1. Big Red Buyer’s Club
Jennifer Curry & Emily Marguerite
Environmental Studies Program
Denison University
12/15/14
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Acknowledgements
First and foremost, we would like to thank our Environmental Studies Senior Project professor,
Dr. Olivia Aguilar, for all of the guidance and support she has given us throughout this entire
semester. Without her leadership, direction, and positive outlook on this process, we would not
have been able to accomplish all of our project objectives.
We would also like to thank our enthusiastic classmates for all of their help in terms of peer
editing and feedback. This was a tough feat and an incredible learning experience that we all
took part in together, and it was that unity, cohesion, encouragement that helped propel us
through to the end.
Lastly, we would like to give a tremendous thank you to our Senior Project Coordinator, Piper,
the Sustainability Manager for Dining Services. Piper is always willing to help us in any way
that she can. She is extremely inspiring, charismatic, and passionate in all of her work, which
really motivated us to try and make a difference at Denison through our project. If not for her
positive attitude, this semester would not have been the experience that it was nor would we have
been able to take away as much as we did. We know that the skills she has taught us can now be
translated into all aspects of our futures and we are greatly appreciative of this.
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Table of Contents
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………...…5
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………6
Literature Review………………………………………………………………………………12
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..12
Benefits to Buying and Supporting Local……………………………………………12
Community Supported Agriculture: How it Relates to the Big Red Buyer’s Club….14
Similar Projects Around the Country………………………………………………...20
How These Similar Projects Relate to the Big Red Buyer’s Club…………………...23
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………...24
Methods…………………………………………………………………………………………24
Surveys………………………………………………………………………….........25
Action--PR and Marketing…………………………………………………………...26
Economic Analysis…………………………………………………………………...27
Results…………………………………………………………………………………………...29
Survey Results………………………………………………………………………..29
Participation…………………………………………………………………………..34
Revenue…………………………………………………………………………........35
Price Markup………………………………………………………………………....37
Discussion……………………………………………………………………………………….37
Contributions: Bringing the Community Together & the Success of Vendor………..37
Order Form……………………………………………………………………….......38
Tasting Event………………………………………………………………………....40
Buyer’s Club Launch………………………………………………………………....44
Limitations………………………………………………………………………........47
Overall Outcome: Was This a Success? ……………………………………………..49
Jennifer’s Response……………………………………………………49
Emily’s Response……………………………………………………...50
Sustaining the Buyer’s Club Beyond This Semester…………………………………52
Future Possibilities……………………………………………………………………53
Overall Reflection of the Experience…………………………………………………54
Jennifer’s Response……………………………………………………54
Emily’s Response……………………………………………………...55
References……………………………………………………………………………………….57
Appendices………………………………………………………………………………………59
A…………………………………………………………………………...................59
B…………………………………………………………………………...................60
C…………………………………………………………………………...................65
D.1…………………………………………………………………………................66
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Abstract
Big Red Buyer’ Club
Jennifer Curry & Emily Marguerite
Environmental Studies Program
The purpose of this project is to (1) gauge the Denison community’s knowledge, priority, and
interest in supporting and buying local, (2) increase the awareness of the benefits to buying local
and of the Buyer’s Club, and (3) demonstrate the economic impact to buying local on both
consumers and producers. The Big Red Buyer’s Club is a program that was created so that the
Denison community can purchase local products directly from local vendors. As national food
chains continue to grow, local farmers are continuously seeing declining sales, ultimately hurting
the local economy. The Buyer’s Club will help to facilitate consumer support for local vendors
so that consumers are spending their money on local sources instead of diverting their resources
to these national chains. It is evident through our research that the price markup for the Buyer’s
Club is less than the price markup for national chain grocery stores, and these findings can help
to gain support for the Buyer’s Club by directing consumers towards these local sources. In
addition, by tracking the incoming revenue for the vendors, total number of members, and total
amount of products ordered from one pickup day to the next, it is evident that the Buyer’s Club
is continually growing. This initial growth will help to continue to propel the growth of the
Buyer’s Club into the future once this semester has come to an end.
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Introduction
To propel us through this project, our overall guiding question was the following: Why is
it important to buy and support local, and how can we increase consumer awareness to impact
future consumption choices? On average, food travels 1,500 miles from the producer to the
consumer, imposing heavy environmental, social, and economic costs on the local community
(Barrett, 2014, para. 10). This is especially true in a community as small as Granville. When
people buy food from non-local sources, they are diverting their money away from the local
economy and farmers, which can be detrimental to the community. A prominent issue
surrounding local foods is that people are spending their money elsewhere while the local
farmers are seeing declining sales and income. A lot of Denison University students, faculty
members, and staff frequently shop at national chains such as Walmart, Giant Eagle, Kroger, or
Target instead of turning to local sources. Not only are they diverting their money away from the
Granville community towards these multi million dollar national chains, but they also do not
know where their food is coming from. Buying local helps farmers and typically reduces the
strain on the environment. We feel that it is extremely important to stay local in order to build
strong consumer-producer relationships and support your community. We are also interested in
this issue, especially after our Environmental Studies Junior Practicum class last year, because it
focused on buying local, which not only emphasizes local foods, but economic sustainability as
well.
In order to combat these issues, we created the Big Red Buyer’s Club alongside Sarah
Piper, the Sustainability Manager for Dining Services. The Buyer’s Club at Denison University
provides the Denison community- students, faculty, and staff- with a unique opportunity to
interact with local farmers and purchase their products on campus. Through the Buyer’s Club,
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the Denison community has the opportunity to purchase staple products such as milk, yogurt,
cheese, beans, flour, candy, salsa, and much more. There is no produce sold through the Buyer’s
Club because we did not want to take away from the Farmer’s Market that takes place in town or
the Bird Haven’s CSA on Denison’s campus.
Due to the fact that this project has so many facets and is new to Denison’s campus, we
came up with the following three guiding objectives:
Gauging the Denison community’s knowledge, priority, and interest in supporting and
buying local
Increasing the awareness of the benefits to buying local and of the Buyer’s Club
Demonstrating the economic impact to buying local on both consumers and producers
We felt that these objectives would help to best direct us through the semester and center our
focus. In order to carry out these specific objectives we employed the use of these methods: a
survey, action in the form of PR and marketing, and an economic analysis. This will be further
discussed in our Methods section. See page 24.
It was important for us to get the Buyer’s Club up and running as soon as possible so that
we could meet our objectives and this entailed a lot of preparation. The first step was to figure
out the logistics of signing up for the Buyer’s Club. There is a $15 registration fee that we
charge, which covers the cost of the reusable tote bags that we gave to members upon signing up
as well as other promotional and logistical costs. See tote bags at Appendix A. After signing up
to be a part of the Big Red Buyer’s Club, members are able to view the eleven different vendors
online. They are also able to become acclimated with the farmers through descriptions and
pictures that we have created and view the available products for each vendor. See original
product list at Appendix B. This facilitates consumer choice, so the Buyer’s Club members can
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choose exactly what they want to buy based on their tastes, preferences, dietary needs, and
budgets. The Buyer’s Club works every other week where orders are to be placed by noon on a
Wednesday and then pickup is the following Thursday of the next week in the Slayter Pit during
common hour, 11:30-1:00pm.
The vendors and their descriptions, which can be found on our Catertrax website, are as
follows and were taken directly from the vendors themselves or Bon Appetit’s website:
1. Covered Bridge Creamery
Covered Bridge is an Amish family farm producing milk. All of their animals are
frequently moved to new paddocks and/or fresh grass. Covered Bridge believes in
sustainable agriculture and shun chemical sprays and fertilizers. Although not
certified organic, Covered Bridge follows the organic guidelines and in a lot of
ways does more than is required for organic certification. In fact their products
surpass "mainstream" organic in flavor, quality, and nutrition due to careful
animal husbandry and intensive grazing practices.
2. Gluten & Grain Free Gourmet
Gluten and Grain Free Gourmet offers delicious products that are free of gluten,
grain, soy, and poultry. The items are certified gluten free and are prepared in a
dedicated gluten free facility. They are dedicated to healthy eating and strive to
make quality products for every person.
http://ggfgourmet.com/en/
3. Gourmet Candy by Karen
Gourmet Candy by Karen is a home-based candy business founded by Karen
Hupp and Lisa Hamilton. We sell our products at various shows and open houses
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throughout Ohio, and direct sales. Products: Gourmet Pretzel Rods dipped in
homemade caramel and covered in chocolate with over 40 varieties. Homemade
Caramel, Fudge, Turtles, Buckeyes, Rocky Roads, Truffles, Gourmet Bark,
Chocolate Covered Oreos, Krispy Pop and Marshmallow Pops.
http://www.candybykaren.com/
4. Granville Whoopie Pies
Granville gourmet whoopie pies are made fresh to order by hand by Trish
Newcomb and are available in a wide array of flavors ranging from original
chocolate to buckeye.
http://www.granvillewhoopiepies.com/
5. Hemisphere Coffee Roasters
If you are looking for fresh roasted coffee that benefits coffee growing
communities, you have come to the right place. We are passionate about the two
natures of coffee: Place & People. Coffee is Place: Great coffee is a product of its
location. It is further enhanced by it growing environment and how the sun and
rain and soil interact to produce hard, dense beans with vivid notes and highlights.
Coffee grows around the world within a unique band of fertile volcanic soils.
