Ontario Farm Fresh Marketing Association

Fresh Facts
Providing knowledge and leadership to grow the farm fresh experience.

Thank Goodness for Bad Service

So I finally got a PVR. You know, one of those post-VCR devices that digitally records all of
Newsletter #267
the TV shows that you will never actually watch. As a result, not only do I miss the programs
when they air, I now get to feel guilty that they are sitting there on my PVR anxiously waiting for April 2011
Volume 26, Number 4
me. Oh well, I can add these programs and movies to the pile of books and magazines collect-
ing dust in my office. But this isn’t a story about apathy. Nor is this a story about being busy or
disorganized. This is a story about customer service and empowerment. Let me explain.
When I got this PVR, I plugged it in. Nothing. So I tried again…same result. So I called the
helpline so that I could be put on hold for seventeen minutes. After a series of “tests,” the Cus-
tomer Service Technician informed me that I needed a new cable installed from my satellite to Inside this issue:
my TV. Oh, and that it would cost $100. OK, I thought, I can handle that. But here’s the thing: Membership News 2
the “Welcome Package” that came with the PVR promised free installation with the purchase of
the PVR. “That’s only for new customers,” she explained. Pardon? “Existing customers have Views from the Front 3
of the Auditorium
to pay the fee. That’s our Policy.”
Thinking Outside the 4
I’ve been in customer service for a while now, and I know that we all have horror stories. This Farm
isn’t a horror story, I know. It just didn’t seem right. The Customer Service Technician agreed Award Winning 5
with me but insisted that there was “nothing that she was allowed to do.” That’s when I under- Zekvelds
stood. The problem wasn’t that she disagreed. It certainly wasn’t that she was unkind or impo-
lite. The problem was that the policies, as she understood them, prevented her from waiving What’s cookin’, good 6
lookin’
the fee for an existing customer – only a new customer (a virtual stranger) could be treated to
good service. Upcoming Events 8
Marketing Ideas 8
The best thing about bad service is that it teaches us how not to serve. Experiencing bad ser-
vice can be a gold mine for a business owner or a manager. Here’s what I learned. First,
make sure to empower people. I felt embarrassed for this person. She felt that she wasn’t
“allowed” to make a decision or to try to find a compromise. Secondly, customer service poli-
cies only work when everyone understands why they exist. A policy that upsets a good cus-
tomer is not a good policy. I need to remember that our store policies must make sense for our
staff so that they can feel empowered to make reasonable exceptions. We re-open for the
season this month, and these reminders couldn’t have been better timed. Thank Good-
ness for bad service.

Jesse Lauzon
OFFMA President

p.s. A special Bon Voyage to our intrepid OFFMA travelers who will embark upon our first
ever overseas bus tour this April 4th to the UK. Take lots of pictures, have a great time,
and learn lots! I can’t wait to hear all about it.
Page 2 Fresh Facts

MEMBERSHIP NEWS OFFMA Office will be closed

New Members are always welcome at
Ontario Farm Fresh. Glad you decided to
join us. We look forward to meeting you in
person at one of our upcoming events.
Osland Sheep & Beef Farm
Cindy Osland
Port Hope, ON 905-753-2317
Talbotville Berry Farm
Shirley Simpson
St. Thomas, ON 519-633-1488
from April 4 to 20.
Please e-mail or call with any
requests you may have after
April 20th.
Seems like there is more than baby lambs being
born on our farms across the province. Here is the
first of a good crop of baby farmers.

