Business Proposal: Passel Hills Farm – Farm-to-Door Partnership Opportunity

Date: February 20, 2025

Prepared by: Passel Hills Farm

Contact: Jeremiah Deborde, 540-910-0830, info@passelhillsfarm.com

Target Audience: Small Farms in the Smith Mountain Lake Area

Executive Summary

Passel Hills Farm (PHF) invites likeminded small farms in the Smith Mountain Lake area to join us in a collaborative farm-to-door initiative. Our Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) sales model connects local farmers with customers while freeing you from the time-intensive demands of marketing and sales. By partnering with PHF, you can focus on growing and raising exceptional products, while we handle promotion, sales, and delivery logistics. This commission-based partnership offers a low-risk way to expand your reach, increase revenue, and contribute to a diverse, high-quality product lineup for our community.

Opportunity

The Smith Mountain Lake area boasts a vibrant community eager to support local agriculture and enjoy fresh, farm-sourced goods. However, for small farmers, reaching these customers often requires significant time and effort in marketing and sales—tasks that can pull you away from the core work of growing crops or raising livestock. Building an online presence, managing customer orders, and coordinating deliveries can easily consume hours that could be better spent tending to your farm.

Passel Hills Farm is here to solve this challenge. We’re seeking small farms that share our commitment to quality and sustainability to join us in delivering farm-fresh products directly to local households. Imagine a customer visiting one website for all their grocery needs—flowers, vegetables, meats, eggs, honey, and baked goods—delivered right to their door. We’re looking for partners offering:

• Flowers
• Vegetables (conventional and organic)
• Beef (grass-finished and grain-finished)
• Pork (conventional and non-GMO)
• Chicken (conventional and non-GMO)
• Turkey
• Lamb
• Goat
• Duck
• Eggs
• Honey
• Bread and Baked Goods

Through this partnership, we’ll handle the time-consuming aspects of DTC sales, allowing you to specialize in production while we create a one-stop shopping experience that meets all our customers’ needs.

Our Proposal

Passel Hills Farm proposes a commission-based partnership model designed to maximize efficiency and profitability for small farms. Here’s how it works:

You Set the Price: You determine the retail price of your products based on your costs, market value, and desired profit margin.

We Market, Sell, and Deliver: PHF takes on the full scope of marketing, sales processing, and doorstep delivery for customers in the Smith Mountain Lake area.

Commission Structure: PHF earns a 30% commission on each sale. You receive 70% of the retail price, paid promptly after delivery.

Example:

You set the price of a dozen eggs at $10.

PHF markets and delivers the product.

Customer pays $10.

You receive $7 (70%), and PHF retains $3 (30%).

This model ensures fairness and transparency while allowing you to reclaim valuable time for farming.

How This Will Work Once We Are Partnered

Once you join our farm-to-door network, we’ve designed a streamlined process to ensure efficiency for both farmers and customers:

Order Windows Based on Perishability: Depending on the perishability of your products, we will set an order window during which customers can place orders. For example, one week out, customers will see available inventory on our website. The order window will then close two days before delivery to allow for preparation.

Order Notification: After the order window closes, we will notify you of the exact number of items needed for delivery, giving you ample time to harvest or prepare your products.

Frozen Inventory Storage: If your items are frozen (e.g., beef, pork, or chicken), we have freezer space available to store your inventory. PHF will track and manage this stock to ensure freshness and availability.

Website Features: Our e-commerce platform allows customers to sort products by producer and view details about your growing practices (e.g., organic, non-GMO, grass-finished). This transparency builds trust and highlights your farm’s unique value.

We understand the dual demands of growing food and marketing it. Our desire is for local agriculture to thrive—not just our farm, but yours too. By partnering with PHF, we’re building a system that supports and elevates the entire Smith Mountain Lake farming community.

Benefits for Partner Farms

Reclaim Your Time: Marketing and sales demand skills and hours that detract from growing crops or raising animals. By outsourcing these tasks to PHF, you can focus on perfecting your craft instead of managing websites, social media, or delivery schedules.

Specialization: With PHF handling the front-end work, you can double down on what you do best—whether it’s growing organic vegetables, raising grass-finished beef, or baking artisan bread.

Greater Variety for Customers: Our partnership network enables us to offer a diverse range of products—flowers, vegetables (conventional and organic), beef (grass- and grain-finished), pork (conventional and non-GMO), chicken (conventional and non-GMO), turkey, lamb, goat, duck, eggs, honey, bread, and baked goods—all under one convenient farm-to-door service. This variety attracts more customers and boosts overall sales.

One-Stop E-Commerce Experience: By pooling our resources and offering customers a single, seamless e-commerce platform, sales across the board will increase. Customers enjoy a greater shopping experience with the convenience of sourcing all their grocery needs—meat, produce, eggs, and more—in one place, delivered right to their door, driving demand for your goods.

Increased Revenue: Reach a wider audience without investing in your own marketing or delivery systems.

No Upfront Costs: Join at no risk—PHF covers promotional and logistical expenses.

Local Brand Exposure: Gain visibility among Smith Mountain Lake residents through PHF’s marketing efforts and our website’s producer profiles.

Scalability: Start small and expand your offerings as demand grows.

Why Passel Hills Farm?

Local Expertise: We know the Smith Mountain Lake market and its consumers inside and out.

Proven Systems: PHF has the tools and experience to manage marketing campaigns, online sales platforms, and efficient delivery routes—tasks that can otherwise drain a farmer’s time and energy.

Shared Values: Like you, we’re dedicated to small-scale agriculture, sustainability, and community enrichment.

Mutual Success: Our commission-based model ties our success to yours—when your farm prospers, so do we.

Next Steps

We’re eager to explore how this partnership can benefit your farm. Here’s how to get started:

Express Interest: Contact us at 540-910-0830 or info@passelhillsfarm.com with any questions or fill out the application at https://form.jotform.com/25050....

Product Review: Share details about your farm’s products (e.g., flowers, beef, eggs, honey) so we can assess fit and demand.

Agreement: Review and sign a simple partnership agreement outlining terms and responsibilities.

Launch: Begin supplying products for PHF to market and deliver to customers.

Call to Action

Passel Hills Farm is ready to lighten your load and bring your goods to Smith Mountain Lake doorsteps. Let’s collaborate to grow your business, specialize in what we each do best, and offer customers an unmatched variety of farm-fresh products through a convenient one-stop shopping experience. Contact us today to join this exciting venture!

Passel Hills Farm

Jeremiah Deborde

540-910-0830

info@passelhillsfarm.com (mailto:info@passelhillsfarm.com)