Places like Kenya, Indonesia, Peru, and Nicaragua grow fantastic coffee in their
highlands.
http://www.hemispherecoffeeroasters.com
6. Middlefield Original Cheese Coop
This Farmer owned co-op started back in 1956. There are now 250 co-op
members, ninety-eight percent are Amish. The cheese is natural, made from milk
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from cows that are not treated with BST hormones. The cheese is made in the
traditional method, in vats.
7. Shagbark Seed and Mill
Shagbark Seed & Mill operates a Certified Organic region-scale seed-cleaning
and flour-milling facility in Athens Ohio. We partner with Ohio family farms to
produce and process Organic dry beans, grains, popcorn, flours, polenta, grits, hot
cereals, pasta, tortilla chips, and crackers- all the staple foods of our region. Our
farm partners never use chemical pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, or GMO seed.
As the center of most human diets and the majority of our agricultural acreage and
dollars, these staple foods are important to our health, food security, and local
food economy. This is what Organic Ohio tastes like!
http://www.shagbarkmill.com
8. Simple Products LLC
Our syrups and glazes are crafted from ingredients grown or gathered on our
family farm in Holmes County, Ohio or purchased from other local growers.
These ingredients are combined with natural evaporated cane juice crystals and
sparkling well water in small batches to produce a truly unique collection of
seasonal syrups. We use only fresh ingredients with no artificial colors or flavors
and certainly no corn syrup. As the seasons change so do our syrups.
http://www.simplegourmetsyrups.com/
9. Stutzman Farms Amish Mill
Stutzman Farms focuses on farming local and organic. We offer sprouted grain to
aid digestion. We have many customers who follow a gluten-free diet and use our
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sprouted rolled oat and spelt flour. If it is unhealthy, we don't carry it!
10. Unkle Timz Salsa
I, Unkle Tim, have been making homemade salsa for the last 15–20 years.
Sharing with and encouraged by family, friends, acquaintances, and co-workers I
have decided to take the next step and go public. For everyone out there who
loves fresh homemade canned salsa but doesn’t have a recipe, know how or the
time it takes to can your own, try Unkle Timz. UnKle TimZ is made in small
batches on a weekly basis so your order will always be fresh.
http://www.jazzed1.com/unkletimz/scripts/story2.asp
11. Velvet View Farmstead
"It’s all about family and preserving a lifestyle of quality care for animals and the
land we live on." Velvet-View Farms, located in the scenic hills of western
Holmes County, Ohio, is owned and operated by the Schlauch family. Aaron and
Brandi, Aaron’s father, David, and sons Logan and Wyatt milk 70 cows in Big
Prairie, Ohio. Being a small farm is important to the Schlauch’s. “I couldn’t
imagine milking one of those thousand-cow herds,” said Aaron, a third-generation
dairy farmer. “To me, it’s the personal contact with the animals and the breeding
of superior cattle that makes farming interesting.”
http://www.velvetviewfarmstead.com
To showcase the products of these vendors, we wanted to reach out to the Denison
community and increase participation in the Buyer’s Club. In order to do this, we held a Tasting
event in Slayter Pit on October 14th from 11:30-1:00pm. This event included sample dishes
made with various local products that are available in the Buyer’s Club for Denison students,
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faculty, and staff to taste-test. Many interested members of the Denison community attended,
which helped to further increase awareness of the project.
Although the Tasting event gave us a firsthand application for the promotion of the Big
Red Buyer’s Club, we needed more background and support to move forward. For these reasons,
it is important to build off the literature and studies on the benefits of buying local, community
supported agriculture, and similar projects around the country.
Literature Review
Introduction
Colleges and universities, like Denison University, play a fundamental role in the local
community and local economy as they are leaders for their respective communities. This is why
it is vital for them to support local farmers, businesses, and vendors in their surrounding areas.
Although Denison has made great strides in terms of buying and supporting local farmers, such
as Bon Appetit’s efforts in the dining halls and the introduction of the Bird Haven’s CSA, this
can be further enhanced through the establishment of the Big Red Buyer’s Club. The Buyer’s
Club will connect local farmers with the Denison community—students, faculty, and staff—by
allowing them to buy staple products such as milk, cheese, yogurt, coffee, candy, and much more
from local vendors in the surrounding area.
Benefits to Buying and Supporting Local
At a small, close-knit university like Denison, supporting local farmers, vendors, and
businesses is critical and has a number of benefits. Buying local reduces the environmental
impact stemming from agriculture and food systems (“Why Buy Locally Owned,” 2014, para. 4).
When foods come from local farmers there is typically less transportation involved, which
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overall reduces energy consumption and pollution, making it better for the environment (“Why
Buy Locally Grown,” n.d., para. 4). In addition, since foods are travelling shorter distances to get
from the farm to the consumer, it lessens the risk of contamination (Watson, n.d., para. 5). This is
why buying local also encourages food safety (Watson, n.d., para. 5). As the consumer becomes
closer to the producer, the consumers will tend to know more about the food that they are
consuming and the source of their food (Watson, n.d., para. 5). This will ultimately lead to a
better overall consumer knowledge and understanding that the food is free of food-borne
illnesses like E. Coli (Watson, n.d., para. 5).
Many people often claim that local foods also tend to taste better due to the fact that there
is less travel time from producer to consumer so they are fresher (“Why Buy Locally Grown,”
n.d., para. 1). For example, most produce can retain more nutrients because it is sold to the
consumer right after being harvested (“Why Buy Locally Grown,” n.d., para. 2). More genetic
diversity is also achievable with local foods (“Why Buy Locally Grown,” n.d., para. 3). Farms
are able to grow a large variety of foods, whereas “large commercial farms grow a relatively
small number of hybrid fruits and vegetables because they can tolerate the rigors of harvesting,
packing, shipping and storage” (“Why Buy Locally Grown,” n.d., para. 3).
Buying local can also help to “preserve green space and farmland” for that area (Watson,
n.d., para. 4). Watson explains, “By buying foods grown and raised closer to where you live, you
help maintain farmland and green space in your area” (Watson, n.d., para. 4). Since the farmers
are responsible for the farmland and its associated green spaces, the preservation of these two
entities is contingent on the farmers’ successes. And, consequently, the success of the farmers is
dependent on the community members buying their local products, demonstrating how buying
local can help to “preserve green space and farmland” (Watson, n.d., para. 4). Also, if the
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farmers are garnering more community support, then they are more likely to want to keep their
land instead of selling it off to companies for new development (“Why Buy Locally Grown,”
n.d., para. 8).
Supporting local farmers increases economic sustainability as well by “keeping dollars in
the local economy” (Mitchell, 2012, p. 4). Mitchell (2012) noted, “Compared to chain stores,
locally owned businesses recycle a much larger share of their revenue back into the local
economy, enriching the whole community” (p. 4). Here, the consumers are helping to sustain
their local economy instead of diverting their money and resources to outside corporations or
national chains.
Lastly, it builds community when consumers know the farmers and producers who are
selling the food as well (“Why Buy Locally Grown,” n.d., para. 7). When consumers know
producers, there is a connection made and an understanding between them (“Why Buy Locally
Grown,” n.d., para. 7). Now, there is also a connection between participating neighbors, family,
and friends (“Why Buy Locally Grown,” n.d., para. 7). This leads to the fundamental fact that
buying local foods ultimately supports local farmers (“Why Buy Locally Grown,” n.d., para. 6).
With “fewer than 1,000,000 people (less that 1%) of Americans claim[ing] farming as a primary
occupation”, it is important that consumers support them and help them to continue farming,
which will allow consumers to reap all of these benefits (“Why Buy Locally Grown,” n.d., para.
6).
Community Supported Agriculture: How it Relates to the Big RedBuyer’s Club
Seeing that the Big Red Buyer’s Club, which allows the Denison community to purchase
local products directly from local sources, is similar to Community Supported Agriculture
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(CSA), it is important to build off the ideals of a CSA in order to connect the consumer to the
producer, increase awareness of local foods, and make more local foods available. Therefore, it
is important to understand what a CSA is and how it benefits both the local community and local
farmers. First, a CSA can most basically be seen as a partnership between the farmers and the
consumers as the consumers vow to support the local farmers who then agree to provide food for
those consumers (“The Full Plate Farm Collective,” n.d., para. 1). In vowing to support the local
farmers, the consumers make a financial commitment to the farms, meaning that they purchase a
share of the farmer’s production at the beginning of the season (Abbott & Myhre, 2000, p. 187).
This financial commitment will go directly to the farmers and help pay the farmer’s costs of
production such as seeds and labor, which is why CSA’s form at the beginning of the harvest
seasons (“Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Market Program,” n.d., para. 1). Then, in
return, the consumers typically receive a weekly basket of the farmer’s products and a majority
of those products consist of fresh produce and bread (“The Full Plate Farm Collective,” n.d.,
para. 3).
Community Supported Agriculture encompasses many benefits to all parties involved-
local farmers and CSA members. First, economically, the members of the CSA are supporting
the local farmers as their money goes directly to the farmers and their costs of production. This
helps farmers ensure financial security as they receive an influx of cash at the beginning of the
season, helping them better prepare for the growing season and any unforeseen circumstances
(Erway, 2000, para. 4). Many small farmers struggle financially as they cannot compete with the
industrial agriculture system, which is why consumer support is essential to their economic well
being. The CSA ensures this support for the farmers at the beginning of the harvest season,
helping guarantee revenue throughout their production process. In addition, backing these local
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farms will in turn inject money directly into the local economy, demonstrating how CSA’s can
play a fundamental role in sustaining the local economy (Erway, 2000, para. 4).
