Bad day at the office

[tricky]

feel it for you sr but i hope you pull through , and i hope you dont give up.
I really hope you find more customers , maybe an ad in the local free paper might help.
best of luck

[Lemon]

Swer Rat, I can understand why things are so disheartening....I strongly believe that things are put in this world to test us. You have done so well with your own business. I think having the corporate branding on clothing is a start into marketing the business and familiarity will soon kick in and get word of mouth going around.

Like others have said, try getting leaflets and things into restaurants, pubs and hotels. See if you can do a stall at school fetes and car boots. Yes, lots more work involved but worthwhile in the end.

Hearing what you've got up to in your gardens is truly inspiring to us novices and spurs us on.

Deep breath, chin up and attck with gusto! :P


Hope things work out for the better soon I like GYO but only when its warm and sunny....I lose enthusiasm when weather is poor and I'm sure you'll find your customers flocking back to you then!

[taff]

We have a very mixed cultural lot here, lots of specialist shops for oriental/jamaican/indian veg stuff.
Is it worth branching out into different veg where you are?

[vikkib]

Sorry to hear things are difficult for you at the moment. As others have mentioned diversifying is probably a good idea. Maybe have a look at what some of the larger veg box companies are doing and think about how that could work on a smaller scale?

Adding value is definitely really important. Be it really selling the 'authenticity' of the products in terms of organic credentials, lack of air miles and provenance or added value products like chutney's/jams/baked goods etc.

How do you advertise SW? Do you have a website? Do you target individuals or business'/restaurants?

[TonyF]

All the smarty pants economists are saying that the only way out of a recession is for people to spend their way out of it and for small businesses setting up to trade through and come out the other side stronger.

Come on SR, it's a couple of serious knocks but not terminal, as others have said, think laterally and look for new and exciting outlets for your stuff.

I've posted so many times on here about fad gardening and I think GYO is another fad, stick with it, they'll be back when they realise that gardening and caring for your fruit and veg is bloody hard work.

[zazen999]

And when they realise the hard work it is and the bugs that they find in their lettuce/peas/brassicas et al.

When I first came onto this website you were one of the ones that really inspired me to grow more and you are a real inspiration. I know that inspiration doesn't pay the bills - but all businesses go through a slow patch at some point - it just helps you sharpen your pencil and come back with alternatives to the way you are doing business now....whether that is to diversify, jumping on bandwagon, offer a related but slightly different service [seedlings for example rather or in addition to than the fully grown veg]; you'll find a way - it's in your nature to work it out.

[gemlady]

Sorry to hear your plight. Can't offer any words of wisdom or useful suggestions, just hope you can hang on in there till things hopefully get better.

[blackkitty]

I'm sorry to hear that Rat. What about seeing if any of the local schools need suppliers? Quite a few are starting to look for local and/or organic veg and fruit.