Cochran’s Country Market: Making Business out of Local Food for Over 20 Years
Tim Cochran’s purchase of a produce stand in Rothesay in 1996 was a venture he was taking a chance on.
At the time, the little produce shop, called “The Produce Barn,” only operated during the summer months and the owner at the time wasn’t planning on operating it for another season. Cochran, then a recent university grad, saw an opportunity.
“I used to work at Kredl’s [in Hampton] when I was in university. I worked and managed there for 10 summers,” Cochran says. “Then after I graduated with a business degree I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do and there was wasn’t really anything exciting going on.”
With his prior experience in the industry, Cochran decided to give running his own local food business a try.
“I thought ‘well, I’ve been doing this for 10 summers. It can’t be that hard. I can give it a shot and see what happens.’”
Today “The Produce Barn” is now Cochran’s Country Market. It’s transformed from a summer produce stand to a year-round shop featuring local produce, dairy, meats, baked goods and more. Working with local farmers in Jemseg, Sussex, Waterville, Florenceville, Kingston, Pennfield, Hampton, Bloomfield, Woodstock, Barnesville, Belleisle and Gagetown, Cochran’s has become a go-to spot for local food in the Kennebecasis Valley and Greater Saint John area.
“I can’t remember an ‘ah-ha’ moment, but after the first year, I knew we were on to something, that this could be something more than just a summer thing,” Cochran says. “It seemed like it could be a sustainable year-round business.”
Cochran credits his store’s successful 20 years to customer loyalty, something he says the business has worked extremely hard to earn.
“I’ve been here since day one and I’m a very hands-on owner and I think myself and my staff are good at developing relationships and developing rapport with our customers,” he says. “Listening to your customers, giving them good service, offering them a good quality product. I think just building up that loyalty with our customers has kept us going.”
Yet being a hands-on owner has also been one of Cochran’s challenges as a business owner. Though it’s good to be in touch with what’s going on, being too involved can be detrimental. Cochran says he’s overcome this by hiring the right people and trusting them to follow the company’s vision, even if they do so a little differently.
“Even [today], I do way too much, but I still want to be involved. I want to have a feel of everything that goes on here. The challenge for me is to delegate and let other people do it,” he says.
“Sometimes you need to step back, have faith in them and let them do it their way a bit … At the end of the day, everyone is on board with our vision, and our vision is to take care of our customers and to deserve them.”
But customer loyalty can only go so far. Smart business sense is also needed. Two other local food retailers in the province have had a rough go of it lately. Recently Real Food Connections, a local food retailer and distribution business with locations in both Fredericton and Saint John closed its doors. Hampton’s Kredl’s, where Cochran’s career in local food began, is on the brink of bankruptcy. Both businesses had a lot of customer support, yet were brought down by poor business decisions.
“In a sense they’re competition to my business but in the bigger scheme of things we were both partners in terms of promoting local eating, supporting local farmers and local productions,” said Cochran, of Kredl’s.
“Another side of the coin is that you have all these local farmers who lost an outlet for product and probably three-quarters of the farmers [Kredl’s owner] Dave [Wolpin] uses I use so I hear they lost money. They lost potential sales. It’s definitely challenging for everyone.”
But Cochran says having a large-scale local food business can be done. He says Kredl’s owner David Wolpin and Real Food Connections owner Levi Lawrence were young, passionate and had great missions and that while that’s a big part of the equation when it comes to running a successful local food business, it’s not all of it. He says good business guidance and support are also needed.
“I’m not throwing stones because I’ve made plenty mistakes myself. However I’ve never been in a situation where I got myself in so deep that it pulled me down,” Cochran says.
“I think there needs to be more provincial government support of local farmers … maybe there needs to be better management of government money that’s distributed or oversight.”
Cochran says better education and promotion is also needed when it comes to creating a sustainable local food movement in the province. Though most people know eating local food is healthier for you, some still don’t know the broader impact it has on their economy and community.
“More consumers are conscious of where their product is coming from, the nutritional and safety components,” Cochran says. “Plus the economic impact. When you buy local, that money stays here … You’re investing in jobs, you’re investing in local farmers which can produce more.”
While many people still go to large grocery chains like Costco for their meat and veggies to save a few dollars, Cochran says changing the mindset of price above all else is needed for local farmers and local food businesses to succeed.
“It’s a big rock to push forward,” Cochran says. “But it all adds up.”