However, these economic benefits do not just span to the farmers, the consumers also
derive economic benefits from CSA memberships. Not only are the consumers receiving fresh,
local produce, but they are also receiving an immense variety at often lower prices. Although the
initial cost of the CSA may be high, this cost will be recovered in the long run as the consumers
will save money by not having to buy more expensive produce from chain grocery stores or other
sources (Erway, 2000, para. 7).
Next, socially, CSA’s foster intimate connections between the producers and consumers
as the consumers know exactly where their CSA bundle is coming from and the farmer that
produces those bundles. With the rise of industrial agriculture, the producer has been effectively
distanced from the consumer, creating a disconnect between the two parties (Cone & Myhre,
2000, p. 190).
Cynthia Abbot Cone and Andrea Myhre (2000) in their study titled, “Community-
Supported Agriculture: A Sustainable Alternative to Industrial Agriculture?” investigated the
producer-consumer relationships in CSA’s. Through their findings, it was evident that CSA’s
fostered an intimate connection between the farmers and the members, which is something that
many CSA members enjoyed (p. 191). When the members became more familiar with their
farmers, they were much more inclined to continue to participate in the CSA in addition to
searching out other local sources to purchase the foods not available in their CSA bundle (Cone
& Myhre, 2000, p. 191).
Finally, in decreasing the distance between the producer and consumer socially, it is also
important to consider the physical reduction in miles between producers and consumers because
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in cutting down the food miles, CSA’s have environmental benefits. With CSA’s, the food
travels less distance to get from the farmer to its members versus an industrialized agricultural
system in which food travels on average 1,500 miles to get the buyer, lessening the carbon-
footprint (CUESA, n.d., para. 4). This is exactly why agriculture accounts for 17 percent of all
fossil fuel use in the US, and this fossil fuel use further exacerbates environmental problems
(Horrigan, 2002, p. 448). Therefore, by effectively bringing the farmers and the members closer,
the products have a shorter distance to travel, alleviating some of the environmental problems
brought on by increasing food miles.
It is evident that CSA’s positively impact both the farmer and the local community,
which is why CSA’s are rapidly growing in all areas of the country, especially on college
campuses. Some of the college campuses that have successfully implemented CSA’s include
Clemson University, Brandeis University, Tufts University, and Denison University. All of the
CSA programs have made local produce readily available and affordable for college students,
demonstrating how college students can be intimately connected with the local farmers and play
an important role in the local community and economy. Although each of these programs may
differ in structure and products, they all follow with the ideals of CSA’s in order to connect the
consumer to the producer, increase awareness of local foods, and make local foods available to
college students.
The Clemson University CSA began in the summer of 2002 and has flourished ever since
(“Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Market Program,” n.d., para. 1). This CSA program
has even gone so far as to offer exclusively organic products, which is unique in comparison to
other college CSA programs. Although organic products are typically much higher in cost, this
CSA is still cost effective and cheaper than buying these organic products in a grocery store
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(“Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Market Program),” n.d., para. 20). In addition, the
Clemson CSA offers a “fruit share” only available during the summer season, which includes
blueberries, blackberries, and peaches (“Community Supported Agriculture,” n.d., para. 15).
Next, the Brandeis University CSA was started in the fall of 2008 in forming a
partnership with Warner Farm, a farm that has practiced sustainable agriculture since 1720
(“Community Supported Agriculture,” n.d., para.5). Numerous Brandeis students have raved
about the CSA and it products, but they have been most pleased with its economic feasibility. In
fact, one Brandeis student completed an economic analysis of the CSA in 2010, where he
compared the prices of the products offered in the CSA to similar products offered in a grocery
store. He discovered that $25 worth of produce in the CSA was equivalent to $40 worth of
produce in grocery stores. This is a $15 difference (Matthew, 2010, para. 12), effectively
demonstrating how the Brandeis CSA has proved to be very cost effective for its student
members.
Third, the Tufts University CSA seems to have the most variety of products as they have
developed a CSA program that includes multiple farmers with multiple pickup locations. Their
CSA is directly tied with the greater Boston area versus just being limited to the Tufts University
campus (“Sign Up for a CSA On Campus,” n.d., para. 1). The Tufts CSA includes small shares,
medium shares, large shares, seasonal shares, and egg shares. This shows that a CSA has the
potential to connect the college community to the larger surrounding area through supporting the
ideals of a CSA.
Finally, the Denison University CSA with Bird’s Havens Farm has been successfully
operating for two years. Although this CSA is fairly new, it has provided high quality products
(Bird’s Haven Farm, personal communication, August 26, 2014). However, the Denison CSA is
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limited to just 30 participants and only has produce from Bird’s Haven Farm, demonstrating that
a majority of this campus cannot participate in this great CSA (Bird’s Haven Farm, personal
communication, August 26, 2014). This exposes one of the limitations of working with local
farmers as local farmers can only produce limited quantities of their products due to cost, labor,
and land restrictions. This is exactly where the Big Red Buyer’s Club comes into the picture.
The Big Red Buyer’s Club will work to combat the limitations of the Denison University
CSA without taking away from the Bird’s Haven CSA itself and the Granville farmers’ market.
Nevertheless, it is important for the Big Red Buyer’s Club to build off of the ideals of a CSA in
order to connect the consumer to the producer, increase awareness of local foods, and make even
more local foods available to Denison students. Therefore, although the Buyer’s Club will use
the ideals of CSA’s and examples of successful college CSA programs as building blocks to
successfully implement a Buyer’s Club, it will be fundamentally different from a CSA. First, the
Big Red Buyer’s Club facilitates consumer choice as the Denison community- students, faculty,
and staff- will be able to choose exactly what products they would like to receive on a bimonthly
basis versus receiving a set bundle each week from farmers. So, even though the consumers are
connecting with the local farmers and receiving products directly from the producers, the
Buyer’s Club participants will have the ability to select the local products that they want from
each producer. Next, the Big Red Buyer’s Club will offer local, staple products that are not
typically available in CSA’s such as milk, cheese, yogurt, whoopie pies, gourmet pretzels,
syrups, salsas, flours, beans, and coffee. The participants are still supporting local farmers, they
just have a wider variety of products available to them. Finally, the Big Red Buyer’s Club will
not be limited to just 30 Denison students, but instead be available to the entire Denison
University community. This will allow for even more people to become aware of the local
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products available to them, get involved in buying and supporting local, and connect with local
farmers. Therefore, although the Big Red Buyer’s Club is fundamentally different from a CSA, it
still supports similar goals for buying and supporting local.
Similar Projects Around the Country
Denison University is not alone in its efforts to establish a Buyer’s Club on campus as
there are many similar projects and co-ops currently being undertaken across the country. Some
specific examples include Champaign County Ohio’s Virtual Farmers’ Market and Denver’s
cooperative grocery store- Re:Vision Buying Club.
Originally started from a “grant from Activate Champaign County and the Champaign
Family YMCA from the YMCA of the USA”, Champaign County in Ohio has won numerous
titles for their efforts in supporting local farmers including: the Best Small Farmer’s Market in
2010 as well as the “county seat of Urbana being awarded ‘Best Hometown’ by Ohio Magazine”
(“Champaign County Ohio,” n.d., “Our History”). This YMCA works towards helping people to
make healthier lifestyle choices whether it be eating healthier or exercising more with daily
physical activity (“Champaign County Ohio,” n.d., “Our History”). The market opened in the
spring of 2012 and allowed “growers and producers who believe that shopping local is vital to
the local economy and eating healthy, locally-sourced, nutrient-dense food is vital to our, well,
personal health” to participate (“Champaign County Ohio,” n.d., “Our History”). Champaign
County’s Farmers’ Market “look[s] forward to uplighting [their] producers and connecting even
more customers to healthy, locally grown and produced items” (“Champaign County Ohio,” n.d.,
“Our History”).
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This Virtual Farmers’ Market is similar to the Big Red Buyer’s Club in various ways.
First off, the Virtual Farmers’ Market, like the Big Red Buyer’s Club, helps to keep revenue
circulating within the local economy, ultimately helping the community (“Champaign County
Ohio,” n.d., “Our Mission”). The Market also allows consumers to choose exactly what they
would like to purchase so that they are not receiving unwanted products as, “You get to order
what you want, in the quantities that you want, from the farms that you want” (“Champaign
County Ohio,” n.d., “Will I have to buy vegetable I don’t want?”). This eliminates the problem
of wasted foods and allows people to choose exactly what they want to spend their money on.
Comparably, Re:Vision is a buying club that was established October of 2007 with a
vision of establishing a community food system in the Denver area in order to foster a
sustainable community, economic growth, and make sustainable food systems accessible to
people of all socioeconomic backgrounds (“Re:Vision, n.d., “About”). The Re:Vision Buying
Club was established on three guiding models- asset-based community development, network
organizing, and community-wealth building- which help sustain the Re:Vision Buying Club
(“Re:Vision- About,” n.d., “About”). It offers a variety of products such as bacon, grains, flour,
yogurt, cheese, pork, elk, and eggs (“Re:Vision” n.d., “About”). Similarly to Champaign County
Ohio’s Virtual Farmers’ Market, and even the Big Red Buyer’s Club, the participants have the
ability to choose exactly what they want and then pick up these purchases on a weekly basis.
