Stuart Beare, the new chairman of the National Farmers' Retail & Markets Asso- ciation (known as FARMA), owns and manages the highly successful Tulleys Farm in Crawley, West Sussex.
With a thriving pick-your-own (PYO) business, award-winning farm shop, florist, Farmhouse Kitchen Tea Room, Hayrack Espresso Bar tea garden and much more, Tulleys caters for all tastes.
"Today our business is probably best known for its farm attractions," he says.
"Our giant maize maze in the summer and seasonal events such as the Egg-Stravaganza at Easter and Christmas Family Magic occasions mean that we are now able to draw annual crowds in excess of 100,000."
The US connection
A US connection has played an integral part for Beare in the development of his own business.
"I owe much to America through regularly attending conventions organised by the North American Farmers Direct Marketing Association (NAFDMA)," he says. A board member of the association since 2005, Beare attended his first NAFDMA convention back in 1998. He has also been the association's secretary and was the first Englishman ever to be appointed a board member. Conventions are large, attracting up to 750 delegates. In 2004, Beare won NAFDMA's International Farm Retailer of the Year Award.
Tulleys Farm Shop opened in the depths of the 1992 recession. "People said I was mad," Beare says. "In similar trading conditions growers need to be passionate about what they do in a location that attracts people to it. In addition, you require commercial vision with the ability to communicate effectively. Above all, you must be prepared to take a calculated risk as we did with the maize maze and our Halloween Festival."
Beare has taken over the reins as FARMA chairman for three years from Sally Bendall. Aged 39, Beare is one of the organisation's youngest-ever chairmen. He has already taken the key decision to move the annual FARMA Conference from its usual November slot to 25-27 January 2010, with the venue likely to be the Telford International Centre, Shropshire.
Joined-up farming
"I am also keen that the conference should reflect a more joined-up approach to farm diversification with involvement of other associations committed to this," he explains. Today, many FARMA members have branched out beyond farm shops and PYO, so FARMA 2010 will focus on farm diversification.
Beare has been at the forefront of developing the recently launched Maize Maze Association (MMA). There are estimated to be 50 operators nationwide. The MMA will develop networking opportunities for members and share best practice, and aims to raise standards nationally. An MMA website has already been developed, promoting visits to maize mazes.
Family business
Tulleys Farm, which was started by Beare's grandfather, celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2007. For many years the family were tenant farmers on the 182ha unit, successfully purchasing the freehold in 1997.
Tulleys PYO started in 1972 when Beare's parents Denis and Marion Beare planted an acre (0.4ha) of strawberries. Today PYO customers can choose from not only strawberries but gooseberries, raspberries, tayberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, sunflowers, plums, pumpkins, squash and gourds.
All this is now produced from 30 PYO acres (12ha). An outdoor pursuits company leases 20ha of woodland from Tulleys Farm while the maize maze accounts for 4.9ha, leaving a balance of about 145ha, which Beare has plans to develop.
"We are continually monitoring and assessing new projects here and overseas," says Beare. The most likely next development, which would be housed within the farm-shop complex, will be the setting up of a butchery and a butcher's shop. While plans for this are well advanced, a final start date for the work has yet to be agreed.
There are also plans to expand the Farmhouse Kitchen Tea Room, a conversion from a Victorian stable block, doubling covers to 120. The additional cash flow provided by these developments will raise Tulleys Farm's takings even higher than the current £2.5m annual turnover.
For the past few years, Beare has been working closely with Shopper Anonymous managing director Jonathan Winchester.
"It's good spending a monthly half-day with Jonathan, who knows the farm-shop sector well yet can stand back from it," he says.
Winchester challenges conventional farm-shop practices, setting Beare achievable, measurable monthly objectives and targets. Shopper Anonymous specialises in mystery-shopping services for many business sectors, raising standards across areas such as customer satisfaction and service, sales, image, one-to-one skills and ultimate profitability. When visiting farm shops Beare and Winchester assess good and bad practice in monitoring Tulleys Farm's competitors.
Contact with customers
Regular, fortnightly customer emails communicate all aspects of the business covering PYO, the farm shop, events and the maize maze. A Tulleys customer loyalty scheme has proved successful. At point-of-purchase a customer-presented card is punched 24 times during different farm shop visits, resulting in a £5 discount.
"Recruiting and keeping the best possible team is key in a service business like ours," Beare explains.
There are 20 full-time permanent staff at Tulleys supplemented by a similar number of part-time employees. However, at peak periods such as the Halloween festival, then as many as 180 staff are required, including actors, technicians and support personnel.
The festival, which runs over a 10-day period in the month of October ("October Fest" by day and "Shocktober Fest" by night) attracted 7,500 visitors over one day alone in 2008, with 3,000 on site at one time. The pressure on management in providing good customer care, not to mention health and safety, is considerable at such peak periods.
Beare advises and counsels other farms and farmers in how to successfully develop their farm attractions, events and viable diversifications to complement existing PYO and similar conventional horticultural activities.
"I enjoy it because it's another income stream and invariably I come back to Tulleys Farm having learned something new, which I can then implement within my own business," he says.
"It's always satisfying and rewarding to see ideas and concepts that I have recommended to others being profitably implemented by them." He also lectures widely, presenting the Tulleys Farm story to a broad cross-section of audiences and discussion groups.
Beare's enthusiasm and expertise will prove invaluable to FARMA members during his time as chairman.
CV: STUART BEARE
1988-1991: Attends Writtle Agricultural College, Chelmsford, Essex.
Studies for HND in Commercial Horticulture
1991: Partner, Tulleys Farm
1992: Tulleys Farm shop opens
1996: Farmhouse Kitchen Tea Room opens
1997: Tulleys Farm 182ha freehold purchased by Beare family
1999 and 2003: Wins NFU Farm Retailer of the Year
2006-07: Wins Best Sussex Food Shop at Sussex Food & Drink Awards
2008: Chairman, FARMA
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