Toast To Success

June was a cracking month for Croots. Not only did we mark the first anniversary of opening our farm shop and café, we also went out on the road and took part in the Derbyshire County Show, as well as organising our own promotions.

First up was the introduction of two special Croots beers that I’d helped to brew. We began selling regional beers in March, which proved a winner with customers. When the chance came for me to design and name two ales myself with local brewer, Nutbrook Brewery, I was very keen. Pig in a Bottle and Croots Shire Ale were ready just in time for Father’s Day, so we had a special promotion and did a roaring trade. A good review by the beer columnist in a local newspaper ahead of Father’s Day weekend was a tremendous boost.

We also gained some excellent PR before our first birthday celebrations, which undoubtedly helped attract extra visitors. We took half as much again as we normally do on a Saturday, so it was worth the effort, although with hindsight it might have been better to choose a weekend when there was less going on locally, as we were competing with a nearby carnival!

We laid on children’s entertainment; organised horse-shoeing demonstrations with the farrier who’s a regular visitor to the Shire horses at the farm where Croots Farm Shop is situated; arranged beer sampling; and ran a competition for £50 worth of Croots vouchers for the person who guessed, to the nearest number, how many visitors we’d had since we opened in June 2008.

These attractions all helped to bring in new and existing customers. We’d spread the message by various means, like issuing press releases, creating leaflets and posters, adding information on the Croots website and mentioning it in the email newsletter I issue regularly.

No time to rest the following day though, as Croots was sponsoring the Farmers’ Market Marquee at Derbyshire County Show, which gave us the chance to promote the shop by handing out ten percent discount leaflets and highlighting the wide range of local and regional produce we sell.