One of the main focuses of Re:Vision Buying Club is community development initiated
by the community itself. This is where the asset-based community development guiding comes
into play. Asset-based means that the community is working to recognize human, cultural,
physical, and financial assets and how these give value to the community (“Re:Vision” n.d.,
“About”). In doing so, the community gains a better understanding of what needs to be done in
22. 22
terms of cost, scale, and size in order to implement and operate a sustainable food system such as
a Buying Club (“Re:Vision,” n.d., “About”). They come to see that their consumption choices
directly impact their food systems and the environment, which helps the community live within
the ecological limits of the planet and develop sustainable food systems (“Re:Vision,” n.d.,
“FAQ”). In addition, the Re:Vision Buying Club increases the community’s awareness of the
local farmers and vendors and of the benefits of buying and supporting local.
Next, the Re:Vision Buying Club, is guided by network organizing, which emphasizes
increasing community participation and creating direct relationships between the producers and
the consumers. With Re:Vision, the participants are directly interacting with the local farmers
and are becoming actively involved in the process, so they are developing close relationships
with the producers and their fellow community members. The community is coming together
based on their local food resources and local food producers, which fosters network organizing
(“Re:Vision,” n.d., “About”).
Finally, the Re:Vision Buying Club targets community wealth building, which means that
it is working to create a local economy centered on local and sustainable food systems
(“Re:Vision,” n.d., “About”). By making local foods readily accessible and affordable to the
Southwest Denver Community, the Re:Vision Buying Club works to ensure that the Southwest
Denver community can shift towards providing for their own dietary needs instead of relying on
distant industrial food sources (“Re:Vision,” n.d., “About”). Therefore, the community is
spending their money on local food sources, which will directly benefit the local economy,
boosting wealth and economic sustainability for the community.
These three guiding principles were central to the success of the Re:Vision Buyer’s Club
in Southwest Denver. That being said, since the Re:Vision Buying Club is similar to the Big Red
23. 23
Buyer’s Club in many ways, it is important to understand the three guiding principles of the
Re:Vision Buying Club and how these principles can be applied to the Big Red Buyer’s Club.
How These Similar Projects Relate to the Big Red Buyer’s Club
First, with the asset-based community development, through looking at the Denison
dining and Denison Bird’s Haven CSA, it was evident that Denison did not have anything like a
Buyer’s Club where Denison students could purchase local, staple products directly from local
farmers, except for the Farmer’s Market. It is not that Denison did not have the infrastructure and
financial assets to do so, it is just that no one had undertaken a project. Therefore, the Big Red
Buyer’s Club will create another avenue to further enhance community development and further
connect Denison University to the local economy.
Next, with network organizing, the Big Red Buyer’s Club will directly connect the
Denison students, faculty, and staff with the local vendors, fostering a connection between
producers and consumers. In addition, the Buyer’s Club participants will be able to specifically
choose what they want to purchase from the local vendors, allowing them to be more actively
involved in the process. As a result, the local farmers will gain profitable partnerships with the
Denison community while the Denison community will benefit from these partnerships by
receiving local, delicious, and affordable products.
The last guiding principle, community wealth building, looks into the economic benefits
of the Re:Vision Buyer’s Club. The Big Red Buyer’s Club, like the Re:Vision Buyer’s Club, will
work to keep more of the money in the local economy. Typically, Denison University students,
faculty, and staff grocery shop at large, national chains instead of buying from local vendors and
stores, as do most other Americans. As a result, their money is profiting large corporations
24. 24
instead of the local economy. With the Big Red Buyer’s Club, the Denison community members
will have more opportunities to buy and support local farmers, keeping more of their money in
the local economy. This helps ensure economic sustainability in the surrounding areas and
facilitates positive economic growth in the community.
Conclusion
There are various benefits to buying and supporting local farmers and local vendors.
CSA’s, buying clubs, and farmers’ markets around the country are outlets in which consumers
can reap those benefits. These types of projects are ultimately working towards building a
stronger community through social, economic, and environmental sustainability. The Big Red
Buyer’s Club will be working to promote this sustainability trifecta by allowing producer-
consumer interaction, keeping revenue circulating within the local economy, and lessening
transportation costs as well as pollution. By connecting the Denison community directly to local
vendors and by reviewing similar projects around the country, there will be the increased
potential of encouraging more participation in the Big Red Buyer’s Club, therefore bringing the
Denison community even closer together.
Methods
In order to carry out our project goals and objectives, we decided to utilize various methods. To
reiterate, our objectives included:
Gauging the Denison community’s knowledge, priority, and interest in supporting and
buying local
Increasing the awareness of the benefits to buying local and of the Buyer’s Club
Demonstrating the economic impact to buying local on both consumers and producers
25. 25
In order to carry out these objectives, we used a mixed methods approach, employing different
methods such as: surveys, action in the form of PR and marketing, and an economic analysis.
1. Survey:
We developed a “Local” pre-survey to disperse to the Denison community electronically.
The overall purpose of our survey was to gauge the Denison community’s knowledge,
priority, and interest in supporting and buying local. We wanted this survey to be as
unbiased as possible so we gave it out to the general Denison population by tabling in
Slayter and by asking some different departments around campus to send it to their
students, faculty, and staff via email. This helped eliminate potential biases as we got
students with different majors, class years, and backgrounds as well as faculty and staff
with different areas of interest. Additionally, during our tabling (see “Action--PR and
Marketing” section for more information), which was over two different days (10/9 and
10/13) prior to the Tasting event, we also asked people to electronically take our survey.
We ensured an unbiased population by asking demographic questions such as affiliation
with the university, class year if applicable, and whether or not participants are a part of
the Environmental Studies program. We chose the rest of our questions because we felt
that they fulfilled our objective of gauging to knowledge, priority, and interest of
supporting and buying local. See “Local” pre-survey at Appendix C.
For our analysis, we chose not to use any qualitative questions because we felt that these
would not only be hard to analyze, but we were also afraid that people would be less
likely to answer them. Instead, we used quantitative data in order to form descriptive
26. 26
statistics on each of the questions. We then took that data and created pie graphs in order
to visually display the percentages and results of each question in the survey.
2. Action--PR and Marketing:
Seeing as though nothing like the Buyer’s Club or a Tasting event have happened before
on our campus or many other college campuses, we wanted to be sure to work hard at
promoting and increasing the awareness of both. We did this by giving out a pre-survey
to the Denison community, employing the use of social media, tabling in Slayter, and
creating a newsletter that is sent out the day before orders are due.
Another aspect of our PR and Marketing was social media outreach. First, we used the
twitter feed of Denison Dining because we felt that it was a hot spot of information for
the university. Next, we created flyers in order to increase awareness of our Tasting event
and of the Buyer’s Club. These flyers were posted around the academic quad, in Slayter,
and on MyDenison. Additionally, we added the Tasting event to the campus calendar as
well as Buyer’s Club pickup days. Lastly, we had an interview with the Denison media
relations manager, Virginia Sharkey, as well as Cheyanne Cierpial, a student writer, in
order to get an article published about our project.
We used flyers for both the Tasting event and the Buyer’s Club in order to better market
our project. These flyers contain information with dates and explanations of the Tasting
event and the Buyer’s Club. We distributed our flyers through the MyDenison featured
events, the campus calendar, around academic quad, and by hand when we tabled in
27. 27
Slayter. We hoped that tabling would also help to create awareness about the Tasting
event and the Buyer’s Club, which it did. See flyers at Appendix D.
In order to increase participation and interest in the Buyer’s Club, we also targeted all of
the different departments and offices around campus, as well as the senior population.
We sent out mass emails to the heads of these departments and offices explaining what
the Buyer’s Club, while attaching our flyers, and asked those individuals to forward our
email onto their fellow faculty and staff members. In addition, we asked faculty to
mention it to their students. Attached to the email was also our survey link. In order to
reach the students, Jeremy King also sent out a mass email to the senior population, again
explaining what the Buyer’s Club was.
Lastly, we created a newsletter for the Buyer’s Club. This newsletter contained farmer
spotlights, recipes using the Buyer’s Club foods, and pictures. There may be competitions
for the most creative recipes where members use their Buyer’s Club purchases in the
future. These competitions may have incentives, which will be determined later. The
newsletter was sent out on the Tuesdays before order forms are due, which helped
participants remember to submit their order forms. This newsletter was distributed
electronically, via email, to Buyer’s Club members. See newsletters at Appendix E.
3. Economic Analysis:
Lastly, we performed an economic analysis of the Buyer’s Club. Here, on the consumer
side, we showed the price markup percentage between the Buyer’s Club cost and the
wholesale cost of products. In addition, we researched the average price markup
28. 28
percentages for general products available in grocery stores that are comparable to those
in the Buyer’s Club. We used this information to display in our third newsletter so that
participating members would be able to see the individual markup for popular Buyer’s
Club products in comparison to grocery store products. This helped us to facilitate
consumer awareness, ultimately enhancing the connection between the producer and
consumer.
On the producer side, another aspect of our economic analysis was to track the revenue
that the farmers are taking in on each Buyer’s Club pickup day. This helped us to see the
benefits for the producers when consumers buy locally. We also were able to see if there
were increases or decreases for specific farmers between each pickup day and then
investigated into the reasons why the numbers were or were not changing. Ultimately, we
wanted this to show that the Buyer’s Club has a positive economic impact on the
producers.
For this analysis, we used quantitative data, both for the price markup and the revenue.
