blocks — to create delicious, wonderfully nutritious meals is far more sustainable. Why go to the hassle of making a pre-packaged, have-to-assmble-and-cook meal when you could buy a frozen meal and just heat it up ending up with the same results? If you are going to spend the time cooking, make it worthwhile. Make it to your tastes. And create it with the freshest, most nutritious ingredients.
What lego blocks will we have this week Farmer Chris? Good question. Last week we had some potato-shaped legos but with all the rain we had we were unable to dig more for the second half of the on-farm pick-up week. So those people will hopefully get last weeks potato-shaped legos this week. And speaking of digging, we were able to dig up some carrot-shaped legos before the rain yesterday! We will also have corn-shaped legos, eggplant-shaped legos, tomato-shaped legos, squash-shaped legos, onion-shaped legos, bean-shaped legos, broccoli-shaped legos, cabbage-shaped legos, cucumber-shaped legos, cherry-tomato-shaped legos, pepper-shaped legos, okra-shaped legos, and maybe some other vegetable-and-herb-shaped legos. Should be a lot of blocks from which to build your favorite meal!
The only other lego kit this week is the flower-shaped lego kit — pre-assembled!
As always, do not hesitate to send in questions, comments, suggestions, pictures of the eclipse or other interesting pictures!