Roots and Hooves Farm

Ann Woods & Andrew Lawrence
Grafton, ON 905-349-9953

Associate Member

Summer Kitchen Fine Foods

Mary Fabiano
Toronto, ON 416-621-8641
CLASSIFIEDS:
FOR SALE—Four row ‘Samco’ planter and
mulch layer (combined)
Kverneland Accord Vacuum Seeder System
Plastic Laying System - Hydraulically oper-
ated Cut & Burying system for Plastic
Sprayer System - Not included. Contact Mel
Foster at 613-851-3903
Classifieds are free to all members, send infor-
mation to the OFFMA office and it will be includ-
ed in the next newsletter.
Event Promotions
If you have an event planned for your farm
this year make sure as many people as
possible know about it. Take a couple of
minutes and fill out the details around your
event on these websites:
www.ontariotravel.net – FREE event list-
ings
www.harvestontario.com – as an OFFMA
member you are entitled to a FREE premi-
um listing on the web site and can submit
your events to appear on the listings page.
Katie Normet from River’s Edge Goat Dairy let us
know that William George Makxam (they call him
George) was born March 1st, just before mid-
night. He was 8 pounds 6.5 ounces and is a very
content baby. Congratulations to Katie and her
family.
Congratulations to Peter
and Sandi Dickey. They
were presented with the
Innisfil Retail Business of
the Year Award in early
March. They were recog-
nized for the work they
have done producing
prize winning honey and 17 honey based
products. Way to go!!
We want your brochures. OFFMA coordinates 2
busy farmers’ market in the heart of downtown
Toronto. We have a table where we can display
brochures. If you would like your brochure on
the table during the summer months of the farm-
ers’ market send 200 copies to the OFFMA of-
fice….no charge.

According to Hugh Maynard, the same rules apply for all small businesses: get up early,
keep a sharp pencil (actually a good computer would be better) and plan before you
plant. Make allowances for the weather, use debt for investments rather than expenses,
and get as much good advice as you can.

Views from the Front of the Auditorium
By Niki Hilton, Springridge Farm
One thing was evident at this year’s legendary Flew ‘n
Flop session at the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Con-
vention: farmers using Social Media FLEW in 2010!
The workshop was hosted by Hugh McPherson of
Maize Quest and allowed for farm marketers to share
what worked and didn’t work for their businesses in the
previous season.
Trevor, from Herrles Market, relayed a story about
using the influence of social media to combat a road
closure near the farm. He sent out a tweet about the
possibility of the closure. Herrles’ customers and com-
munity rallied behind them online and later that day
their regional councillor had the road opened with 2
flag people working it. Herrles was humbled by the
support of their community, demonstrating that social
networking can be an extremely powerful tool.
Social media is not only a great way to promote your
own business but Farm Fresh colleagues as well.
Supporting other Ontario farms on platforms like Face-
book and Twitter will highlight the importance of em-
phasizing “local” and spread the message about agri-
tourism. Cross-promotion will help farms reach custom-
Newsletter #267 April 2011 Page 3
ers they may not have been able to tap into. Build-
ing a friendly online community will also show
recognition for the good work of fellow farmers.
Here are some ways we can promote and continue
to connect with other farms:
On Twitter, make an effort to retweet other farm’s
messages.
Participate in Follow Friday on Twitter. Suggest
that your ‘followers’ follow other farm markets.
Add other farm pages as Page Favourites on Fa-
cebook.
Post links on Facebook to other farm pages. For
example, “Have you checked out our friends at
_______ because they’re having a big farm con-
test you won’t want to miss!”
On your website, link to other farm friends or pro-
mote the ‘find a farm tool’ from the OFFMA web-
site.
Pair up for a cross-promotional farm contest.
At the end of the day, we can grow our followers
on social networks and give each other a boost at
the same time. And if cross-promoting our Farm
Fresh colleagues flops, we can all discuss it at
next year’s session!
 Page 4 Fresh Facts
Thinking Outside the Farm
—stories that consumers want to hear about your farm
By Cara Epp
I was fascinated the other day when, over
coffee, Amy Strom casually mentioned hav-
ing to move her pumpkin crops each year to
“hide” them from potato bugs. It bought the
farm an extra week of harvesting time be-
fore the nasty little bugs “found” the crop
and began doing damage. A few years
ago, a farmer shared the story of all the
planning and work that went into the crea-
tion of a corn maze. Once again, I was
spellbound. I think both were surprised by
my reaction but it was such a new and for-
eign experience to me that it captured my
interest.
Think of all the things you do each day to
keep your on-farm market a growing con-
cern. I mean really think about it because
you probably know your farm inside and out
and do things just because you know they
need to be done without thinking about why.
To you it is another task that needs to be
done to keep the farm running. To the ur-
ban dweller…well it’s a really cool story.
Really. And it’s one that will help you draw
in more visitors to your on-farm markets if
only you could tell it to a larger audience.
Take some time and start thinking about all
the potential stories that you may have just
waiting to be told. Think of the things that
you do every day that would seem foreign
to someone who works 9 to 5 under the
glare of fluorescent lights. What do you do
all day? Make some notes and, if you aren’t
sure if some of the items are worth mention-
ing, wrangle a 9 to 5’er and see what they
have to say. Then, if you have the time and
resources, start telling your stories, big and
As a follow up to Cara’s story, here’s an example that was
shared during the Flew and Flop session at the Ontario Fruit
& Vegetable Convention, Steve Martin outlined how last year
they decided to take pictures of an apple tree every few days
so that people could follow the stages and growth of an ap-
ple in the orchard. He was surprised how many people want-
ed to watch this apple ‘grow’ on the Internet…..who knew
that something like this would interest his customers.
small, via a website, media outreach, or social
media.
If you don’t have the time or the resources
OFFMA can help. Through the consumer
newsletters, the website, social media out-
reach and in press materials OFFMA can draw
people in with tales of your every day. You
might have heard of a little social media phe-
nomenon called Twitter. You may have even
shrugged it off as a frivolous, useless internet
toy for people with too much time on their
hands. But it’s a valuable hook to draw people
in to wanting to know more. A tweet can
pique someone’s interest in visiting a website.
The website can then expand on the story,
draw in the visitor, and get them through the
farm gates. OFFMA regularly tweets infor-
mation to its followers but there is always room
for more tweets. For that OFFMA needs bait.
OFFMA needs its members to send those sto-
ries – whether it’s interesting facts about farm
life; quirky characters; or the family farm histo-
ry. Update OFFMA on upcoming special
events or new additions to your on-farm mar-
ket. OFFMA may then be able to turn it
around and tell your story to a larger audience.
So take note, and remember, matter-of-fact to
you may be matter-of-fantastic to someone
else.
Send your quirky facts, observations and sto-
ries to info@ontariofarmfresh.com
Cara Epp is an Associate Member of Ontario Farm
Fresh and an experienced, innovative, integrated
marketing communications professional. You can
contact her at cara@caraepp.ca
 Newsletter #267 April 2011 Page 5