For the price markup, we needed to get concrete numbers in the form of Buyer’s Club
costs and wholesale costs from the individual vendors. Once we obtained these numbers,
we had to find the price markup percentages. In order to get the percentages, we used the
following equation: [(Buyer’s Club cost - Wholesale cost)/Wholesale cost] x 100. We
then compared these numbers to the ones we found through our research of the grocery
stores.
For the revenue that we tracked, we needed quantitative data as well so we looked at the
29. 29
products that Buyer’s Club members were buying. We did this in order to see what each
individual vendor was taking in as revenue at each pickup day. Then, we compared these
numbers from pickup day to pickup day in order to see the changes in revenue, whether
increasing or decreasing.
Results
Survey Results
The initial step of this project was to create a survey to gauge the Denison community’s
priority, knowledge, and interest in buying and supporting local. Since the focus was on local,
we initially defined what local meant to us: “Supporting local” and “buying local” means
supporting your local farmers, which then helps the local community economically and
environmentally. It is about building a relationship between the producers (the farmers) and the
consumers (the buyers). Seeing that “local” encompasses many different ideas, we thought that
this would give the survey participants a better idea of what we meant when we referenced the
word “local” in the questions we asked.
After distributing this survey electronically, we ended up with 81 total responses. See
graphical survey results at Appendix F. The individual results for each question are as follows:
For question 1 we asked: Circle your affiliation with Denison. In reply, 57% of the 81
person population answered “Student”, 22% answered “Faculty”, and 21% answered “Staff”. We
asked this question to make sure that we were rounding out our age base and affiliation. As can
be seen, we obtained a pretty even distribution of respondents: students versus faculty and staff.
For question 2 we asked: Circle your class year (Note: if not a student, circle N/A). Again
there was a population of 81 respondents. 10% answered “Freshman”, 10% answered
30. 30
“Sophomore”, 12% answered “Junior”, 25% answered “Senior”, and 43% answered “N/A”. This
N/A population was the faculty and staff members. We asked this question because we wanted to
get a variety of class levels and ages. It was beneficial to see that the largest class was the senior
class because the Buyer’s Club impacts and targets that class the most due to the fact that seniors
have kitchens in their apartments. In the future, it will be important for us to try and target the
lower classes by highlighting some of the easy to use products. Also, the results of this question
directly correlates with the results of question 1 as 43% of the population turned out to be faculty
and staff in both questions.
For question 3 we asked: Are you an Environmental Studies major/minor or ENVS
faculty member? 36% of the 80 total respondents answered “Yes” and 64% answered “No”. This
question was made in order to combat population bias that could occur. We did not want the
majority of our population to be Environmental Studies majors, minors, and faculty because we
felt that that would skew our results. It is more likely that Environmental Studies majors, minors,
and faculty would know more about buying and supporting local as well as be more willing to
participate in our Buyer’s Club.
For question 4 we asked: To what extent do you agree with the following statement: The
Denison community prioritizes supporting local farmers. (Circle ONE). Of the 81 total
respondents, 12% answered “Strongly Agree”, 73% said “Agree”, 12% said “Neither Agree nor
Disagree”, 3% said “Disagree”, and 0% said “Strongly Disagree”. It was great to see that a large
portion of the Denison population agrees that the Denison community prioritizes supporting local
farmers. This gave us more of an inkling as to what to expect in terms of participation that we
may obtain for the Buyer’s Club.
31. 31
For question 5 we asked: To what extent do you agree with the following statement: I
(myself) prioritize supporting local farmers. (Circle ONE). We had 81 total respondents for this
question. 26% answered “Strongly Agreed”, 48% answered “Agreed”, 25% answered “Neither
Agree nor Disagree”, 1% answered “Disagree”, and 0% answered “Strongly Disagree”. The
results of this question were fairly correlated with the results in question 4 where most
respondents felt that the majority felt as though they prioritize supporting local farmers. This too
helped us with what to expect in terms of Buyer’s Club participation, while also helping to show
us that most of our survey population thinks of themselves as caring about supporting local.
For question 6 we asked: The average distance that food travels to get from the producer
to the buyer is around 1,500 miles. To what extent do you consider it important to know where
your food comes from? (Circle ONE). Of the 81 total respondents, 57% said “Very Important”,
38% said “Somewhat Important”, 5% said “Neither Important nor Unimportant”, 0% said
“Somewhat Unimportant”, and 0% said “Very Unimportant”. It was good to see that no one from
our survey population considered it unimportant to know where their food comes from, and more
than half considered it very important. This shows that people would most likely be interested in
programs like the Buyer’s Club because they would know exactly where their food was coming
from.
For question 7 we asked: In your opinion, what is the most significant benefit of
consuming local foods? (Circle ONE). At first, we considered making this question an open-
ended question where the survey participants would manually write down what they thought the
benefits of consuming local foods were. However, we felt that people would be less inclined to
answer this question if they had to actually write down their answer and therefore, skew our
results. Thus, we decided to predetermine what we thought the most important benefits of buying
32. 32
local were and have the respondents choose from there. Through research and our own
experience, we chose the following benefits of buying and supporting local: 1) Awareness of
who/where your food comes from, 2) Boosts local economy, 3) Shorter travel (less pollution
from transportation, 4) Increases revenue of producers, and 5) Fresher food. On the whole,
“Boosts the local economy” was the most popular benefit as it was chosen by 31% of the survey
respondents. Therefore, the most popularly chosen was one of the two options that directly
referenced the economic benefits of buying and supporting local. It is clear that economics play
an important role in consumer decision making to purchase local products from local vendors as
these vendors play an important role in sustaining and strengthening the local economy. As a
result, we are highlighting the economic side of buying and supporting local through tracking the
revenue for farmers and completing our economic analysis.
Then, the next three most commonly chosen benefits of consuming local foods were
almost equivalent in percentage of respondents who chose these options. 21% of respondents
elected “Shorter travel (less pollution from transportation)” and another 21% chose “Fresher
food”. Similarly, 20% of the survey takers picked “Awareness of where/who your food comes
from”. It was evident in looking at this data that these responses were very similar in terms of the
percentage of survey respondents out of the 81 total respondents who chose these options. This
demonstrates that the survey respondents have differing opinions of the most important benefit
of buying and supporting local. Finally, the least common response was “Increases revenue for
farmers” as only 5% of the 81 respondents chose this option. To us, the fact that this option was
so infrequently chosen was very interesting as it was the other benefit that tied directly with
economics. Boosting the local economy was the most popularly chosen benefit of buying and
supporting local, yet increasing revenue for the producers was the least chosen option. When
33. 33
consumers buy local, they boost the local economy through the rises in revenue for producers,
demonstrating how both of these options go hand in hand. When producers are making more
money, they better contribute to the local economy, showing the fundamental role that producers
play in sustaining the local economy. Therefore, we would have expected that percentages of
survey participants that chose these options to be similar instead of different as we saw with our
results. For that reason, we realized the importance of undertaking our economic analysis in
which we tracked the revenue for the producers from one pickup day to the next. This would
better allow our members to see how their purchases directly contributed to the influxes of
revenue for the producers and subsequently the growth of the local economy.
For question 8 we asked: Would you be interested in purchasing local foods from local
farmers if you could buy their staple products (ie: milk, cheese, coffee, yogurt, beans, flour, etc.)
on Denison's campus? In response, 90% of the total 81 respondents said “Yes”, while only 10%
said “No”, demonstrating how a vast majority of the people that took our survey had distinct
interest in purchasing local foods from local farmers on Denison’s campus. Additionally, 91% of
the students who took the survey said “Yes”. This question was important to ask because it
helped us gauge whether or not the Denison community had interest in being a part of the
Buyer’s Club and purchasing these local products. Therefore, we inferred that the much of the
Denison community would support the Buyer’s Club and would hopefully want to become
members.
Ultimately, we used these results to help carry us through this semester-long project. We
wanted to be sure that people would even be willing to participate in the Buyer’s Club in the first
place by seeing if they had any interest in local foods and supporting local vendors. In addition,
we wanted to be sure that the Denison community felt that buying and supporting local was even
34. 34
a priority to begin with. If not, then our project would not have gone anywhere and would serve
no purpose for Denison’s campus. In the end, the survey helped us to market the ideas behind the
Big Red Buyer’s Club, and it exposed us to learning how to reach out to a greater population,
which turned out to be critical as the project progressed.
Participation
From pickup day one to pickup day two our number of participants more than doubled, it
tripled. We went from 5 orders to 15 orders, while also increasing the amount of products bought
from 37 to 103. Even though we started off with a small participation rate, we knew it would
grow as time went on. Many people had expressed interest in the Buyer’s Club so we also
figured that many people had forgotten to place their order, decided that they would order in the
future, or had not yet been granted access to the order website, Denison Catertrax. At the time,
there was a lot going on so there was a bit of some miscommunication between us and Piper,
which explains why not everyone who had signed up had been granted access to the site before
the due date of the first order form.
In order to increase participation from week one to week two we kept marketing. We
asked Jeremy King to send out a mass email to seniors explaining what the Big Red Buyer’s
Club was and telling anyone who was interested to let us know so that we could add them to our
email list. We got a handful of interested seniors due to his email. Catherine Champagne also
sent out our email to her fellow staff members in order to spread the word.
Overall, if this growth continues from pickup day to pickup day, it is apparent that the
Big Red Buyer’s Club is going to continue to grow in participation, number of orders, and
amount of products purchased.
35. 35
Revenue
In addition to seeing an increase in participation, orders, and products bought, there was
simultaneously an increase in revenue as well between pickup day one and pickup day two.
