Fresh Facts - Feb 2014

8/12/2019 Fresh Facts - Feb 2014

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Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association

Newsletter #294February 2014

Volume 30, Number 2

Fresh Facts

Inside this issue:

Membership News 2

Investing in Your

Staff Pays Off3

Farm Fresh Foodie

Tour4

10 Tips for hiring

Winning Talent6

Why People Quit 7

Upcoming

Events8

Presidents Message

Recently, while watching the movie Water for Elephantsset in the depressionera, I was struck by the number of men they were using to erect the centerpoles on the circus tents. I could not help but think how much easier and safer itwould be today to be able to afford this amount of labour when raising our tentson the farm. There is an old adage that many hands make light work, but if youhave to pay for those hands it also makes for light pockets.

As farmers one of our greatest expenses are labour costs. We constantly haveto balance what we would like to get done with what we can afford to havedone. The provincial governments announcement of a $ .75 / hr. minimumwage increase will have an impact on our businesses. Minimum wage has in-creased 37.5% in the last 7 years. Have your prices been keeping pace? If youare like me we will have to take a hard look at all tasks requiring labour on thefarm to see where greater efficiencies can be achieved. All areas will need tobe examined from planting, pruning, irrigating, weeding, harvesting, post harvesthandling and even record keeping. With regular increases in minimum wagelooking to be the goal of the government any investment in efficiencies will payoff quickly.

The good news for farm fresh members is that we understand that price is notthe only factor in the consumers` buying decisions because with all cost in theprovince jumping so rapidly we will not be able to compete on price. In todaysenvironment your Ontario Farm Fresh Membership is even more important todevelop the other areas of the marketing mix and keep your customers comingto your vibrant businesses and leaving with their arms full of products and asmile on their faces.

There is a season for everything, this is the season to `Plan for Success`.

All the Best ,

Brian HugliOFFMA President

Providing knowledge and leadership to grow the farm fresh experience.

Tickets are still available for theCommunicating with True Colors/

Creating Effective Displays workshopand the Annual Awards Banquet

on Tuesday, February 18thin Niagara Falls.

Contact the OFFMA office if you havenot secured your tickets yet.


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MEMBERSHIP NEWS

Page 2 Fresh Facts

lassifiedsFOR SALE: MAPLE SYRUP CONTAINERS,plastic, contact Wellington Wood Prod-ucts at 1-800-265-2397 or 519-323-

2904, Email [email protected] orwebsite www.wwp.on.ca

FOR SALE: NEW EGG CARTONS in asleeve of 125; contact Wellington WoodProducts at 1-800-265-2397 or 519-323-2904, Email [email protected] orwebsite www.wwp.on.ca

LOCAL GOURMET PRODUCTS FOR SALELooking for local gourmet products to sellin your market? Check out our booth atthe OFVC in Niagara Falls, February 19thand 20th. Harvest Goodies: grown locally,made locally, enjoyed everywhere. 905-878-6216, HarvestGoodies.com

APPLES FOR SALEHoneycrisp Apples. Medium to large sizebut tending toward large, not much over-size. Great shape, lots of calcium spraysduring growing season, not greasy10 bins available - $800.00 ea. ($1.00per lb). Can package in cardboard if re-quired.Fresh sweet Apple Cider, nice blendMac/Cortland/Empire and Russett - 2 or

4 litre jugs, with or without a label.$2.75/$5.00 ea. Call for volume pricing,Chris Hall 613-342-6320 [email protected]

FOR SALE: PEOPLE WAGONPeople Wagon - Horst 8 ton, 8'x18' wooddeck, side rails & foot steps, 6 ply tires,7.5-14,good bearings, fresh paint,$1500.00 firm. Lindley's Farm & Market -Joe - [email protected]

Classifieds are free for members. Simply

send your information to the OFFMA of-

fice and it will be included in the next

newsletter.

