Speciality Food April 2024

@specialityfood Something about farm life hit a nerve for Emma. In fact, it felt like something they both innately needed to do. They had all kinds of new- fandangoed ideas and aspirations. “But Ben’s dad wasn’t ready to retire, and there wasn’t room for Ben to do what he wanted,” Emma says. The hunt was on, then, for their own place, and they stumbled across Minskip FarmShop which offered them room to expand, and grow something that would be their own. Central to their plans, says Emma, was ensuring that whatever they did, it appealed to families, and inspired the next generation of farmers and shoppers. She recalls the total excitement she felt visiting Ben’s dad’s farm, feeding the lambs. “So many people don’t get access to this environment,” she says. “I found that quite striking, and I wanted to make somewhere people could learn about farming in an interactive way. Something wholesome that would also support the local economy.” The shop, as it stood, had a lot of potential, but it lacked the family audience Emma and Benwere so keen to reach – an audience that has become crucial to farmshops collectively in the UK. Emma laughs whenwe ask about their retail experience. They had not a jot between themwhen they started the first stage of expansion in 2017, while looking after their inherited flock of thousands of hens. “It took us about a year to learnwhat on earthwe were doing,” Emma laughs. “It was just us. I was going to the producemarket twice a week and working in the shop while Benworked on the farm.” Animals were always destined to be part of the Yolk Farmstory, and one of the very first things Emma wanted to do was introduce Kune Kune pigs, which remain incredibly popular with visitors. “People have been coming to feed the pigs for the last seven years. Some of themare now adults which is quite interesting. Having pigs is, I think, one of the first major things we did. Thenwe added a Christmas gift grotto that year too to gain a bit of extra retail space.” Looks are everything, and throughout the project, at each stage, Emma says they have very carefully considered their branding and how any changes ‘fit’. “We worked with an agency and talked about our target market and who they would be in 35 years, and thosemeetings are where the name Yolk Farmwas conceived. We knew the directionwe were going in and who we were targeting, and that made other decisions a lot easier,” she explains. “We could say, ‘is the younger family we’re targeting going to like that?’. If it was a ‘yes’ we’d do it, if it was a ‘no’ we wouldn’t.” Lots of reorganisation had to happen before the shop expansion fully opened, to ensure everything was just-so. “One of the simple but effective things we did was that we moved the fruit and vegetable section so it’s the first thing customers see when they come through the door, because that’s our crowning glory. It really gets customers in themood to start filling their basket with fresh, delicious food.” In the redesign fruit and vegetable lines were added, zero waste dispensers put in place, and a big row of fridges slotted in, enabling the shop to sell more deli items andmeat. “We don’t have a butchery and deli counter,” says Emma, “so it was very important to have that space.” Yolk Farm ramped up its own- branded products, introducing home baked sausage rolls and pork pies, and working with a trusted local producer to create the shop’s own range of jams and chutneys –more than 100 of them. The selection of bakery items and alcohol were also increased. Other retailersmight tell you anecdotally, themore you have, themore customers will spend, and this was certainly the case at Yolk Farm. After the expansion and with the addition of new lines, “customers that already came in put more stuff in their baskets,” says Emma. ‘We run theworld’s only on-farmegg restaurant’ As part of our Daring to Diversify series, speaking with farm shops and delis doing something a little bit different, we head to Yolk Farm R unning any kind of business can be considered an adventure. And Ben and Emma Mosey’s journey, from their university halls, via the Australian Outback and tropical jungles of Indonesia, circling back to North Yorkshire, has all the hallmarks of the best kind of adventure story. One filled with excitement, jeopardy and discovery. Together, the couple run Yolk Farm Shop inMinskip – home to their ‘world first’ on-farm free-range egg restaurant, where everything from the decor to the menu is inspired by the daily delivery of sunshine-yolked beauties from their flock of 500 hens. What they’ve managed to create is, says Emma, truly far-removed from what they imagined life would look like when they met in their university days – her studying English, and Ben engrossed in geology. “My idea of what ‘countryside’ meant completely changed when I visited his home. I was like ‘oh, THIS is the countryside!’” Emma was struck by the contrast in their upbringings. “I’d never been to a farm before I met him,” the now chair of the FarmRetail Association says. “You’re either born into a farming family, or youmarry into it.” Farming was left far behind when they moved to Australia for five years, following Ben’s career as a geologist searching for signs of copper and gold in the wild, unforgiving landscape of the Outback (unfortunately he didn’t strike it lucky). The pair thenmoved to Indonesia, with Ben becoming almost a modern- day Indiana Jones, working his way through the humid junglescapes of Jakarta, and flying off at a moment’s notice while Emma settled down to write and finish her debut novel, How to Be a Good Wife (published as Emma Chapman). In 2015, though, they made the bold decision to pack up their exploring ways and return to the UK to help Ben’s dad out on the farm.