Building relationships with your customers' customers
Fat Moon Farm owner Elizabeth Almeida holds a maitake mushroom block, one of the 12 types of organic gourmet mushrooms that she grows. Photo by Myrna Greenfield.
Fat Moon Farm provides locally grown, organic gourmet mushrooms to farms, chefs, restaurants, and stores in New England. The Westford, Massachusetts-based farm sells only a small portion of its products directly to consumers. Yet, the farm has built a strong consumer following.
Partnering with fellow farmers
Farmer/owner Elizabeth Almeida diversifies the revenue for Fat Moon Farm by wholesaling to other local farms. These farm partners sell the fungi at farmers markets, their onsite farm stores, and as add-ons to their CSAs. She also wholesales to local specialty stores and restaurants.
“We leverage our partners’ reputations and infrastructure to distribute our mushrooms efficiently,” Almeida says. “It’s a win-win–we provide a year-round revenue stream while helping farms round out their offerings.”
Building loyalty with indirect customers
Wholesaling presents a challenge–the customer relationships belong to the host farms or sales outlets. So Fat Moon develops its own connections with end consumers.
“I use Instagram and Facebook, email marketing, and educational events to engage mushroom lovers,” Almeida says. A part-time staffer creates marketing posts for Fat Moon featuring recipes, fun facts, and beautiful photos.
Fat Moon Farm gives their partners a shout out whenever possible; the farmers often share the posts with their followers.
Sample shout out to Fat Moon Farm’s CSA partners on Instagram. Photo and use of Instagram post courtesy Fat Moon Farm.
Forging community through agritourism
Almeida learned how to forage for mushrooms while growing up on a farm in Ohio. Now she leads foraging walks, letting people experience the thrill of the hunt themselves. These agritourism adventures create superfans who can’t wait to tell the world about Fat Moon Farm.
During COVID, she began offering online mushroom growing workshops. Now she offers in-person classes as well. Event highlights are posted on social media and featured in newsletters, so those who don’t attend can live vicariously.
“People love to romanticize farmers’ lives,” Almeida says. “They’d much rather picture you traipsing through the woods than sitting in a hot warehouse punching holes in boxes.”
Chestnut mushrooms, one of nature’s most beautiful ‘shrooms, bloom out of a grow block at Fat Moon Farm. Photo by Myrna Greenfield.
Gearing up for new customers
Fat Moon Farm is gearing up to supply mushrooms to area supermarkets. Almeida is designing packaging that will keep the mushrooms fresh and showcase the beauty of the product. A QR code will direct consumers to the website.
Regardless of the outlet, Fat Moon will continue to create connections with consumers, one mushroom at a time.