Hiring: Farm Store Manager – Simple Gifts Farm

Simple Gifts Farm Farm Store Manager Job Description

Simple Gifts Farm is a small, diverse market farm located in Western Massachusetts. We run a 300-member CSA program and were 18-year members of the Amherst Farmer’s Market. In July of 2017, we opened a full-service farm store on-site to converge our CSA and retail marketing efforts. While vegetables are our main crop, we integrate livestock into our production system to build soil fertility and to produce meat and eggs. In March 2020, the Farm Store switched its operations to be online- and curb-side order only, with no customers entering the store. We set up an online store on our website and the majority of our orders are now coming in through this channel.

We lease a total of 30 acres from North Amherst Community Farm (NACF), a nonprofit formed by a coalition of passionate farm neighbors who own the land and have preserved it in perpetuity for farming. NACF selected us as farm tenants to ensure that the land remains an organic farm, a wildlife corridor, and a place for local residents to enjoy nature and walking trails. We run the farm as an ecological unit, working to improve the health of micro and macro-organisms alike, and connecting our CSA members and other neighbors with their local food supply. We also pride ourselves on being a working educational farm by focusing our employee recruitment and training on young people interested in pursuing a farming or related career.  We maintain a collaborative and professional work environment where all staff are encouraged to achieve excellent results, both independently and as members of a team.

Overview:

The Farm Store Manager will work with Farm Managers to oversee all daily operations of the Simple Gifts Farm store and will work to ensure smooth and timely completion of duties, communication with other segments of the farm operation, and to foster a friendly, professional, collaborative and harmonious work environment at the store.  The successful applicant will also bring an entrepreneurial drive to the position and will be actively involved in improving the sales and profitability of the store.  This position is a full-time, year-round management position with flexible hours that will include some evening and weekend duties.

Please apply by sending a resume, a list of at least 3 work references, and a cover letter explaining your interest in the position to Jeremy Barker Plotkin at simplegiftsfarm@gmail.com.

Specific Responsibilities of Farm Store Manager

• Daily Operations 
  • Receive and fill online orders for customers using our online ordering and porch-side pick-up system and continue to work on employee training to improve this system
  • Collaborate with other staff to serve customers outside the store for walk-up orders
  • Transition to a hybrid online-order and walk-in customer system when COVID levels justify the move.
• Maintain beautiful and bountiful produce display
• Collaborate with Harvest Manager and other Farm staff to keep inventory of produce and plants from Simple Gifts and other farms well-stocked in farm store walk-in cooler and on outdoor display
• Proactively manage produce display in store, in front of the store), and on website to highlight seasonal specials and maximize produce quality and sales
• Supervise farm store staff to achieve above results
• Maintain Inventory, POS system and e-Commerce platform
• Manage data entry to ensure accurate record-keeping and projections
• Order products for farm store as needed to optimize sales, maintain abundant display and minimize spoilage or excessive inventory from vendors; in collaboration with Purchasing Manager
• Source new products for sale in the store, in collaboration with Purchasing Manager
• Collaborate with Farmers, Harvest Manager, and other farm staff to continually improve inventory, POS, and record-keeping systems
• Regularly check online inventory to ensure  that all products in the store are stocked and visible on the website and that descriptions are up to date and accurate

•  Manage farm store staff 

• Schedule and supervise farm store staff and monitor to maintain staffing level appropriate to how busy the store is (neither too many nor too few)
• Train farm store staff in operation of POS system, display management, and all other tasks as needed
• Participate in hiring of new farm store staff as needed including advertising, initial screening, and interviewing), in collaboration with farm owners
• Foster collaborative, friendly, and productive work environment
• Meet weekly with farm owners and farm manager to discuss store operations
• Send weekly staff email to e-cap sales performance and goals for the week, and send out updates and reminders about general store operations

• Manage physical appearance of store environment

• Maintain PYO board and map outside of store; put up signs for crops in PYO gardens as they become available and remove old ones; communicate with CSA members and other customers about PYO crop availability and location
• Build and maintain seasonal displays including signage, decorations, and merchandising (plant starts in spring, pumpkins/squash in fall, etc.)
• Monitor the appearance and tidiness of the interior and  exterior of the store and nearby grounds, delegate store staff or notify farm staff as appropriate to maintain appearance
• Establish and maintain a system to monitor refrigeration temperatures
• Collaborate with other farm staff to accomplish the above duties
• Foster collaborative, friendly, and productive work environment

• Manage promotion of store

• Regularly update farm’s social media account
• Regularly generate special sales and other promotions for farm store and maintain a plan and calendar of promotions for 6 months from the current date
• Collaborate with other farm staff to solicit content for social media and newsletter
• Collaborate with farm management and graphic designer to generate and manage print, radio, social media, and other advertising
• Help to create a welcoming environment for customers
• Bring an entrepreneurial attitude towards increasing sales and margins in the store.

Compensation will be commensurate with experience, and future increases will be tied to the performance of the store.  This job has the potential to be remunerative to an employee who actively works to bring the store to a high level of performance.