Charles Stevens new Chair ofOntario Apple GrowersCongratulations to OFFMA member,Charles Stevens of Newcastle forbeing named the new Chair of theOntario Apple Growers (OAG). AsChair, Stevens plans to focus on ex-panding the Ontario apple industrythrough better collaboration betweengrowers, marketers and retailers,and on strengthening relations withthe federal and provincial govern-ments to support growth through pol-icy changes.One of my key objectives is thegrowth of this industry. One of ourbig advantages is the huge marketwe have here in Ontario, but wereimporting a lot of apples that wecould be growing here, says Ste-vens.Stevens owns and operates WilmotOrchards with his wife Judi anddaughter Courtney, with 83 acres ofapple orchards as well as 21 acresof pick your own blueberries and a

successful retail operation.

Thank you to everyone who has sentin their membership fees for 2014.OFFMA staff and board work hard togain your faith and trust in this organ-ization and we appreciate your sup-port.If you have not had a chance to sendyour cheque, membership fees arenow due. Please pop it in the mail orgive the office a call and pass alongyour credit card information. Thankyou.

OFFMA now has a membersonly Facebook page.Get plugged in.Search for Ontario Farm FreshMarketing Association andsend a request to join. A greatplace to share ideas and chal-lenges among direct marketers.

This newsletter is available electronically. If youwould prefer to get thi s newsletter electronically,just let the OFFMA off ice know. It is also availableon the OFFMA website in the members only sec-tion.Ac tually t here are a lo t o f resources on the websi te,take a minute to check them out before springarrives.


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Page 3Newsletter #294

LastFebruaryColleenPinglefrom,Pingle`sFarm

Marketdecideditwasmetotaketwofullme

staff withhertotheZingermansCustomerSer

vice,preconvenonworkshopthattookplace

beforetheOntarioFruit&VegetableConvenoninNiagaraFalls.

Manyvaluablelessonswerelearnedthatdayby

boththeonfarmmarketownerandherstaff.

Colleenlearnedthatwhenyouempowerand

encourageyourstaff tomakesuggesonsabout

thebusiness,theyfeelvaluedandappreciated.

Manyexcellentideasweredevelopedasaresult

ofthatonedayattheworkshop.

1. Allthreeagreedthatthereneededtobe

moremededicatedtothetrainingof

thenewstaff atthebeginningofthesea

sonwhentheystarted.Inordertodothis

atrainingmanualwascreated.Thisalso

helpedtoensurethateveryonewasgiven

thesameinformaonwhentheystarted

atthemarket.

2. Thestaff feltthatatmestheenergy

levelamongtheemployeeswasnotvery

good.Zingerman`sgavesuggesonson

howthatissuecouldbeaddressedand

thelevelincreasedsothateveryonewas

workingatcapacityinaposiveenviron

ment.Staff createdminicheersthatwereusedatthebeginningofeachshi toget

everyoneintherightframeofmind.In

thepastsomemes,youngerstaffmay

cometoworkandbringnegaveprob

lemswiththem.Nowasaresultofthe

newtrainingprogram,theyareaskedto

onlycomeiftheyarereadytoworkwith

aposiveatudeandhighenergy.They

Invesng in Your StaffPays Off

Pre-Convention Workshop(s)Tuesday, February 18, 2014

MarriottGateway to the Falls

Part A: Communicating in True ColorsUsing our colours to effectivelycommunicate with family members and employees

Part B: Creating displays that catch the customers eye and sells more products

Lunch and materials will be provided. Registration form on the web.This will be an amazingly creative day with lots of take home, ready to use infor-mation. Come to be inspired and bring some staff! A few spots still available.

areaskedtoleavetheirgossipand

duldrumsathome.

3. ItwasdecidedtoholdaLadiesNight

inNovemberwhenthingswereabitquieterbuttherewasslllotsof

producttobesold.Itranfora3hour

periodandtwochefscametothe

markettocreatetempngdbitsfor

theinvitedcustomers.Theysold

moreinthatthreehourperiodthan

duringanyotherfulldayoftheweek.

