Sell Produce Online, Support Farmers, Build Community: Harvestly’s Story

Local fresh produce marketplace Harvestly, based in San Luis Obispo in California’s central coast region, offers its customers over 1,200 local farm products from nearly 100 vendors. But Harvestly is more than just an online version of a farmers market or CSA. It’s a food hub that’s all about putting the “community” into community-supported agriculture. 

“It’s about local food, supporting local farmers, supporting local food entrepreneurs, supporting our community and getting food to everyone.” — Director of Operations Taryn Mohler

Harvestly is a project of Slow Money San Luis Obispo (SLO), a nonprofit organization with a mission to help local food, beverage, and farm businesses survive and grow. 

In this interview we’ll take a deep dive into how Harvestly is building a sustainable e-commerce operation, with an online store and delivery model that serves the needs of growers, producers, and its customer base alike. 

How Harvestly got started selling produce online

Harvestly was started in 2020 by students from Cal Poly, located in San Luis Obispo and one of the top regional universities in the US. After the pandemic, and when the students were ready to move on from their startup to other things, they contacted local philanthropists and NPOs, and Slow Money SLO jumped at the opportunity. “Harvestly works with almost a hundred vendors — it’s an important sales outlet for them, and an asset to our local community. We didn't want to see that go away." They converted to a non-profit in mid-2023.

Organizations like Harvestly, farmers markets and others that focus on local foods are likely to grow in importance in future. Agencies like the USDA are focusing on food system transformation to create more space and opportunities for small to mid-size producers. 

Operations: Secrets of running an online product marketplace

There are three core aspects to Harvestly’s business: Its suppliers and inventory, its customer base, and its ordering, packing and delivery operations. Let’s look at each one in turn. 

1. Supplier and inventory management

Harvestly offers not just fresh produce like fruits and vegetables, but also local meats, eggs, baked goods, ready-to-eat meals, and more. In fact, says Mohler, after fresh berries their biggest seller is soup:  “We sell a lot of prepared foods like soups, pies, bread and other bakery items, and desserts. Soup is really popular because it’s nutritious, easy to keep in the freezer, and easy to heat up and share with a loaf of bread.” 

The focus is on supplying a wide variety of foods. “We have some people that'll just order a couple of dozen eggs from us, all the way up to people who do all of their grocery shopping with us every week."

"We want to let our customers know ‘we have everything you need to eat delicious, nutritious food from local businesses.’”

An online market needs to maintain focus

Harvestly has trimmed its supplier list over the past year, to refine its focus. “There were some vendors with things like plants and tie-dye napkins that were food-related, but I didn’t want to be a craft market. I wanted to stay food-based. So we still carry flower bouquets and dried flowers, but besides that it’s only food.” 

Mohler is also constantly scouting for new vendors and new products. “I think we can always do better in servicing more customers, with more variety. For example, we’ve introduced foods from a range of different cuisines — Ethiopian, Sichuan, Korean, Mexican, Italian — and we’re really trying to expand that. We also have vegan, gluten free, and dairy-free options to make sure everyone is included.”

Keeping a tight focus while offering a variety of foods requires turning some prospective vendors away, she notes. “Jam is a good example — we have a few good jam vendors, and I don’t want to add any more. When I go to a grocery store and look at a selection that has hundreds of items, that can be overwhelming, and it’s hard to identify high-quality items. I don't want to be that."

"I want to have really good quality, from really good vendors who want to work with us and understand our mission. It’s not about just continually adding as many vendors as possible.”

2. Building a loyal customer base 

Harvestly has around 250 regular customers and sends out an average of 70 orders a week. Unlike some other fresh produce marketplaces which have the option for customers to collect their orders in person at a variety of pick-up locations, Harvestly has always focused exclusively on online sales and deliveries. This reflects their pandemic-era origin, as well as evolving consumer preferences. “Doorstep delivery means you don't have to leave your home, you don't have to go anywhere. That saves you time and makes it convenient.”

The focus on deliveries shifts the point of customer contact from the farm market stall to the website experience, social media interactions, and delivery days. It also means a higher proportion of customers who seldom leave their homes, including some elderly customers and some with chronic illnesses and disabilities. This means even a low-contact interaction like a food delivery can be an important part of the social glue that holds a community together. 

Harvestly’s delivery drivers, most Cal Poly students and retirees, play a really important customer-facing role. “We try to go above and beyond in our customer service, and having drivers that care about our customers really helps,” says Mohler. 

Two examples help to make the point:

• A disabled customer wrote in to thank their Harvestly driver for bringing their trash bins up from the curb — without being asked. 
• A driver noticed that a regular customer hadn’t placed an order one week, and suggested that the team check in to make sure she was ok. It turned out her husband had died.

“The delivery round can be almost like a wellness check-in sometimes,” says Mohler.

