Making Your Farm Shop Stock From Scratch

Opening a farm shop is a fantastic way to cement yourself in the local community and provide a much-needed extra income. Unlike one-off money-making attempts such as open days, a farm shop offers ongoing profits, and could even become a significant earner during the depths of winter if you play your cards right. 

Primarily, success here is about what you sell. Fresh, quality produce is, of course, a standard farm shop staple that’s always beneficial. The most popular farm shops also break into niche markets for ongoing custom, and you could benefit from doing the same.

One top option here would be to sell handmade produce alongside your fresh goods. This is a popular choice as it adds to that homegrown vibe, and it’s a simple way to start earning. Even if you don’t consider yourself a baker, cakes are incredibly easy to make, as you’ll see if you try this one yourself. Even simple cake recipes like this one are guaranteed to sell well. Equally, jams and preservatives are simple once you know how. With these skills and others like them under your belt, you could start enjoying shop-based benefits such as - 

High-profit margins

Homemade goods are surprisingly cheap to make, and you can sell them for high-profit margins to boost your farm shop income even further. Jam made from your farm fruits, for instance, only requires you to buy preservative sugar and the correct containers. When using eggs from your chickens, cakes can cost you less than $1, yet you should find that you can sell them for $5+. Those are impressive profit margins indeed, and you’re sure to find them with any handmade product you choose to sell. 

A niche just for you

Standing out in any market is about finding your niche, and your farm shop is no different. Let’s face it; every similar shop within a twenty-mile radius probably sells the same fruit, veg, and meat that you do. That is the backbone of your efforts here, after all. But, even if other farmers catch onto the benefits of homemade stock, they can never offer the same niche products that you do. Take this even further by developing a jam that’s 100% unique to your farm, or a cake with a little something special. That way, you give yourself an edge that could see customers consistently coming to you instead of going elsewhere.

That personal touch

Typically, people who visit farm shops do so for personal connections with local sellers. This is what prevents them from heading to a large store instead, and it’s a benefit you can enhance with homemade goods. By making it clear that you’ve made these items yourself, you add even more of a personal touch while providing quality extras no shopper could find in a large store. You may also find that these handmade goods lead to chats with customers that can create the loyalty you need to guarantee an income here for a long time to come.