4. Evenstaff thatdidnotaendthe

workshopgotcaughtupintheenthu

siasmthathadenvelopedthemarket.

Colleenandstaff decidedthatduring

2weekendsofprimetreesalesthey

wouldhaveSantaClausonthefarm

forphotoswithchildrenandpets.

Onestaffmembereagerlybuilta

chairforSantaandevenoffertoplay

therole.Whatanexcingprojectand

theresponsewasgreat,customers

lovedit.

Theresultsspeakforthemselves.In2013,

thecustomercountswereup,thesalesin

thebakeryandgi areawereupandthey

soldoutofChristmastrees,whichhasneverhappenedbefore,eventhoughtheyhad

raisedtheorderedamountfromtheprevi

ousyear.Theinialinvestmentwasunder

$200,thepaybackforthePinglesFarmMar

ketwasmanymesthatamount.Sowill

Colleenbebringingstaff tothepre

convenonworkshopthisyear.Youbetcha,

andprobablymorethantwo.


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Page 4 Fresh Facts

We caught a break and had some rea-sonable weather for a mid-Januaryday. The bus was waiting for us justoutside Starbucks and after fuelling up

with coffee we headed off to our firstfood market, Whole Foods Unionville.

Whole Foods emphasizes organic, non-GMO products and recognizes thefarmers that are their suppliers in thestore. They have developed long-termrelationships with their farmer/suppliersand put them through a fairly rigorousinspection every year to ensure thatthey continue to meet organic stand-ards. We were all impressed with themany and colourful signs throughout

the store. They have a separate islandfor fish that was well displayed andwere sampling marinated shrimp. Theyhave a great on-premise scratch bak-ery with a tremendous variety ofbreads, pastries, and cakes.

There was also an excellent display ofmeat cuts at their butcher counter. Behindtheir meat counter, Whole Foods describedtheir 5 Step Animal Welfare Rating Your wayof knowing how our meat animals wereraised. Step 1 no crates, no cages, no

crowding; Step 2 enriched environment;Step 3 enhanced outdoor access; Step 4 pasture centred; Step 5 animal centred,bred for outdoors; Step 5+ - animals centred;entire life on the same farm.

Whole Foods gets high marks for integrity asthey dont just talk the talk but walk thewalk of ensuring that they are true to theircustomers.

Our next stop was the newly built Centre forFood at Durham College in Oshawa. Theyhave created a learning environment with themotto of Field to Fork. Students will be grow-ing fruits and vegetables, including an appleorchard in the fields that surround The FoodCentre for the chef programme which in turn

will be producing meals for their restaurantcalled Bistro 67. The restaurant is open to thepublic by reservation. The state-of-the-artkitchens were amazing with the kind of largesize modern equipment that any chef, cook,baker would love to have in their cooking envi-ronment. Any young person who is thinking ofgetting into the food preparation businessshould give the Durham College program avisit.

The most welcoming and I would say the high-light of The Foodie Tour was The VillageGrocer in Markham. They went all out to wel-come us. This is an independent grocery storeowned by Evan McDonald where all of the 130staff consider themselves part of the family.They obviously all have pride in the work they

do in their departments. After a wonderfullunch in the upstairs cooking school area, wewere split into three groups and given a tour ofevery inch of the facility including where theycook and package their prepared meals andtheir bakery products.

Customers and staff love what Evan has cre-ated. As a testament to the loyalty of both, weheard about what happened during the recenthydro outage. On December 23, two days be-

2014 Farm Fresh Foodie Tourby Gary Johnson

Love it when our hosts go outof their way to welcome thegroup.

Whole Foods animal welfare rating system, you cant miss it.

The Village Grocers butcher cutting meat right in front you. Last time we saw that we were in England.


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Page 5Newsletter #294

fore Christmas, The Village Grocer and thatpart of Markham lost power due to the icestorm. With hundreds of Christmas orders tofill, Evan sent his staff home and used socialmedia to keep his customers informed ofwhat was going on. Around 4pm later thesame day, the power came on and all of

Evans employees came back and workedthrough the night to fill those orders. The nextday, customers were lined up around theblock to pick up their Christmas orders. Asan owner, you couldnt ask for anythingmore.