“We have some people that can't physically leave their home, and our delivery might be one of the few times they see someone during the week.” 

On the flip side, she notes, “if someone doesn't want to see us, or they're worried and need a contactless delivery, we can offer that too. Routific’s delivery management tools include text messaging so we can easily let them know their delivery has been dropped off.”

Customer education and quality management

There’s also an element of customer education involved when selling produce online.  “We've had a customer complain before that they have bugs in their lettuce,” says Mohler. “I'm thinking, ‘well, you ordered organic lettuce!’ If you know what organic means, you are grateful there's bugs in there — that's a healthy system.”

Harvestly uses social media, especially its Instagram feed and Facebook page, for customer education and communication. They also use their website: “We have a button that our customers can click to ask a vendor a question directly. They can always reach out to me and our Harvestly crew, but sometimes it's nice to hear directly from the farmer or food producer.”

3. Ordering, packing and delivery operations

Harvestly delivers every Friday, so they have a regular weekly operations cycle:

• Mondays to Wednesdays are for administration, planning, and preparation like cleaning containers and bags. 
• The order deadline for customers is midnight on Wednesday.
• Farmers and producers get their pick lists and create lists early on Thursday morning (this is especially important for the bakers, who need to start as early as 4am).
• Route planning is done on Thursdays. 
• Products need to be in the Harvestly warehouse by 11am Friday at the very latest for packing.
• Drivers make their delivery rounds on Friday afternoon.

“Everything our customers order is made or picked fresh,. It’s never more than 48 hours old.”

Supporting local producers and small farms

With busy farmers and producers scattered across a relatively wide area, Harvestly helps out by providing three extra drop-off locations for its vendors in Paso Robles, Atascadero, and Santa Maria. 

“Some of our farmers are 45 minutes to an hour away,” explains Mohler. “So we save drive time for them. They can just drop off wherever it’s most convenient for them, and then we have a pickup driver who goes around on Friday mornings. He aggregates everything and brings it back here to our central depot in San Luis Obispo.”

Quality control and keeping perishables fresh

Fresh produce, especially eggs, perishables, and soft fruits like berries, need careful handling to ensure they arrive at the customer’s doorstep in tip-top condition. Harvestly has two ways to ensure high product quality:

1. Care in packing: Packers are trained to always pack the most delicate items like fresh herbs and eggs on top. “It’s about paying attention,” says Mohler. “We tell our packers — if this was your order and you opened the bag, would you be happy with it?”
2. Packaging: Harvestly uses high-quality reusable containers and bags. They include ice packs so that frozen foods stay as cold as they should be.  

Sustainable packaging

Harvestly’s high-quality bags and other packaging do more than just keep its fresh produce pristine — they’re also an important part of its commitment to environmental and financial sustainability. 

“All our customers are really good about returning the bag, the ice packs, and reusable items like strawberry cartons, egg cartons, and milk bottles,” explains Mohler. “They just put it all in their bag and leave it out on the porch, so when our driver comes and drops off their next order, they can pick it up. We separate everything out when we're cleaning the bags for the next delivery, and give it all back to the vendors to help keep their costs down.”

“It continues the community feel,” adds Mohler. “Not only are you recycling, but you're helping that farmer who can wash out and reuse the containers and glass jars. It makes a big difference to our vendors because they're all small businesses too.” 

Technology that supports selling produce online

Harvestly relies on two main software tools:

1. Online marketplace software

To sell online, you need a website management tool that combines advanced functionality with ease of use. An online marketplace like Harvestly needs an e-commerce platform that:

• Offers a good user experience for customers and employees alike.
• Includes all the necessary functionality, like inventory management, order taking, and a point of sale (POS) or checkout function that can take credit card payments. 
• Offers integrations to other services like payment gateways, messaging apps, or shipping providers as needed.

Harvestly uses a heavily customized version of CS Cart, a leading online marketplace builder. Other options for those who want to sell produce online include Local Food Marketplace (if you want to build a multi-vendor market), and Barn2Door (for individual farmers). 

2. Delivery management software

Harvestly uses Routific to plan its routes, manage driver shift times, and communicate with customers through real-time notifications.  

Mohler says using a delivery planner like Routific makes a big difference to her delivery operations, as well as to her drivers. “Before Harvestly, I worked in a feed store. We did deliveries, but we didn’t have any software, so it was just — you send your drivers on whatever route you think is best. That ended up wasting a lot of time, and it was hard for the drivers. With Routific they can know by Thursday evening what their route is going to be, and what the estimated time is, so they know how long they’ll be working. And we still have the flexibility to make last minute changes.” 

Harvestly switched to Routific after previously using Onfleet. “Routific was less expensive, and I really appreciate their communication. There was never really anybody at Onfleet that I could call and ask what's going on. With Routific, when there’s a problem I have a phone number to call so I can talk to a person and have them immediately figure out the problem.”