Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 97053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97053 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
“What?” Iris asks. “What bank balance?”
“I’m kidding. Not kidding, but it’s an inside joke. Or not a joke. Anyway, I have my laptop in my car. I’ve been researching a few things about the farm. If you all have time, I’d love to show you something.”
“The farm?” Bray asks. “What kind of thing?”
“Just give me thirty minutes. That’s all I ask.”
“Sure,” Mr. Wilde says, getting up from the couch.
Bray and Iris share a look. I’m pretty sure that Mr. Wilde isn’t always so welcoming to people wanting to talk to him about his business.
I grab the laptop from the car, and when I come back inside, the three of them are at the kitchen table. I pull up the presentation. “I’ve really enjoyed working at the farm. It’s a great, efficient operation you have. But Iris was telling me that margins are tight.”
“That they are,” Mr. Wilde says. “But that’s business.”
“Absolutely. I’ve been asking around. Everyone thinks very highly of you as employers. You have a great internal brand. I had an idea of how you can make that an external brand.”
Mr. Wilde glances at his son and daughter, who are sitting either side of him. I’m not sure if he’s seeing if they also think I’m full of shit. But I need to cut to the chase.
“I think you could build Wilde’s Farm into a national brand of organic frozen fruit.”
I go through my presentation. I talk about the market and how organic produce is in increasing demand. How the freezing operation would take considerable capital investment, but how much could be charged for the fruit once frozen, bagged, and sold to supermarkets.
“You want us to take a partner?” Bray asks, sitting back in his chair. “To pay for the new equipment and everything?”
Iris’s shaking her head before I even have a chance to respond.
“No,” I say. “This is a family farm, and that’s how it should stay. I know that’s important to all of you. I’m suggesting you take out a loan. That way you get all the upside when the business does well. A partner would take a portion of the upside. The bank just wants its money back with interest.”
Iris’s expression is brighter, and she sits forward in her chair. “But we can’t just start freezing all our fruit. We don’t have contracts with supermarkets for frozen fruit.”
“You’re right. You’d have to start small. Build the brand. Prove the quality. But I really think it’s a way to future-proof the business.”
Mr. Wilde folds his arms. “It’s not how we work. We don’t have any knowledge about freezing. I bet it’s not so easy as dumping it all in a chest freezer. There are probably regulations. And how would we get all the bags, and we’d have to have pictures on them and…” He shakes his head. “It’s not going to work.”
My heart sinks a little. I don’t know Mr. Wilde or Bray well enough to know how to appeal to them. Maybe I’ve come on too strong.
“We can source packaging, Dad,” Iris says. “Getting a designer isn’t difficult. I actually have some designs that I’ve been messing around with.”
“You have?” I ask.
Iris shrugs. “But the money required. The investment. It’s a lot.”
“You have the space for all the freezing equipment. And I’ve looked into some places where you can lease the equipment.” This is really doable. And the bank loan wouldn’t be as big as they think. Especially with the amount of upside at stake.
“The problem is if it doesn’t work, it’s a lot of money wasted,” Bray says. “And we don’t have money to waste.”
I wish I could offer to lend them the money. I’d be happy to. Iris is smart. I know she could make this happen.
“I think you’ve underestimated how the crop yields go down when you switch to organic,” Bray says. “It makes it all so volatile.”
“But the prices you can achieve.” I flip to another slide on my laptop. “The difference is incredible.”
Mr. Wilde grumbles underneath his breath. “That’s gotten even more expensive.”
“Demand for organic is growing,” I try to reassure him. “But if the horticulture is too difficult, maybe you start with nonorganic,” I suggest. “That would give you an opportunity to get the freezing operation in place.”
“It’s a good idea, Dad.” Iris looks at her father. “You’ve seen the figures. Business isn’t getting any easier. We’re always under pressure to reduce prices. It’s never-ending.”
“I’ve also got some data on some less-traditional fruit and how demand is growing for them. You could also think about trialing some different fruit and freezing them. That gives you an advantage against other operations that are just freezing berries.”
Mr. Wilde shakes his head. “It’s a lot of money,” he says. “Like Bray says, we don’t have that money to lose.”
“Think about it,” I say. “We could talk again, and I’m happy to do anything I can. I know other people who might be helpful for you to talk to. Finance people who’d be able to get you the loan, for example.”