Kellys Vegies

I have just started a new service called Kellys Vegies. I deliver fresh fruit and vegetables to people's doorsteps. To get new business I am offering a Free Trial box for anyone interested.

You can apply here:

http://www.kellysvegies.co.uk

Despite the crunch on the UK economy are people still interested in services such as mine. I appreciate it is a lot easier for people to just pick up what they want at the supermarkets but I hope you will find something different when using my service. I also offer the following:

• Meat Boxes
• Award Winning Gourmet Sausages
• Dairy
• Fruit Juice
• Free Range Eggs
• Bread
• Tray Bakes
• Yummy Cakes
• Homemade Pies and Soups

Your thoughts and comments are all welcome. I look forward to hearing from you.

Kelly

I love the idea of having veg delivered.

I think the meat box strays from the niche and slightly dilutes the offering rather than improving it, makes you seem a bit too riverford.

When I was in school I had a part time job working for the local veg shop. Getting up every morning and visiting the local market - great fun apart from in the winter

Always thought a home delivery veg round word work well, especially if marketed at the health food market.

Got to agree the meat and pies does take the focus off the veg a bit, but it would depend on your local market and what else was available in the area

Hi Carl and Adam

Thanks for your comments.

I have gone into the meat business purely due to the demand of some customers. It helps cover my ever increasing running costs associated with my home delivery service. The meat comes from a small free range farm that offers rare breed animals. I'm trying to convince people to move away from mass produced meats,factory farming and supermarket shelves.

About the pies sold on my Kellys Vegies website, I guess it's my love of baking and cooking that's caused that.

Kelly

Are you physically delivering the goods yourself or is it via a courier of some sort?

We have a good team of night drivers that drop off the orders overnight. It's a system that works well as everyone gets their delivery early in the morning before they leave for work etc..

Thats brilliant - Have you thought of adding drinks in to the mix?

I dont drive so everywhere I go I use good old fashioned public transport. This includes when I go shopping (main shop is done online) and the one thing that is a pain is drink (milk, squash, juice, pop etc) because it is so big and heavy. If someone was to deliver once a week (milk not so much) it would be something I would use

Hi Kelly,

Congratulations on setting up a business. I hope it is successful. A couple of points:

1. The name,
I'm not sure that it is the best of names but if you have done much in the way of branding then don't go back to square one, keep with it. I am sure you are spelling "vegies" correctly but do not most people spell it with a double "g"?

2. Product range.
Just because I am a vegie / veggie, doesn't stop me dealing with meat. If I only bought vegetables, the rest of my brood would string me up. So I am realistic. Don't alienate any part of your market through a minority principle. I'm anti vivsection but I still buy shampoo. Few veggies will hold a grudge against you supplying meat, particularly if it is quality.

3. Marketing.
This is where I get laughed at (more than usual). I don't know how much marketing / sales / production knowledge you have but ...... and this where I will get laughed at ...... are you an Archers' fan? If so, you will be well up on the marketing techniques, the trials and tribulations, of Tom Archer who is doing exactly what you are doing. If you aren't a fan, it might be a good idea to research that as well as other case studies.

Gary

Hi Kelly

I remember you!!! infact a few years back I delivered some leaflets for you..

I'm glad it's all going well, I know a few people who have some of your boxes and they speak very highly about them!!

I think it's fab you have a variery of products and I for one think the meat is definately a good Idea...

Good luck as I'm sure you will just keep expanding!

Hi Gary

I always thought vegies was with one G, otherwise you would pronounce it like egg.  Anyway like your idea and will do a bit of research on Tom Archer, I am not familiar with him. The meat boxes are selling well. I am offering a free punnet of strawberries for every meat order as a way to get people interested. Sales are up this week by 5%. It all helps. It's so difficult to drag people away from the supermarket trolley...

Carl, we do offer fruit juices from concentrate and fresh, depending on your budget. No fizzy drinks though. They seem to be selling well and are a good addition to the veg box delivery. Kellys Vegies also aims to bring fresh fish for home delivery too. Just need to find a good supplier.

Hello Julie

Sorry I don't remember you exactly but thanks for the comments. It's been an interesting journey..

Hi Kelly,

You are probably right. I have been spelling it as veggies for the last 30 years. It is just something I have always done and no one has picked me up on it before. Shows how much of a minority we really are :-).

Gary

This got me thinking as ive always spelt it veggies.

Looked up on OED  site and it looks like both are right but with one v looks like an earlier spelling and with 2 v's looks like the more common spelling now.

In that case, I think you should register kellysveggies.co.uk and map it on to the current web site so both names can be used.

Gary

Hi Paul,

Did you mean "g"?  I think I will let people debate on this one. Kellys Vegies or Kellys Veggies, it's still my second name

Gary, that's a great idea. I could be losing out on trade here. Thanks. I will speak to my web developer to see what the costs are.

Kelly

You shouldn't really need to pay much at all - just register the domain name (about 6 quid for two years) and set up the DNS records to point to your web server. A good domain registrar will have help pages that'll walk you through doing that yourself. If you need any help, give me a shout. :)