Lough Boora Organic Farm

In 1997 Tony started an organic vegetable box scheme and now has 200 customers contributing €3000 per week to a total turnover for his vegetable business of €70000.

How It Works

Prospective customers receive a welcome letter, and decide what they want to spend/week - €20/30/40 – and the proportion of veg to fruit e.g. half veg, half fruit or two thirds veg one third fruit etc. One or two shops act as depots.
Tony reviews what is available and ripe, and a menu of vegetables is created for packing. He specifies the contents of boxes of different values. Forty boxes are packed at a time.

Deliveries are made in the evening when people are more likely to be at home.
Payment is cash on delivery. If customers are out, they pay the following week. Some pay by cheque in advance. If so, a larger cheque to cover several weeks is preferred – it is easier to process and bank charges are avoided. People are very reliable and honest.