Feedback and actions

Last week we asked for feedback on two questions:

1) Despite the fact that our customer base has increased, our microgreen sales have decreased. Are they considered a "nice to have"? Are they too expensive? Are they too much of an unknown?

2) We have lots of lovely customers who are all ordering from us, or visiting the Lido on a periodic basis. How do we change that so that you lovely people are ordering and visiting on a regular rather than periodic basis?

I firstly summarise the main themes that came from the responses, and how we intend to act on the feedback.

I have secondly collated the responses themselves

THEMES AND ACTIONS

THEMES MICROGREENS

• Don't last long enough

• Too expensive

• Need to raise awareness of how special, beneficial and nutritious they are

• Need to raise awareness of how they can be used and add recipes

• Should explore other outlets

ACTIONS MICROGREENS

• Certain microgreens seem to have a shorter shelf life than others. This tends to be the finer stalked varieties which we will look to exclude from the “Nutrition Rich” offering. We will also look at whether the containers can be adapted in any way to prolong the shelf life. It may be for example that cutting slits in the lid to release moisture and ventilate may help. We will also provide storage recommendations on the website.

• Selling price is a tricky one. I have previously looked into prices charged by online retailers, and tried to be very competitively priced. Our “Nutrition Rich” offering has a lot more variety than the standard “Mixed microgreens” offered by others. We charge £5 for 60g. Current prices for the main 4 outlets are:

£4 for 30g

£3-66 for 30g

£5-95 for 30g

£5-00 for 100g (but £7 for delivery if you spend less than £25 on the microgreens order

The conclusion from that is that, as you can see, the “Nutrition Rich” is comparatively underpriced at the moment, and the cost of growing all different microgreen types means that I am unable to reduce the price.

However, we do want microgreens to be more affordable, and as the radish offering is cheaper to grow, we are going to reduce the price to £4.

We are also going to look to create another mixed offering with just a few microgreen types which we will be able to offer for the same price (probably broccoli heavy)

• Once we have revised our offerings we will reintroduce our nutritional benefits information sheets, and add more detail to the website

  
  

• We will add recipe ideas generally and provide a list of suggested uses for the microgreens. We will also add photographs to the products page on the website to illustrate how they can be used

  
  

• We will look at other possible outlets

THEMES GENERAL

• People have busy lives, and preparing veg from scratch requires time that is in short supply

• Organic vegetables are expensive and may be considered a treat/privilege

• We should include recipes and info on how to store and freeze

• People really like our veg!

• Introduce new products like fruit, interesting varieties, and widen offering

• More advertising and promotions

ACTIONS GENERAL

• Agreed. We will be adding recipes to the website and will look to include recipe suggestions that require minimal preparation. We will and also take “ease of preparation to eat” into consideration when planning our crops for next year

  
  

• It is absolutely correct, that organic vegetables are expensive and may be considered a treat, but it shouldn’t be like that. Unfortunately, though, that is a concept that needs to be addressed on a wider scale.

• We will be adding our recipe ideas and storage advice to the website, and also looking into whether we can have a platform whereby others can share their own recipe ideas.

• We need to get a review page added to the website. It is long overdue!

• We are seriously considering raspberries, blueberries and gooseberries for next year. We will also look into other varieties of the existing veg that we are growing. One of our customers suggested radicchio, and the leaves have been added to the website this evening!

  
  

• I actually thought that through social media etc. we had done a lot to raise awareness of ourselves. However, it is such a regular occurrence for people to tell us that they weren’t aware that we existed. My hairdresser has been trying to help us out by letting people know about us but the for the majority of her customers that is the first that they have heard of us.

So definitely more for us to do here.

There is a lovely family that helps us by escorting their children to drop cards through letterboxes. We should probably do more of that.

I suspect that our target customer base that values the organic benefits may not be glued to social media, so we need to consider other avenues.

To reiterate, definitely more for us to do here

TO SUMMARISE THOUGH, WE BELIEVE THAT WE HAVE A HUGE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE THIS WORK.

