Fresh is best, and they deliver with a smile.
August 3, 2011FRESH, wholesome Sunraysia-grown fruit and vegetables delivered to your door with a smile. Does it get any better?
GETTING FRESH: Smilin’ Sam Boake will deliver fresh local fruit and veges right to your door.
The couple behind the fledgling Sunraysia Produce home delivery service don’t think so. In fact, they’re banking on it!
“We started sourcing fresh vegetables and fruit for ourselves, family and friends a few months ago,” one half of the team behind the idea, Sam Boake, says.
That experience, he says, planted the seed for the new business.
Coming to live in Sunraysia about three years ago, Sam and his business and life partner, Kendall Bodinnar, were amazed at the often second grade and/or well-travelled fruit and vegetables – much of it imported – being sold by supermarkets.
That struck the couple as peculiar considering Sunraysia is the home of so much good produce… and likes to boast about it too, whenever it gets a chance.
Sam and Kendall reckoned the good stuff had to be here – “right on our doorstep” – they just had to access it. The hunt was on.
A little research convinced the couple it was more than a little silly to pick, process and pack produce here; transport it to a market in Melbourne or Sydney; only to have it purchased by the big chain stores who promptly trucked it back here for sale to consumers.
There had to be a better way, they reasoned, because there was both a freshness imperative that was not being met, and an economic one too!
“Fruit and vegetables can take up to 14 days to get back to our region from the market,” Sam says. “That is not fresh.
“And a lot of the money being made by the sales flows out of the district.
“We wanted to keep that money here… for our growers, and to keep it circulating amongst local businesses.”
Sam and Kendall reckoned it was high time the middle man was cut out of the deal, and that Sunraysia produce growers got a fair price while consumers also got what they deserved – the best of locally grown, seasonal fruit and vegetables at a fair price, and with the convenience of home delivery.
The idea of a Sunraysia-based business offering to market locally grown fruit and produce is not new. Some readers may remember Vegie Mart from some years ago as a good example. But neither Sam and Kendall had never heard of Vegie Mart. He is originally from Tocumwal, and she from Balranald and, as is so often the case, it takes a fresh set of eyes from outside the region to see, and seize, an opportunity.
What the couple saw was a ‘hole’ in the local food network, based on their own experience and that of people they knew.
It needed filling, they said, and so Sam set about putting together a small initial network of reliable suppliers for seasonal fruit and vegetables.
The couple’s hunch proved correct, and since launching their business several weeks ago they have literally been run off their feet, Sam especially.
He said their initial marketing comprised a single email sent to family, friends and acquaintances with a request to pass it on to “people who might be interested.”
That initial email offered a $25 seasonal mix box of fruit and vegetables delivered to the buyer’s door.
The word spread like wildfire. Email is, after all, the technological age’s equivalent of word of mouth, and the orders have been rolling in ever since.
The interest from Sunraysia’s fruit and vegetable producers has also been growing, with many of them seeing the potential benefits to their bottom line of selling locally from the farm gate.
Sam is currently on holidays from his day job – as a real estate salesman with Mildura’s Stockdale and Leggo – to keep growing the business.
Kendall currently works in childcare during the day, and in the evenings does her bit by packing fruit and veg boxes late into the night.
The couple’s dream is to continue working in their current jobs while learning, and building the Sunraysia Produce brand and business.
And, for the record, they are already well advanced in exploring expansion ideas.
For example, as well as seasonal fruit and vegetables, Sam would like to add free range eggs and bread to his core lines in the near future.
Then there is a plan for a shopfront, and the hunt has already begun for suitable premises with Sam’s real estate experience proving invaluable.
Then there is the refrigerated van that would become a mobile fruit and veg shop, and maybe a deli too!
Sam has no shortage of ideas, the common denominator being fresh, quality food.
He says customer feedback to date has been extremely heartening.
Sam says householders are embracing the idea of having produce delivered fresh to their door, and since he has been travelling around the district for his deliveries has noticed two pleasing trends.
The first is a willingness of people to re-learn the joy of cooking with fresh ingredients, but he acknowledges he cannot take all the credit.
“The popularity of television shows like Master Chef is encouraging people to get into the kitchen and cook,” he says.
But, he says, the fresh fruit and vegetables he delivers are encouraging people to rediscover older recipes, those that often relied on seasonal ingredients people grew themselves.
In fact, Sunraysia Produce’s boxes are probably the closest thing you can have to your own backyard vegetable patch or fruit tree.
The second thing Sam has noticed is that young children just love a fresh fruit and veg delivery.
“I have heard them running to the door shouting ‘The veg man is here!’ and diving straight into the box as soon as it arrives to see what is in there.”
But while Sunraysia Produce’s home delivery service may seem a little old-world, the same label could not be applied to the business’ newest marketing tool – its website.
“It is the best way to contact us,” Sam said, “either as a customer or a potential supplier because I am often out and about, either meeting with growers and sourcing produce, or making deliveries.”
Not only does the website describe the Sunraysia Produce ‘fresh is best’ philosophy, it also details the growing list of products – now including a $20 fruit box; a $25 veg box; and the $30 Seasonal Mix Box; how to order, the company’s delivery schedule and payment options.
See it at: www.sunraysiaproduce.com or email sunraysiaproduce@gmail.com.
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Good on you both! Just like in the old days when the green grocer came bouncing along the dirt roads, and into our driveway with his load of fresh vegetables and fruit, with ice packed around the boxes. Not sure what else he had but that’s all I can recall, in late 1940s, early 1950′s. All we need now is the baker and the milkman back again!!
Surprising how much one can save if not having to urgently visit a supermarket..we tend to come out with much more than we went there for! And less in our pockets..with food we ‘just might need’ – and end up over-stocking our fridge and pantry… Do you agree with that?
Thankyou for taking this business on and best wishes – we look forward to visiting your Silver Shed and/or ordering over the net…