Revenue more than doubled as pickup day one brought in $193.48, while pickup day two
brought in $451.72. As you can see, pickup day three, at $291.84, decreased from pickup day
two, although it still brought in more revenue than pickup day one. The following tables show
the revenue brought in by each individual vendor for each pickup day as well as the total revenue
of all the vendors together brought in for each pickup day.
Pickup
Day
Shagbark
Seed &
Mill
Stutzman
Farms
Amish
Mill
Gluten &
Grain
Free
Gourmet
Velvet
View
Farmstead
Middlefield
Cheese
Coop
Covered
Bridge
Creamery
1 $23.96 $39.70 $12.00 $24.00 $7.32 $12.00
2 $80.76 $98.88 $37.50 $54.00 $38.04 $15.60
3 $54.68 $78.74 $21.00 $42.00 $7.32 $6.60
4 N/A $20.85 $6.00 $12.00 $3.66 $6.60
Pickup
Day
Hemisphere
Coffee
Roasters
Simple
Products
LLC
Granville
Whoopie
Pies
Unkle
Timz Salsa
Gourmet
Candy by
Karen
Total
Revenue
1 $10.50 $64.00 N/A N/A N/A = $193.48
2 $17.69 $72.00 $8.25 $24.00 $5.00 = $451.72
3 $10.50 $24.00 $11.00 $36.00 N/A = $291.84
4 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A = $49.11
As can be seen, more vendors were included in the second pickup day, making it so that
each individual vendor was represented by the time of the second pickup day. Total revenue also
36. 36
increased by $258.24 ($451.72 - $193.48) from pickup day one to pickup day two. This is what
we had hoped would happen as we wanted to increase the total revenue and number of vendors
that received orders. This would signal growth within our Buyer’s Club. We hypothesized that if
this trend continued, we would see growth in the Big Red Buyer’s Club in terms of the total
revenue that would be brought in from pickup day to pickup day. This ended up not necessarily
being true because revenue at pickup day three decreased by $159.88 ($451.72 – 291.84).
However, the total revenue was still higher than pickup day one, which shows sustained growth
with the Buyer’s Club. We think that it is important to use pickup day one as a base of
comparison so that we can show the continual growth beyond our first pickup day. As a result we
feel that the Buyer’s Club is going to grow, in terms of revenue and total products ordered, with
time as more people become aware of the club.
In terms of pickup day four, we decided that that particular pickup day gave us bad data
with a total revenue intake of $49.11. Due to the fact that our order form was due over
Thanksgiving break, we did not receive many orders. We wanted to push the order form due date
back and subsequently have the order form due the Thursday after we returned from break.
However, this was simply not feasible because Buyer’s Club products are delivered on a set
schedule every other week. Therefore, we felt that the revenue generated from that pickup day
was an inaccurate representation of a typical order placement and pickup day because people
most likely did not check their emails over the break. We do not feel that the Big Red Buyer’s
Club will follow that trend, but will instead have an amount of revenue more similar to pickup
day two and pickup day three in the near future followed by an increased amount of revenue over
time.
37. 37
Price Markup
When calculating the price markup percentages for various popular items purchased
through the Buyer’s Club, we found that typically, the Buyer’s Club averaged to a 22% markup,
generally ranging from about 20%-33.50% from the products we chose to analyze. See price
markup percentages at Appendix G. These results not only show the Buyer’s Club participants
that the prices they are paying are not completely unrealistic, but they also help to further
increase consumer awareness, and therefore create yet another avenue for producer-consumer
interaction.
In contrast, through our research on average price markup percentages for general
products similar to those of the Buyer’s Club, we found that tortilla chips and other related
snacks had a markup price near 30-50% (First Research, 2013, p. 4). Cereal had a markup price
of around 44%, pre-ground coffee was up to 30%, gourmet cheese was 50%, and bakery goods
were 100% (“Biggest Grocery Store Markups”, 2011, para. 5-12). In looking at all of these
numbers it is evident that grocery store markups are generally higher, proving that it is in fact
cheaper to buy products from the Big Red Buyer’s Club instead of a national chain.
Discussion
Contributions: Bringing the Community Together & the Success of Vendors
At Denison, we always talk about our community and how closely knit our students,
faculty, and staff are. However, another aspect of our Denison community is the connection that
we have with Granville and the surrounding areas. It is evident that Denison plays a fundamental
role in the local region, which is why we wanted to further enhance that link with the Big Red
Buyer’s Club. Therefore, we connected the vendors with the Denison students, faculty, and staff
by allowing them the opportunity to purchase local foods directly from local sources. To us, we
38. 38
created a new community in which the Denison students, faculty, and staff were effectively
linked with the local vendors through local food. This fostered Denison community support of
local vendors, which was essential to the successes of these producers. In addition, this decreased
the distance between the producer and the consumer, strengthening the communal bonds. In
creating a local food community, there was also a reduction in food miles, which had huge
environmental benefits. Therefore, our Buyer’s Club is covering all aspects of sustainability as it
is boosting environmental, economic, and social sustainability.
Additionally, by featuring the farmers in our newsletters and having a different vendor
present at each pickup day, the Denison students, faculty, and staff had different avenues in
which they could interact with and learn about the vendors. The newsletter was especially
important as everyone was able to share their ideas and experiences with local foods. To us, it
was really rewarding to see the creation of this local food community and see how it has
progressed over the course of the semester. It started out with us just interacting and
communicating with the local vendors, but now numerous Denison students, faculty, and staff
are directly contributing and enlarging this community. We are hoping that the Big Red Buyer’s
Club will continue to foster support and unity so that members will be more inclined to buy and
support local in the future. We are excited to see how big this community grows as the Big Red
Buyer’s Club expands in the following years. With communal growth, comes more sharing of
ideas, which increases overall awareness and continues to influence future consumption choices.
Order Form
The initial step of our project was to create an online order form that Buyer’s Club
members would be able to easily access when placing their orders every other week. For this
39. 39
order form, we had to do a lot of research and outside preparation. We first had to either find or
come up with a description for each of our 11 vendors. We then had to take or find a picture that
we felt best represented that vendor. Lastly, we needed to come up with descriptions for most of
the products, especially the products that were more unknown to people or products that people
might want more information on. To do this, we looked at and listed ingredients for these
products, and we also contacted the vendors to obtain their own personal descriptions for their
products. The vendors were often able to give us some insights into their products. For example,
they let us know what some of their specific products could be used for or how that product was
made (ie: was it organic certified, locally grown, fresh). Contacting the farmers also gave us the
chance to get to know them and build an ongoing means of communication. It was crucial to get
all of this information in time so that we were able to stay on track and have order forms due
early enough before our first pickup day.
The order form that we created was through Denison Catertrax, Bon Appetit’s catering
website. On this website, there is a Buyer’s Club button where members can click and are then
directed to the Buyer’s Club vendors. Once members click on a specific vendor, they are shown
that vendor’s description and picture and then are able to view that specific vendor’s products.
Here, members are shown the labeled pack size of the product, the price of that product, and the
product description.
In order to access the Buyer’s Club portion of the website, members had to pay a
membership fee. This $15 fee was a one-time payment that covered the cost of the reusable tote
bags we gave members at their first pickup day. Once they paid the fee, they were given access
to the Buyer’s Club order form and could now place orders through denison.catertrax.com. This
did become an issue at one point though, as it was hard to keep up with giving people access to
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the website right away after they paid their membership fee. We also realized later down the road
that we should have shown those who were interested in the Buyer’s Club our product list before
having them pay the membership fee. In addition, we had a couple of issues with the initial
website that we had to sort out, so we ended up changing the layout of the website to be more
efficient and easier to follow.
For the time being, we decided to contact the vendors again and show them their portion
of the website. We emailed each farmer and showed them their description, picture, and products
and asked that they let us know if they would like anything to be added or changed. In the end,
we wanted to make sure that the vendors were overall happy with their section. This process will
be worked on over the course of the next couple of months so that it is updated and ready for
next semester.
Tasting Event
Overall, the Tasting Event was a very good stepping-stone for us in terms of working
towards the actual launch of the Big Red Buyer’s Club and a physical application for the
promotion of the Buyer’s Club. Before the Tasting Event, we had done a lot of work in terms of
boosting awareness for the Buyer’s Club, increasing membership and participation, creating the
order form, communicating with all of the vendors, and working out all of the logistics in order
to successfully launch our Buyer’s Club. Therefore, the Tasting Event was crucial as it was a
culmination of all of our preliminary efforts and worked to really showcase the Big Red Buyer’s
Club and everything that it has to offer.
Seeing as though nothing like this or the Buyer’s Club has ever taken place on Denison’s
campus before, it was essential to really work out the logistics of the event. First, we had to
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determine a time, date, and place that would attract the most attention from the Denison
community and would best fit the busy schedules of Denison students, faculty, and staff. As a
result, we decided on October 14th
from 11:30-1:00pm in the Slayter Pit. Not only is Slayter a
central location on campus, but typically, Slayter is busier on Tuesdays and Thursdays in
comparison to other days of the week. Therefore, having the event in Slayter on a Tuesday in the
middle of the day would make it easy for the interested members of the Denison community to
come to and attract the attention of other community members who had not heard about the
Tasting Event.
