Local Yokel PE

When I was growing up – and we're going back nigh on sixty years – we bought our veggies from Manny. Manny was the greengrocer. His shop sat alongside the dry cleaner, hardware store, café, dairy, chemist, bottle store and barber.

This was before the supermarkets came. And you'll notice I called him Manny, not "the fruit and veg shop".

These traders were part of our community. Buying was personal. Manny knew what he had, what was good and what was fresh. He weighed your fruit and veg on a manual scale, scribbled the amount on a scrap of paper with the pencil that lived behind his ear, and packed everything into a cardboard box. No self-service. No pre-packed produce. No apps. You bought your veggies from Manny.

A great deal has changed since then. We have vastly more choice and convenience today. But I think we've lost something along the way. Perhaps it's nostalgia, but I still remember Manny's fruit and veg as fresher and tastier – and I certainly remember the personal service.

I could never have imagined that, nearly sixty years later, I'd become Manny. Yet, in a way, that's what Glen and I are doing at Local Yokel PE. We use an online order form rather than a pencil and scrap of paper. You pay electronically rather than putting cash in Manny's till. But there's still a person behind the transaction.

We hand-select your produce, hand-pack your order and personally deliver it. We answer your messages. We accommodate where we can. And if something isn't right, we put it right.

That's our version of buying your veggies from Manny.
Personal. Reliable. Genuinely fresh.

We'll keep your kitchen stocked with genuinely fresh fruit and vegetables.

YOU'VE GOT AN UNCLE IN THE VEGETABLE BUSINESS!

This from one of our new customers!

We work so hard for exactly this. And my reply to her is honest. Anyone running there own business knows that it's not easy. It's not easy, but we will try and try again, every day, because that is how it's done.

We'd love to open branches in George and Mossell Bay early in the new year. If you know of anyone who would like to work with us in getting these two new branches established, please message us on 077 282 3666. It takes about two years to get a business like this up and running and breaking even, but you can only do it if you're working with the right people.

Something interesting happened this morning ...

A few people had responded to one of our ads by WhatsApping for more information. I sent them the link to our order form and then, on a whim, decided to phone them.

I'm so glad I did!

What I discovered was that these weren't people idly clicking on an ad. They were looking for what we're offering: genuinely fresh produce, conveniently delivered, at a reasonable price.

And here's the kicker.

They want it reliably.

They want to know that if they place an order, somebody is going to take care of it. That the produce will be good. That the delivery will happen. And that if they have a question or something isn't right, there's a real person they can talk to.

That's what we do.

YOU'VE GOT AN UNCLE IN THE VEGETABLE BUSINESS!

The other thing that struck me was how much they appreciated the phone call itself. They liked that we engaged with them—and that if they phone or message us, somebody will engage with them too.

It reminded me of the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker. You knew who you were buying from. There was a person behind the counter and a relationship behind the transaction.

We're obviously not going back to those days. We have online order forms, WhatsApp and digital payments. But perhaps we can bring some of that kind of business forward with us.
A simple modern way to order, with real people behind it.
This little business of ours has huge potential.

And perhaps the formula isn't terribly complicated:
Keep doing what we say we'll do.
Imagine that!

𝗪𝗘'𝗟𝗟 𝗞𝗘𝗘𝗣 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗞𝗜𝗧𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗗 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗚𝗘𝗡𝗨𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗟𝗬 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗛 𝗙𝗥𝗨𝗜𝗧 & 𝗩𝗘𝗚!

You're already buying your fruit and veg somewhere. Here are seven good reasons to consider buying it from us instead:

🍎 Fresh means fresh. We source produce according to the orders we receive.
🍊 We take care with your order. Your produce is hand-selected, hand-packed and personally delivered.
🍐 You know what you're paying, and you know what you're paying for. First-time customers receive a detailed quote before confirming their order.
🍍 Delivery is planned and reliable. We schedule our deliveries rather than promising an on-demand service we can't deliver on properly.
🫑 We want you back next week. We're building relationships, not chasing once-off sales.
🌽 There are real people behind Local Yokel. Message us and we'll answer. Need something tweaked? If we can accommodate you, we will.
🥒 We stand behind what we deliver. If something isn't right, we'll do our best to put it right.

Ordering is simple, backed up by our personal, reliable service. Once you've ordered and are part of the Local Yokel community, we'll send you a weekly reminder with a link to the latest order form.

Put all of that together and you start to experience a little of the Local Yokel magic.

It started tongue-in-cheek, but it's catching on...

𝗬𝗢𝗨'𝗩𝗘 𝗚𝗢𝗧 𝗔𝗡 𝗨𝗡𝗖𝗟𝗘 𝗜𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗩𝗘𝗚𝗘𝗧𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗕𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗦!

And yes, that's a real box of our vegetables below. AI put the box on the kitchen table. We put the veg in the box.

Try us this week!

Here's the link to our updated Order Form.
https://forms.gle/dKUAPMfnfy15CRn16

One lucky customer will win a voucher for a FRUIT BOX (pictured below), delivery included.

SPRING CELEBRATION LUCKY DRAW!

🍊 You've seen our posts in your feed.
🍐 You like convenient, cost-effective, quality.
🍎 You've just not gotten around to ordering from us yet.

We'll be giving away a free FRUIT BOX voucher to the value of R150 to one of our customers this week. The lucky winner can then enjoy free fruit with free delivery the following week.

Order once, win, and your second order is taken care of!
A sample of our FRUIT BOX is pictured below.

YOU'VE GOT AN UNCLE IN THE VEGETABLE BUSINESS!




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