Our last stop of the day was the Yummy Mar-ket in Vaughan. This store has been up andrunning for less than a year. Its bright andcolourful and quite eye-appealing when youwalk thought the front door. The Russianowners of Yummy Market wanted to bring a

European food experienceto Europeans whohave settled in Canada as well as to adven-turous food types. The result of their commit-ment is evident today Yummy Market offersa broad selection of European foods includ-ing hot prepared meals as well as over 40fresh-baked breads, buns, cakes and pas-tries. The chefs at Yummy Market are trainedin traditional European kitchens. We sawfoods that you are not likely to find in othergrocery stores, such as open buckets of pick-led vegetables and fish. Their staff providesanother market asset, as they are able to

converse with customers in a variety of lan-guages including English, Russian, Ukraini-an, Polish, Farsi, Hebrew, Italian and others.

We had a great day on The Foodie Tour visit-ing and learning about these different retailmarkets as well as meaningful conversationson the bus about each venue as we travelledbetween stops. Oh yes, we also slipped insome incidental shopping along the way.

Take Home TipsA few examples of the great things we sawon our trip. Attendees took home manymore that they could use on the farm.

Mixing apples and cheese. You mix them on a cheese platter, youoften eat them together so why not display them together as well.

Evan believes that you have to tell the sto-ry in order to sell your products. He putsout a full page ad each week with storiesabout the products he is featuring. Yes, it

takes time but he is a story teller at heartand it works to bring in the customers.

Whole Foods has posted their core val-ues and their quality standards in big,bold letters. Do you let your customersknow what your business stands for? Areyour core values on a sheet in a filesomewhere or up front and centre in yourmarket?


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Fresh FactsPage 6

TenTipsforHiringWinningTalentBy Andrew Benett

the formation of other superstars.

4. OperatefromaplaceoftrustWere not in the business of hiring brilliantthinkers and technical people just so we canmicromanage them and second-guess every-thing they do. The best cultures are infusedwith transparency and trust. They give peoplethe information they need (and more) and thenget out of their way and let them do their jobs.94 of senior business leaders we surveyedagreed: The most successful companies trusttheir employees, giving them freedom to make

decisions and act with a measure of independ-ence.

5. MeasurebyresultsFor the most part, I dont care where or whenan employee gets the job done. What matters isthat they deliver on assignments and find crea-tive ways to add value to the company. Ifsomeone wants to compress his or her workinto a four-day workweek or prefers working athome part-time or gets more done on week-

ends, then so be it. Provided client and agencyneeds are being satisfied, we want to offer allthe flexibility we can. This helps with motiva-tion and retention, and it also allows us to casta wider net. There are lots of enormously tal-ented people out there whose lives simply cantaccommodate the standard workweek. We wantthem. 97 of senior executives surveyed agree:The most successful companies are flexibleand open to meeting employees varied needs.

6.

Saythank-you

Know why most people leave their jobs? Ac-cording to the US Department of Labor, the#1 reason is because they dont feel appreciated.As much as we pay out in salary, benefits, andvarious perks, we know that the best people wehire are giving us far more in return. And sowe say thank-you. And not just during formalreviews. Were paying more attention to softer,everyday rewards and motivatorswhether it is

Havas Worldwide president, Andrew Benett,studied the best ways to find and attract the

right employees in his book, The Talent Man-date, released in 2013. He shares here 10 tipsfor winning top talent for your businesses.

1. Hiretheperson,notthepositionWe hire for the future, not the past. Agility andrelentless adaptation are vital, and so were typi-cally not looking for someone to slot into aposition shaped by the person who just vacatedit. We give hires the freedom to meld each po-sition to their own individual strengths and in-

terests. And we help them keep adding on newskills and experiences so theyand their posi-tioncan grow along with the business.

