So the saying goes...."Better late than never" and I am afraid I am going to have to start out with that and also add an apology for being so late on getting this out on the blog. First of all, a great big heartfelt thanks to Lucy Livingston for hosting our February social at her lovely home. The weather was perfect as well as the interior of Lucy's lovely residence.
We welcomed three new guests to our meeting- Amy Wagner, Christine Angel and Alison Fargione.
We were joined by Lauren Kelly of SILO Farm to Table market in Beaufort and she began to tell us the story of SILO. In a nutshell, SILO is a team of four individuals that started an online fresh market for organic foods since there was a big void not being filled. We do not have a large Whole Foods Market or CSA so they decided to create a unique business model that integrates an online farmer's market and a CSA. Coming from Northern California, I participated in a local CSA and was inundated with vegetables that I could never fully use during the week. The reason that SILO intrigues me is that you can order what you want instead of having to accept what you are given.
The link to their website is www.silo-beaufort.com but, basically, an order is placed online by 6 pm Sunday with a pick up at the community garden on Tuesday between 1-2:30. A question was raised after the fact as to why couldn't we pick up the food earlier and I am attaching the response from SILO since it brings to light how well-thought out these people truly are in bringing the food to Palmetto Bluff.
SILO is extremely grateful for the opportunity to service Palmetto Bluff residents. As you may know, this opportunity came about from our relationship with Chef Carter of Auberge Resorts and his invitation to work with him on sourcing local foods for his restaurants in Palmetto Bluff. When we started working with Chef Carter, we found that it worked best for him to get a bulk of his food deliveries for the week on Tuesday mornings before 11:30AM. Since we were going to be coming out weekly to deliver to him, Chef Carter suggested a customer pick up for the residents on the same day which we thought was a great idea. Our current pick up is at the SILO Shopfront on Fridays from which the customers place their orders online between Monday and Wednesday. Therefore, we set up the new market to be open from Friday through Sunday for customers to pick up on Tuesdays when we were going to be out in Palmetto Bluff already. When the market closes on Sunday, the sellers receive the orders they need to produce. Some are able to deliver on Mondays, but others need to be able to deliver the same day as the customer pick up to ensure freshness of their products. Therefore, we have to fit in sellers delivering their orders to us Tuesday mornings before heading to Palmetto Bluff to drop off the chef's order prior to 11:30AM. Tuesday mornings look like the following: We leave SILO at 8AM and drive to Bluffton where we meet several sellers between 8:45 and 9:45 to receive their orders. We sort the chef's order and then head over to Palmetto Bluff around 10:15. It usually takes us about 30 minutes to unload the chef's order. So by 11AM, we're able to get the refrigerated trailer parked at the community garden shed and plugged in to keep everything at temperature. From 11AM-12PM, we finish sorting customers' orders so the bags are ready for pick up. We then grab a quick bite to eat before heading back to be ready to go by 1pm.
As you can see, the schedule is tight. Obviously, we'd like to make our day as short as possible, but we don't see how we can make it much shorter, especially when we start getting big weekly orders which takes longer to sort into bags. As much as we'd like to accommodate the wishes of an early morning pick up time, we feel like it will be difficult to work out the logistics at the moment. We are willing to consider it, but we will need a few more weeks of running on the current schedule to get a feel for how the process goes and how long everything takes.
As for the pick up location, we love the Community Garden and think it is a beautiful setting. However, we are not bound to that. We just need a 20Amp 110Volt outlet to plug into so that everything stays refrigerated. I know that folks have requested Brycea, at RT's Market, to hold orders for them if they cannot pick them up. We see a problem with this because of the fact that a customer pays at pick up. We cannot leave an order anywhere unless it has been paid for. The reason we do not have customers pay online is because we have to adjust orders based on the actual weights of meats brought in by the farmers or if something doesn't make it to market (rare, but does happen). In addition, leaving orders with someone poses many logistical problems. Most orders have frozen products, refrigerated products, and dry goods. Therefore, the entire order cannot be left all in one place, which creates the risk of missing items, etc. as well as the fact that space would be needed in a freezer, refrigerator, and shelf. On top of that, some produce has even further handling requirements, which we feel uncomfortable imposing on someone else.
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Pat Cole introduces Lauren Kelly
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