Award Winning Zekvelds’ Garden Market

On Friday March 11, John and Maxine Zekveld
of Zekveld’s Garden Market of Wyoming Ontario
were announced as the Runner-Up winners of
the 2011 Ontario’s Outstanding Young Farmers’
Awards.

It has been a 10 year meteoric rise for these

members of Ontario Farm Fresh. In the fall of
the year 2000, John and Maxine Zekveld ac-
quired a fruit and vegetable farm in Wyoming
and started their new business.

One of their first realizations was that nearby

Pick Your Own operations did not allow children
on their farms. They quickly grabbed onto this
marketing strategy and welcomed kids on class
trips, did in-school speaking arrangements and
started working with a local nutrition program.
They also began selling their produce at local
farmers’ markets where they could meet with
more people and advertise their Pick Your Own
and Country Store.
The Zekveld family at the recent OOYF Awards Banquet
In 2005 they opened a small on-farm bakery
where they use the fruits from their fields in
loaves, tarts, muffins and more. The Zekvelds were nominated by Sjaarda
Caprine Farms, who co-incidentally were
Today, their farm consists of ninety-four acres of
which, eighty-eight are used for crops. Twenty- runner up last year for the award.
two acres are orchards where they grow apples, Any person or organization can nominate a
plums, peaches, nectarines, sour cherries and young farmer for this award. Criteria can be
pears. Another eight acres are set aside for ber-
ries with the remainder used for a great variety
found on the Outstanding Young Farmer
of vegetables. All their crops are handpicked Award web site at www.oyfontario.ca. On-
and delivered fresh to their on-farm store. tario Farm Fresh has been sponsoring this
Their goal is to deliver the freshest, top quality event for the last few years and also nomi-
fruits and vegetables available. In this day of
environmental concerns, they want their cus- nates a member each year. If you or some-
tomer to know they grow quality safe food. As one you know would
producers, they take this concern seriously. like to be nominated,
In 2010, the Zekveld’s expanded the farm expe- please let the office
rience by adding more farm animals and wagon
rides for everyone to enjoy. know. We are fortu-
nate to have many
Their hard work was recognized when they rose members among the
to the top as first runners up from 35 applica- OOYFA’s alumni.
tions for the prestigious Outstanding Young
Farmers Award.

