Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://specialtyfoodmagazine.epubxp.com/i/328566
In Service to Its Customers Earlier this year, Edible Hudson magazine named Adams Fairacre Farms a 2014 Local Hero, citing that since its inception "its growth has been in service to its customers," from expansion to evolving product selection. And expand and evolve it has. The original store in Poughkeepsie grew from a farm stand started by Ralph Adams to a retail shop in 1960. At first it offered only produce grown on the family farm, but consumer demand eventually brought in dairy and deli products and meats, then a garden center. In a span of 30 years from 1981 to 2011, Adams' sons Ralph Jr. and Donald opened three more area stores, in Kingston (1981), Newburgh (1998), and Wappinger (2011). With expansion came new departments, and today the stores boast gourmet grocery, cheese, bakery, full-service meat and seafood, deli, prepared foods, coffee, sweet shops, gift and f lower shops, garden centers, greenhouses, and nurseries, as well as three side businesses: Adams Landscaping, Adams Fences, and Adams Power Equipment. (See A Brief History, p. 150.) Throughout the stores' growth, the owners' priority has been to maintain a neighborhood farm store aesthetic and personality. The credit goes to numerous factors: vast produce selection, custom country-style displays, handwritten signage. But beyond design, Adams Fairacre Farms maintains a connection to its community that comes from being part of it for so long. The commitment comes through in annual on-site events, such as visits with Santa Claus (complete with live reindeer) and participation in local charities like the American Heart Association's Heart Walk at Vassar, as well as in its support of local growers. Each Adams Fairacre Farms loca- tion carries local products like Hudson Valley milks, produce from neighboring farms, and fish sourced from nearby states like Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Similar but Not Identical Perhaps most prominent in helping Adams Fairacre Farms maintain its small-merchant feel is that the individual stores are not identical in layout, design, or product selection. "Each store has its own unique features, expanding upon things that were successful already in other locations," says Steve Adams, chief operating officer, and Donald's son. Prepared foods is a prime example at the Wappinger store, where it has been made into a cornerstone after growing in all stores since introduced in Newburgh in 1998. "At the time it was about a tenth of the size to what it's grown to today," Adams notes. The Adams added an in-house cheesemaker working out of the Newburgh store. Fresh mozzarella has since become the department's top seller. Adams Fairacre Farms purchases $20 million in produce annually. SUMMER 2014 149 retailerProfile_AdamsFarm.indd 149 6/2/14 3:47 PM