ISSY AND I WERE REALLY TOUCHED BY BOTH THE VOLUME OF RESPONSES TO MY REQUEST FOR FEEDBACK, AND ALSO THE CONSIDERATION THAT HAD BEEN GIVEN TO THE RESPONSES.

WE FEEL REALLY FORTUNATE TO HAVE SUCH A SUPPORTIVE AND FRIENDLY LOCAL COMMUNITY

THE RESPONSES

1. MICROGREENS

• Don't last more than two or three days

• I loved the micro greens but they are a bit too expensive

• The micro greens are rather expensive - and ideally should be used immediately

• I think they are such a nutritious ‘must have’ in a salad. They seem expensive when you see and handle the box, however when you open it up and delve in to the never ending ‘pillow’ of nutritionally yummy deliciousness, a little goes a long way and they last a good few days

• Are there other uses/recipes for micro greens?

• I think your microgreens are great - they add a lively pepperiness to salads

• They last more or less all week in the fridge and I sprinkle on lots of stuff so I do find them good value.

• We did not eat all the tub before they went past their best at the bottom of the tub

• Not for me, even though I know that they will put hairs on my chest, enhance my intelligence and make me bigger and stronger!!

• I personally love the microgreens especially in winter. In summer time I noticed I use them less because the availability of vegetables is greater

• They are a bit of a “high-end” produce. I think also the cost could be a deterrent unless you are familiar and know how special it is to have this available to you.

• The information you provided initially on the vitamins etc and their values were extremely useful and helpful.

• People may just think of the micro greens as a bit of decoration to embellish a dish. Maybe a photo of a salad with lashings of micro greens

• I love the microgreens, but most people l have spoken to and mentioned about them have never heard of them. I think that to them they may seem expensive, but people don't realise you don't need to pile them up on your plate as you would with lettuce for example. Perhaps some pictures of ways to serve them in your blog and leaflets.

• As a marketing move I could see micro greens being sold directly to nice restaurants

• Would sending them by post to a wider audience work?

• Consider wholesalers such as TG fruits in Hollingbury , or the likes of Infinity Foods in Brighton

• I think getting them out to a wider audience might help.

2) GENERAL

• You have to dedicate a lot of time to planning and cooking to use up vegetables every day, so realistically every two weeks is a more viable option. You are offering great value for money, but only if we get round to using them.

• I think we are all suffering from a lack of ready cash - though of course locally produced organic vegetables are really the most valuable thing we can buy.

• We have not had a routine life over the last few months, (during the summer) hence periodic orders

• Organic veg is more expensive and times are hard for a lot of people at the moment so maybe they are buying from you ‘as a treat’.

• You could include recipes

• the thing to get my head around is that I need to cook more seasonal meals and this takes a bit of adapting to – life gets in the way

• Very happy with the lovely veg!!

• your produce is consistently great

• More unusual varieties (of tomato) may be popular … beefsteak, coloured/striped

• What about more advertising? Are you on Facebook/Instagram etc. And pop up shops/stalls elsewhere

• They (one of our competitors) are going to have radicchio soon which I love, use a lot and can’t get anywhere locally

• It might also be helpful to have a weekly promotion on a specific product.

• Another idea could be to share some advice on how to store fresh vegetables or freeze them, as they don’t always keep for very long

• I find it very convenient and not too expensive for good-quality products, especially as delivery is free

• Delivery of some other items like eggs would be handy but appreciate that it means chickens!

• Your veg is great, tomatoes, spinach, potatoes etc, all delicious

• Add blueberries, blackberries, raspberries etc to the range as they are so easy to maintain and easy to grow

• We love your veggies including the microgreens so will continue to order from you on a fairly regular basis

• Some recipes included would be nice as well, you will be surprised how many people do not how to cook some vegetables.

• To be able to buy farm direct is in my opinion… priceless!

• I think unfortunately farmer direct and organic is still seen as a superfluous privilege.

• Need to enlarge your circle of clients to maybe restaurants.

• Your vegetables are tasty and nice, but our current lifestyle does not enable us to commit to weekly deliveries

• When you go to the supermarkets, they often have recipes of how to use new foods as you walk in.