Another important part of our preparation for the Tasting Event was marketing and
promoting the event. Our goal was to reach out to as many Denison students, faculty, and staff as
possible, which is why we implemented several different strategies. Our strategies included
tabling in Slayter, creating flyers, constructing a big sign about the Buyer’s Club to be posted in
front of the Slayter Pit, and sending out mass emails- all of which were crucial in boosting
awareness of the event and the Buyer’s Club. We would use similar marketing strategies for the
Buyer’s Club in order to continually stay in contact with our members, keeping them informed
about order form due dates, pickup days, our newsletter, and other important information. In
addition, we have continued to use our big sign to this day by posting it in front of the Slayter Pit
for every pickup day. Therefore, the marketing skills that we learned from the Tasting Event
would be used to successfully launch our Big Red Buyer’s Club and would consistently be used
throughout the entirety of our semester long project.
Finally, the last aspect of our preparation for the Tasting Event was setting up profile
making and payment stations so Buyer’s Club members could do both of these things at the
Tasting Event. In order to become members of the Big Red Buyer’s Club, people have to make a
42. 42
profile on denison.catertrax.com and then pay a $15 registration fee. We wanted to allow
potential members the opportunity to do both of these things while at Tasting Event, which is
why we set up separate profile making and payment stations. This would allow us to answer any
questions that potential members may have with the process of becoming a member and allow
them to pay their membership fee right on the spot instead of having to worry about going to the
Denison Dining Office in Curtis West. In fact, we actually had quite a few interested members
come and do so, demonstrating exactly why we had these two stations. In addition, this better
allowed us to keep track of who had paid their membership fees and how to clear up any
payment issues, so thank you to Cindy from Denison Dining for helping us out.
Our Tasting Event featured multiple products from different vendors. Not only did we
feature the exact products that members could find in the Buyer’s Club, but also dishes that
featured the Buyer’s Club products. These sample dishes were prepared by the Denison Dining
staff, so thank you to them for preparing those delicious dishes for us. The entire list of products
featured included: Velvet View’s plain yogurt; Stutzman Amish Mill’s Krispy Treat Granola,
Honey Puffed Corn, and wheatberries (featured in the wheatberry salad); Shagbark Seed and
Mill’s azuki beans (featured in the black corn bean salad); Middlefield Cheese Coop’s pepper
jack cheese, marble cheese, mild cheddar cheese, and swiss cheese; Covered Bridge Creamery’s
chocolate milk and plain milk; and Gluten and Grain Free Gourmet’s chocolate bar, No Bake
Cookies, Crunchy Nut Mix, and Cashew Butter Cookies.
Throughout the whole event, we received a lot of positive reviews about the sample
dishes and sample products that we had available. We were also fortunate enough to have one of
our vendors, Jen Cuevas from Gluten and Grain Free Gourmet, present. The Denison
community, in particular, raved about her products. It was really rewarding for us to see the
43. 43
Denison students, faculty, and staff directly giving compliments and positive reviews to Jen. We
were witnessing firsthand the formation of consumer-producer relationships, which is something
that we focused on with the creation of the Big Red Buyer’s Club. In addition, this made us
realize the importance of having different vendors present at our pickup days so Buyer’s Club
members could meet and interact with those different vendors. This facilitates consumer
awareness and draws the consumers closer to the producers.
Also, at the Tasting Event, we garnered a lot of Denison community interest and attracted
a lot of new members. Therefore, the Tasting Event was validation that our marketing strategies
had worked. Not only did we increase awareness of the Big Red Buyer’s Club, but we also were
able to showcase a lot of the products available in the Buyer’s Club. Some of the people at the
event had gotten our emails about the Tasting Event or seen our flyers and were excited for the
Buyer’s Club to take off or others had simply walked into Slayter and had seen our event taking
place. As a result, we got a lot of new interest in the Buyer’s Club, which translated to a lot of
additions for our email list. In our opinion, our Tasting Event was a big success and definitely a
step in the right direction towards promoting the Big Red Buyer’s Club, successfully launching
it, and experiencing continual growth throughout the semester.
Despite our successes, we unfortunately did run into a few issues. We felt that there could
have been more organization in terms of setting up Catertrax profiles and paying the $15
registration fee at the Tasting event. We were receiving a lot of questions about payment and
how people could pay this fee with their credit cards, checks, or previous Catertrax accounts.
During the Tasting Event, we had two computers available for signup and payment and Cindy,
from Dining Services, was available to answer questions. However, we had both computers and
Cindy at the same table, which created some confusion and some clutter at the event. Instead, we
44. 44
should have just directed all of the questions to Cindy to allow for one unified source to address
any issues that members were having with paying their registration fee. Another thing that we
think could’ve been improved for the Tasting Event was the day of the week that the event took
place. Tuesdays are a day when a lot of Denison community, faculty, and staff are coming in and
out of Slayter during the middle of the day. That being said, there are still many community
members that have classes or meetings during this time on Tuesdays. We knew when we started
our planning for the Tasting Event that no matter what day of the week that we chose to have our
Tasting Event, we would run into conflicts. We felt that these conflicts could be minimized even
more on Thursdays during common hour from 11:30-1:00pm. Although people frequently have
meetings during common hours, students, faculty, and staff do not have classes at this time. In
addition, this would have created more uniformity as pickup days occur every other Thursday
during common hour in the Slayter Pit. Therefore, we feel that awareness and attendance could
have been further enhanced with the Tasting Event if we had instead elected to have it on a
Thursday during common hour.
Buyer’s Club Launch
Overall, we marked October 16th
, the day that the first order form was due, as the official
launch of the Buyer’s Club. Leading up to that day, we had put a lot of work into getting the
Buyer’s Club ready in terms of organization, creating the order form, marketing, and building
our email list. Like the Tasting Event, the biggest part of preparation was definitely marketing
and we did this through mass emails, flyers, and tabling in Slayter. Therefore, we used the
marketing skills that we had gained from holding the Tasting Event and directly applied those
skills in order to boost awareness for the Buyer’s Club and our official launch date. One of our
45. 45
most successful strategies was the mass emails to all of the different departments and offices
around campus. Throughout our times at Denison, we have found that one of the most effective
forms of communication is through emails. Although we had to rely on other people (heads of
departments and campus office staff) to pass on our emails, we felt that our email would be more
likely to be read if it was coming from prominent figures in the Denison community. As a result,
we received many requests shortly after from people requesting to be added to our email list in
order to receive more information. We have continued to use emailing as an avenue to pass along
important information, our newsletters, and reminders about order form due dates throughout the
course of the entire semester and will do the same in the future.
Although we had originally intended our launch date to be October 2nd
, we decided to
push the date back two weeks to give us more time to coordinate with the farmers, market,
organize the order forms, and increase our member base. When October 16th
finally came, it was
cool to see all of our work culminate in the launch of our Buyer’s Club. For our first order form
due date, we decided to have the order form due on a Thursday at noon. We felt that this would
create uniformity as order forms would need to be completed by a Thursday and then pickup
would be the following Thursday. However, this Thursday due date created some problems in
coordinating with the vendors as the Thursday due date did not coincide with the vendor’s
delivery schedules. Although, we were able to manage this problem for the first due date by
planning ahead, we decided to instead have order forms due on Wednesday’s by noon. Not only
would this make the process easier on the vendors, but it would also allow a bit of a ‘grace
period’ for Buyer’s Club members. Therefore, if someone forgot to complete his or her order
form by noon on that Wednesday, he or she would have a bit of time to get it in. As long as the
members got their order forms in by Thursday morning, then their order would be included for
46. 46
the next pickup day. However, in order to avoid confusion and to give our members a ‘grace
period,’ we told everyone to have their order forms finished by Wednesday at noon.
We got five orders for our first pickup day, which was October 23rd
. This number was a
bit low, but seeing that this was our first official launch, we were confident that we could build
off of this number. However, we did have trouble working the Catertrax website in trying to
complete our first order. Therefore, some members that wanted to place an order in the Buyer’s
Club for the first pickup day were unable to do so. We made sure to fix the kinks in our website
so that we would not run into any similar issues for the following order form due dates.
Our first pickup day, like the order form due date, was pushed back 2 weeks to facilitate
better organization and allot more time to boost awareness. We think that if there had been a lot
of orders for the first pickup day, we would have struggled in carrying out a successful and
organized first pickup day. Therefore, having a smaller number of orders really allowed us to
create and test out a system to effectively run the pickup and to check people out. We discovered
that the best way to run our pickup was to have members bring their order lists with them so that
the two of us and Piper could use those lists to check them out. In using those lists, we ensured
that the members were receiving everything that they had ordered and were not accidentally
taking products that were not theirs. This also allowed us to directly interact with the Buyer’s
Club members and see their excitement about the products that they were receiving, which was
great to be able to witness firsthand. Once we were done checking out the members, we went
into our email list spreadsheet to denote that they had received their Buyer’s Club tote bag.
As a whole, the first pickup day went pretty smoothly as all of the members happily
received their purchases and we established our system for pickup days. In addition, we figured
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out to set up, organize the products, and properly check out members- all of which would be
used in our following pickup days.
Limitations
Through our work with the Big Red Buyer’s Club, we came across a handful of
limitations and areas to improve. To start, we had a limitation when it came to reaching out to
different people in the Denison community, and therefore it was difficult at times to increase
participation. We did not have access to large groups of people—for example, all of the students,
faculty, and staff on campus—so we had to do a lot of outside research into how we could
contact those people. To get the word out to students, we had Jeremy King send out a mass email
to the seniors, promoting the Buyer’s Club. That being said, we wanted to get the word out about
the Buyer’s Club without overdoing it. As students ourselves, we know that receiving a bunch of
emails about a particular topic can be extremely annoying, so we wanted to be sure that that
would not be the case for the Buyer’s Club. To combat this issue, we decided to table and post
flyers around the academic quad as well. On the other hand, to get the word out to faculty and
staff, we researched all of the department heads on campus as well as important staff offices and
asked that they would forward our email to their fellow workers. This seemed to really increase
our publicity, as the number of people who emailed us asking to be added to our email list
jumped significantly.
