Niche marketing in local areas can be a real asset for farmers and ranchers and for the community. At The Pork Shoppe, a retail meat business established by my mother-in-law and me, we sell pork products direct from the farm to consumers via farmers’ markets. We also offer farm pick-up and delivery, in addition to selling our meat at a retail market and a few restaurants.
The Pork Shoppe allows us to do some niche marketing with a few of our family farm’s hogs, and more importantly, it allows us the opportunity to educate our urban neighbors about confined feeding operations. We have never hidden the fact that The Pork Shoppe’s hogs are raised in confinement. When consumers ask questions about our pork, we are proud to tell them we take better care of our pigs than we probably do ourselves. We only use antibiotics when needed and our pigs are raised in climate-controlled buildings. Once we take the opportunity to explain our company’s story, including that we take care of the pigs ourselves, most people are fine with our hogs being raised in confinement.
The Pork Shoppe is always a unique vendor at the market, as most of the other vendors only sell organic or “all natural” products. Since “all natural” has such a broad definition, we chose not to use it in our marketing. Still, the fact of the matter is we sell farm-fresh frozen pork direct from our family’s farm to your family’s dinner table. Additionally, we are part of our community’s “Buy Fresh Buy Local” campaign, which allows our customers to meet us and learn more about the origins of their pork.
Supporting local vendors is very important. Without the support of local customers, The Pork Shoppe would not be in business today. It is thanks to customer referrals that we have been able to expand our business to sell pork directly to area restaurants and at a freezer case in a local retail store. Although expanding the business presented challenges, it was the right decision and allowed us the opportunity to promote The Pork Shoppe to a new and different customer base. The demand for locally raised livestock is building ground and hopefully demand will remain for many years to come.
Contact information for the Pork Shoppe can be found on page 19 of the 2010-2011 Local Food Guide for Central Indiana. To see a video of Heather discussing her operation, visit Indiana Farmers Feed Us (1:27). If you would like to see the inside of a confinement facility, visit Chris Chinn’s family farm (5:07) on YouTube. Heather Hill was a member of AFBF’s 2008-2010 national Young Farmer & Rancher Committee.
Source: The Pork Shoppe