Home delivery of fresh produce has proved a successful system for franchise Aussie Farmers Direct.
Braeden Lord, CEO at Aussie Farmers Direct, explains the company’s origin is important to understand the product. “Providing fresh produce to the door at a competitive price, that’s where we started. So price is a factor but more than that it is convenience.”
Direct competitors are the supermarkets but Lord suggests their online offering has a long way to go.
“That immediately carves a niche for us. We’re not about to replace a supermarket visit but will be a reliable source of fresh produce delivered to your home.”
Raw fruit and vegetable delivery is based on seasonal availability but in winter the franchise tries to maintain the staples such as bananas and apples. Lord believes dealing direct with growers and farmers gives the brand a high level of integrity. Milk for instance takes less than 36 hours to reach a customer.
“Consumers like the healthy aspects and products last longer,” Lord says. “Part of the nuance in our business is being able to tailor people’s menus providing recipes and products. We have an internal magazine that goes to our 50,000 plus customers which focuses on healthy eating and gives background on the suppliers. In this system franchisees become local suppliers,” he says. “We’ve recently added lamb, beef and chicken to the orders.”
Before Easter the Aussie Farmers Direct customer had no choice in the contents of the box; now a Pick and Pack box option gives them a tailored fruit and vegetable offering. Lord admits it will change the model substantially.
“We’re getting on top of the database which can predict orders. We’ll have a bit of additional wastage and will work with charities and providores to unload this. Apart from the costs in IT back of house, which are significant, we calculate turning a standard box to an individually tailored box will have about a 30 per cent increase in labour costs, the single biggest increase.
“Our volumes will go up overall and that will enable us to buy from additional farmers and push them to a bigger harvest.”
For any delivery system managing distribution is the core business and investment in IT management an essential. Aussie Farmers Direct has just launched online ordering. In Melbourne, which has 35,000 customers, 70 per cent were contacted by email on the first Saturday lunchtime, by 6pm there had been 4000 changes made online.
The next phase is to have the franchisees able to access the online orders and make changes. The company has invested seven figures in a database revolving around customer management but which can also handle currencies if the brand decides to go international.
The potential lies in building ranges and flexibility, and playing on convenience. Lord reveals the company is building a shopping list online that can cost out a menu in dollar value per person per meal.
“We’ve also launched a hamper online featuring all Australian ingredients such as biscuits, condiments and pastas.
“In five years we want to reach more households and be in other major cities and Tasmania; to move from fresh product into meals, supplying pastas and sauces for instance, and to gain a strong business-to-business presence.
“We want to keep our profits home grown and develop links with more farmers and growers – that cuts out the middle man, reducing costs for the consumer and gives money back to the farmers.”