Even though we were able to reach a large population of the Denison community through
our emailing, tabling, and flyers, we still had a hard time increasing participation. We had a very
large email list, close to 100 people, but a much smaller number of actual members, close to 20
48. 48
people. In the future, it is important that we continue to increase participation through marketing
and outreach.
Another limitation we had throughout the project was at pickup days. Our method of
checking people out can definitely be improved. For each pickup day, we have all of the Buyer’s
Club products laid out on a table, and we ask that members bring the list of what they purchased.
We then have to go through and check everyone out by double-checking that they have the
correct products in their bags. This can be very time consuming, which is especially hard on a
busy pickup day. Additionally, we sometimes had products that were missing, as we never
received them. That member was then unable to retrieve that product and we had to refund their
account. In the future, it is very important that we have better communication with the vendors to
make sure all of the products arrive in time for our pickup day.
Additionally, we were limited in this project when it came to relying on other people.
There were often miscommunications and misinformation throughout the semester. This
miscommunication became the most apparent when we had to give people access to the Buyer’s
Club portion of the order form. At one point in the semester, Piper was on a trip, and since we
were not administrators of the Catertrax website, we were not able to give people access to the
website. This was a problem because, at the time, the next order form due date was approaching
very quickly. As time went on, we all made sure we stayed more in touch with each other so that
we could avoid problems like this one.
Finally, our economic analysis for the price markup was a limitation. We were easily able
to find the price markup percentage for our Buyer’s Club products because vendors were able to
give us both the wholesale cost and the Buyer’s Club cost, but this was not true for other grocery
stores. We were able to see the selling price of grocery store items, but we were not able to
49. 49
obtain the retail price of those items. Grocery stores do not make this information available to the
public because that would be a bad marketing strategy on their end. If customers knew how
much grocery stores were marking up their products, then those customers may not only be
angry, but may also not be as willing to buy from that grocery store. To combat this issue, we
decided to research the average price markup percentage for general grocery store products that
were similar to those of the Buyer’s Club. In the end, this limitation threw us for a loophole, as
we should have realized that there was going to be a problem obtaining the retail price sooner,
but regardless, we were still able to learn the lesson that research does not always go the way that
one plans and it is important to figure out a new path to take.
Overall, there was the limitation that there was a semester-long time constraint. Even
though we will continue to work on the Buyer’s Club next semester, we had wanted to get more
things accomplished and furthered in this one semester, for example, the economic analysis and
increased participation. Ultimately, these limitations have taught us about research and projects
though, and they have showed us how to better adapt when faced with problems so that we can
better move forward with our work.
Overall Outcome: Was This a Success?
Here, we wanted to do something a little bit differently by giving both of our individual
perspectives. The word “success” can encompass many different meanings. Each of our
responses discuss how we felt the Big Red Buyer’s Club was or was not a success in this single
semester:
Jennifer’s Response
Although the word “success” can be considered rather vague, I feel that the Big Red
Buyer’s Club was in fact a success. At the start of the semester, when picking a project to
50. 50
overtake, it was extremely important to me to choose a project that was a physical application,
something where I could see change happen. I did not want to write up a proposal for a potential
event, but instead wanted to actually get my hands dirty in a big project that I felt would leave at
least some sort of impact on the Denison community. This project may not have been as big of a
success over this particular semester as I had wanted in terms of participation, and more
specifically the number of orders per each pickup day, but it did impact Denison.
We created something on this campus that not many other campuses are doing. We
started to help people to become more aware of what buying and supporting local means. We
began to open people’s eyes to the types of products out there that local vendors are selling. We
helped to urge producer-consumer interactions through our farmer’s table at pickup days and
farmer spotlights in our newsletter.
One could say that yes, the Buyer’s Club is not very big quite yet, but that does not mean
that is will not grow in the future and continue to teach people the benefits to buying and
supporting local. That does not mean that it will not continue to help change people’s mindsets
when it comes to purchasing foods from local vendors versus large chain grocery stores.
Ultimately, in my eyes, that makes the Big Red Buyer’s Club a success.
Emily’s Response
As a whole, I am very pleased with our project and how far we had come since the
beginning of the semester. I would definitely label this project as successful, but first I think it is
very important to define what I feel that success means within this project. I see success as
having multiple facets with the Big Red Buyer’s Club. The first facet is looking at the total
picture and seeing how far we have come since the beginning of the semester. Coming into this
project, I had no idea what to expect. In the beginning of the semester, I had talked to Jen and
51. 51
Piper about the Big Red Buyer’s Club and everything that would entail, but at that point, it was
merely just an idea. Flash forward to the end of the semester and one can see that this idea has
clearly turned into something big. Not only have we have carried out multiple successful order
forms and pickup days, but we have also steadily increased our number of members, sent out
multiple newsletters, tabled in Slayter, responded to numerous emails, marketed, boosted
awareness, and much more. Therefore, when I look at the overall picture, I see how far we have
come from a small idea to the end of our semester, I can most definitely label our project as a
success.
Another facet of success to me is the total number of members and people on our email
list. We started out with 3 members and 3 people on the email list (Jen, myself, and Piper) and
have now grown to around 20 members and 100 people on the email list. Just in looking at those
numbers, it is evident how much our Buyer’s Club has grown over the course of one short
semester. I think a lot of this success stemmed from all of our marketing efforts in which we
utilized various methods to reach to as many of the Denison University students, faculty, and
staff as possible. If we boosted participation this much in one short semester, I am excited to see
how much this will continue to increase in the future.
The third piece of success can be seen through our tracking of revenue for the vendors for
each pickup day. Seeing that these local vendors play a fundamental role in the local economy,
these influxes of revenue will help sustain and boost the local economy. Although the exact
effect cannot be measured, I know that these revenue increases had a positive impact on the local
economy of Granville and of the surrounding area. Buying local has numerous economic
benefits, which is why I consider the Big Red Buyer’s Club to be successful in achieving
economic sustainability. One of our main objectives was to demonstrate the economic impact on
52. 52
the producers and consumers and I can definitely say that we met this objective in looking at the
total revenue that the local vendors took in from the pickup days.
The final aspect of success deals with the social side of the Big Red Buyer’s Club.
Throughout the course of the semester, we worked diligently to create a new community in
which the Denison students, faculty, and staff were effectively linked with the local vendors
through the purchasing and consumption of local food. This fostered a connection between our
Buyer’s Club members and the local vendors and made our members more aware of the benefits
of buying and supporting local. In addition, in providing Denison students, faculty, and staff the
opportunity to meet and interact with a different local vendor each day, I was able to witness the
formations of numerous producer-consumer relationships. The vendors were happy to be there
and the Denison community was even more eager to meet them and sample their products.
People always say that our world is truly connected through a mutual love of food and I can
easily say that our Buyer’s Club members and vendors were most definitely linked through this
mutual love. In addition, I got to know a lot of the vendors myself and it was great to be able to
interact with them and experience their true passion for producing these high quality and
delicious products. Once again the social side of our Big Red Buyer’s Club cannot be truly
measured, but I definitely saw it come through when our members came to each pickup day
excited about meeting the vendors and picking up the delicious products.
Sustaining the Buyer’s Club Beyond This Semester
After much discussion with Piper, she has explained to us that there will be an internship
offered for next semester through Bon Appetit. This internship will be similar to the Denison
Sustainability Fellows and will most likely be called the Denison Dining Sustainability Fellows.
Four interns will work with Piper on the Big Red Buyer’s Club and help to sustain it. We have
53. 53
both decided that we want to continue working with the Buyer’s Club in some capacity. We have
two options within this internship position, (1) there is the possibility that we can turn this into a
directed study opportunity with credit hours given in return, or (2) we can work four hours a
week for the Buyer’s Club as an intern and be paid a stipend for the semester. Regardless of what
we choose in the end, we both want to continue working with Piper for the Buyer’s Club,
especially because we are the ones that know all of the in’s and out’s. We want to be able to train
others to run the Buyer’s Club so that it can sustain itself next year when we are no longer at
Denison. This is very important to us, as we want the Buyer’s Club to continue to grow over the
oncoming years and really make an impact on the Denison community.
Future Possibilities
In the near future, the Buyer’s Club will be adding more vendors to the order form, while
also expanding the products of current Buyer’s Club vendors. The reason the Big Red Buyer’s
Club only offers staple foods is because we did not want to take away from the produce that was
being sold by the local vendors down at the Farmer’s Market in town. Now that the Farmer’s
Market is over for the winter, we hope to add any of those Farmer’s Market farmers who are
interested to the Buyer’s Club. This would increase options to Buyer’s Club consumers and help
out those local farmers economically as well.
Additionally, we have recently sent out an email letting members know that in the future
they will be able to pay their membership fee with their first order and pay in cash at pickup days
if they wish. Throughout the course of the semester we also received suggestions about being
able to view the products before signing up and paying the $15 membership fee, so we sent out
another email with this information. We believe this will help to improve our membership base
in the future and help to create awareness of the products that are in the Buyer’s Club.