2. MindyourcultureWhere other elements (including pay and bene-fits) are relatively equal, culture is increasinglyoften the distinguishing factor that sets onecompany above another. And it may well bethe single greatest factor keeping talent in placeand engaged. By culture, Im not talking about

poof pillows and sushi bars but about the val-ues that hold a company togetherknowingwhat does and does not fit. And I also meanthe intangible way an organization feels whenyou walk through the door. It doesnt surpriseme at all that 97 of the senior business leaderswe surveyed said a strong culture can be acompanys most valuable asset.

3. BanjerksPeople, obviously, are the most critical compo-nent of any culture. We all know people whohave left an employer, not because they didntlike the company or their job responsibilitiesbut because they couldnt stand their manageror someone else in a position of power whomade them dread Monday mornings. We havea no-tolerance policy for bullies and jerks. Evenif someone is a superstar on paper, its notworth it to keep that person if his or her pres-ence is a drain on the culture and is preventing


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Newsletter #294 Page 7

public acknowledgment of a job well done,extra vacation time, or an invitation to a sen-ior-level gathering.

7.AcknowledgetheirpersonalbrandThis sounds like complete marketing-speak,but the fact is that the people we hire arentjust building our brand and our clientsbrands; theyre building their own brands,too. They have to be in this era of free-agency talent, when careers are built notwithin a single company, but very oftenacross industries. What does this mean on apractical basis? It means we support skillsacquisition, the accumulation of a broadbase of experiences, and we encourage entre-

preneurship and outside interests.

8. BeageblindJust because you were weaned on HanSolos Star Wars, not Jar Jar Binks, doesntmean you cant be a seriously creative digitalinnovator. In the same way, the fact thatyoure a millennial doesnt mean youre notready to lead a client meeting. The diversityof our company is one of our greateststrengths, and our people-centered approach

means were not going to pigeonhole ourtalent according to their birth dates. If youreready to take on huge responsibilities, well

encourage you to do so. And were nevergoing to assume the best digital person for aparticular job has to be south of 40. Justshow us what you can do.

9.

Supportlife-work

integration

The digital age means its getting harder andharder to detach from work. If you work inan office, no matter what industry youre in,youre more likely than not taking work homewith you, responding to texts on the week-ends, and even checking email while on vaca-tion. We try to balance that out by not creat-ing a workspace thats a personal-free zone. Ifyou need to do some online shopping or posta Vine while at the office, fine. If your volun-

teer work would be made easier with ourequipment, then by all means use it when itsnot needed for agency business. Our newdigital tools mean life and work have beenblendedand that shouldnt be all one-way.

10.GivethemsomethingtobelieveinThere are a number of components to jobsatisfaction: Being paid what you think youdeserve is one. Enjoying what you do is an-other. And now, increasingly, were looking

to feel good about what we doto feel ourjobs are tied into our personal values and arein some way contributing to the greater good.

Why People QuitBy Donald CopperAccording to a survey by a Canadian search firm, there`s a major disconnect between why employeesquit..and why managers think they quit.

5 most common reasons in order of importancefor workers quitting

5 top reasons managers say they think their em-ployees left

Lack of trust in senior leadersInsufficient pay

Unhealthy business cultureLack of honesty, integrity & ethicsLack of opportunity for training & development

Insufficient payUnexpected career opportunity

Decision to change careersLack of work-life balanceLack of opportunity for training & development

It`s interesting that many top managers have no clue that lack of trust and an unethical or emotionallyunhealthy business culture are major factors that drive employees away. They`d rather believe thatstaff is lured away by higher paying competitors. That way they can blame someone else for their prob-lems and not face their own reality. And to make matters worse, more than two thirds of departing em-ployees said they first voiced their concerns to managers before deciding to leave.If you did not come to the OFFMA workshop Donald did a few years ago you can catch him at the York

Region Partners in Tourism Summit, happening on March 25th, contact [email protected] for more

information.


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Fresh Facts - Feb 2014