What are you doing today, to make your

dreams come true tomorrow?
Page 6 Fresh Facts
What’s cookin’, good lookin’?
By Kerry Engel, VP Convention - NAFDMA
You’ve heard the stories, maybe even
witnessed it first hand:
 Someone tries to use a hard boiled
egg in a cake mix.
 An astounded child wails,
“Hamburger comes from cows?”
 A home owner has never used her
stove…
Cooking skills have skipped a generation
and it’s not pretty.
Thankfully, for a number of
reasons including health
concerns, a desire to shop
local, and a need to connect
with family an increasing
number of folks are interest-
ed in learning how to cook.
What we have is a skills gap
and an opportunity – an op-
portunity you can fill!
At the last North American
Farmers’ Direct Marketing
Conference (NAFDMA)
Lovoni Walker of Fabulous Food Crea-
tions delivered a workshop on how to
generate more income and promote your
farm with a cooking school. I thought I’d
share a few highlights.
Size Matters. You basically have two op-
tions with cooking classes and it all de-
pends on the size of your class. Smaller
groups allow for a more hands-on-
experience while larger groups lend
themselves to more of a ‘watching’ or
demo activity.
You have a couple of alternatives for
scheduling classes. You can set a calen-
dar of dates where you establish a mini-
mum number of participants, say 6-8, and
then advertise to fill the classes. This ap-
proach may require class specific market-
ing to fill certain times should you do not
get the full enrollment.
The second option is private bookings.
Once again, you’ll want a minimum num-
ber of participants to make it profitable
and to cover costs especially if you are
hiring a professional chef. With private
bookings your customers pick the day
and the time they want their class.
Top Chef? Who should be teaching your
class? You need someone who knows
your products, knows how to cook and
has personality. Can you do it and do it
well? Hiring a chef is an option. If you go
this route you’ll need to determine if the
chef will do the shopping and whose rec-
ipes will be used: yours or the chef’s. A
third choice might be to hire a consultant
to train your staff!
Grilled to Perfection. Recipes are para-
mount to your success. Incorporate sea-
sonality, ease of preparation and taste.
Lovoni stresses the importance of mak-
ing sure the recipes are properly written.
With a hands-on class, participants can
prepare several recipes. If you are going
the demonstration route you will have
less time. Fewer recipes are recom-
mended as there will be major prepara-
tion.
Every lesson needs a take-away tip. The
idea is to leave people with something
that will impress them. Little tricks like
how to peel garlic or how to keep pro-
duce fresh longer work well. Learning a
little grower secret makes people feel
like they have an inside track.
When designing your lesson plans leave
time for participants to shop in your store
afterwards. Make sure you’ve incorpo-
rated your products into your recipes.
You may even want to bundle together
recipe ingredients used in the class for
people to purchase and use at home.
Kitchen Magician. In the afternoon
Lovoni showed us how to set up a cook-

ing school without a lot of investment.
She recommends Ikea for purchasing
supplies. They offer a great selection of
utensils at a price she can’t match from
restaurant suppliers. Some farms part-
ner with kitchen equipment dealers. If
you have a contact it’s worth checking
into it.
A few last, low-cost tips when setting
up:
 Use lighting to create atmosphere.
 Aprons tend to grow legs and dis-
appear. Have each participant
bring one or work the cost of the
apron into the price of the work-
shop. If you supply the apron it’s
an opportunity to send your logo
home.
 Cooking schools are not restau-
rants. You are not serving meals.
Customers are coming to your
farm to learn, not to eat. But it’s
Newsletter #267 April 2011 Page 7
important to know and follow the
regulations. Be sure to check with
the local health authorities during
your business planning.
You can purchase the MP3 file of this
and all NAFDMA workshops at
www.nafdma.com/
NAFDMA2011/2011Mp3/
The next NAFDMA convention will be
held in Colonial Williamsburg in Febru-
ary, 2012. The NAFDMA Advanced
Learning Retreat will be October 30-
November 2, 2011 at Roba Family Farms.
Check it out www.nafdma.com
If you are looking for a large overhead mirror
to be able to show your audience what you
are working on in a crowded session, Cathy
has one for sale. Contact the OFFMA office
at 905-841-9278
 Page 8 Fresh Facts

