Customers Helped Finance New Butcher Shop

Customers Helped Finance New Butcher Shop LIVESTOCK Poultry When livestock producer Tom Delehanty decided to open a butcher shop his customers helped finance the shop by pre-buying meat Delehanty and his wife Tracey Hamilton run Pollo Real Pastured Poultry selling nearly 20 000 farm-processed chickens and turkeys yearly Product is sold through Pollo Real CSA farmer’s market customers and restaurants in and around Santa Fe New Mexico The $250 000 they raised from customers allowed the Delehantys to do things bank financing wouldn’t “We were able to buy older equipment for 20¢ to 30¢ on the dollar where a bank would require new in case we failed and they had to resell it ” says Delehanty “Instead of a loan officer shaking me down for answers people brought in family and friends to pre-buy and get the discount we offered ” Delehanty admits it was the discount on the chickens and turkeys he sells that sold a lot of people on the idea of pre-buying Others did it because they wanted a butcher shop in Santa Fe that carried pasture raised meats Either way the deal is the same Founding members wrote out a check for meat they planned to buy in the future For doing so they were guaranteed a discount on the retail price “We started out asking enthusiastic customers for $3 000 to $5 000 and gave them 10 percent discounts and priority on our fresh eggs and heritage turkeys ” explains Delehanty “Then we opened it up to anyone willing to pre-buy $500 of meat products The discount lasts until the initial money is gone ” The up-front money allowed the couple to lease a 3 000-sq ft storefront with an option for more space They’ve also stocked it with equipment and are getting set up to open for business In addition to their pasture-raised poultry they will also be selling heritage breed pork beef and lamb from other producers “We will be curing our own meat grinding and making sausage and cutting meat ” says Delehanty “We will have meat cases for fresh meat and will also be making soups pâté and ground products for take-out Santa Fe doesn’t have anything like it ” The Delehantys have long used a similar program to run their Pollo Real CSA for poultry eggs and garden crops Members who pay $400 up front don’t get a set package of product delivered monthly for a set price as with most CSA’s Instead they stop by the farm and pick up what they need at the farm price If they stop by the farm’s stand at the Santa Fe farmer’s market they get their selections at 10 to 20 percent less than that day’s retail price A signed slip for the amount taken is later deducted from the member’s account “With the new shop members will be able to go there as well and pick up anything they want that we carry and apply it against their account ” says Delehanty “If they have discounts coming they are just subtracted from the price we have on the board that day ” People seem to like the system Most simply keep a running account It also simplifies things for the Delehantys “When their account gets low most simply add another $50 or $100 ” he says Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Pollo Real Pastured Poultry 108 Hope Farm Rd Socorro New Mexico 87801 ph 505 550-3123; polloreal@q com; www polloreal com

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