Upcoming Events
April 4-8, 2011 Bus Tour to UK, contact Cathy Bartolic at 905-841-9278 –SOLD OUT,
but a waiting list is being created
April 15-17 Green Living Show, Direct Energy Centre, Toronto

July 26 OFFMA’s Potluck Social, Murphy’s Farmstead, Aliston, watch this

Ontario Farm Fresh newsletter for additional information
Cathy Bartolic, Executive Director
2002 Vandorf Rd. Aurora, ON L4G 7B9 Sept. 1-3 Fruit & Veg Tech X-Change, Norfolk County, For additional info:
Phone: 905-841-9278 226-381-0282 or info@fruitvegtechxchange.com
Fax: 905-726-3369
E-mail: info@ontariofarmfresh.com Oct. 1&2 Discover Agriculture in the City, Burlington Mall, FREE Exhibitor Space,
www.ontariofarmfresh.com
Contact Margaret Boyd, AAFC, 519-837-5842 or margaret.boyd@agr.gc.ca
2011-12 OFFMA Board of Directors
Jesse Lauzon, President Nov. 6-8 OFFMA’s Annual Bus Tour, details to be sent out in August/September
Springridge Farm
Steve Smith, Vice President
Smith’s Apples
Amy Strom, Past President
QR Code Tours for FREE
Strom’s Farm
s
Leslie Forsythe, Forsythe Family Farms idea Have you seen those funny looking square bar codes, they are called QR
Jay Howell, Brantview Apples & Cider codes. They can be set up so that when you scan them with your smart
Brian Hugli, Hugli’s Blueberry Ranch
Marg Land, Annex Publishing
phone, your phone is directed to a Youtube Video, or a MP3 file, or a
(Associate Member) URL, or any document you want.
Hollis Murphy, Murphy’s Farmstead There are many web sites that create QR codes. One site is
Colleen Pingle, Pingle’s Farm Market qrcode.kaywa.com, you can create them there for free. QR code reader
Geri Rounds, Rounds Ranch
Dorene Collins, OMAFRA apps can be downloaded for any smart phone (most are free).
(Advisor to the Board) So here is the million dollar idea: I am going to create Youtube videos
at many locations at my farm with me giving a talk about each spot.
(talks just like our school tour talk). At each spot we will post the corre-
sponding QR code. Visitors to the farm can now go on their own
Jay Reesor from Reesor’s Farm Market "Smart Phone" self guided tour of my farm. Let me know what you
also runs Reesor’s Kitchen in Stouffville. think or give us a call and ask for Chris if you would like to learn
It is a quaint, little retail outlet where more.
they can sell their baked goods, frozen This idea is from Jerry Howell, Howell Family Pumpkin Farm, 905-
goods and other dry merchandise 892-3918
throughout the year. A few weeks ago,
they held a strawberry festival. In the
middle of March, they dressed up the
store with pictures of strawberries,
baked some yummy strawberry pies and A tip from the Birthday Party University several OFFMA members
breads with their frozen strawberries took part in at the beginning of March. If you are doing birthday par-
and made some extra sales! Now, that’s ties on your farm, at some point you will be asked to help transport
thinking outside the farm!! birthday presents from one point to another. Why not use a wheel
barrow?? What a great farm related ‘prop’ to incorporate in the ac-
tivity! If you are really into the birthday party business, you could
even assign a wheelbarrow to each party as they arrive. Just make sure
you have a secure place to put those wheelbarrowful presents if they
are left unattended at any point in time. You don’t want a birthday party
heist on your hands.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: if there was a lime green coloured set of papers in your newsletter this month, it means
that we would really like YOU to fill out the benchmark survey OFFMA is compiling this year. It will take you 15
minutes at the most and is the best 15 minutes you can invest in our industry. Once you have completed the
survey, simply place it in the postage paid envelope and send it off to Experience Renewal Solutions!! The
names of everyone who completes the survey will be put in a draw for the chance to win 2 free spots on
OFFMA’s Fall Bus Tour….all expenses paid!!