Balloon Tree

“People love strawberry-picking season - it's one of those great summer traditions,” says farmer Matthew Machin, owner of the Balloon Tree, a soft fruit and vegetable farm, shop and cafe business just outside York. “So we're delighted to have found a way for that to continue, in spite of everything that's gone on.”

It's different from normal, of course. Where the public once turned up on spec, grabbed a punnet and roamed the fields chatting alongside friends and strangers as they gathered fresh fruit and veg, now they pay upfront online to book a timed slot, are allocated a specific patch of land and, of course, are kept apart from others. The good news is that hundreds still come.

“We had to commit very early on,” says Machin. “We were buying 10,000 plants and it was challenging doing that without knowing exactly how or if we'd be able to allow people in to pick them. But we've adapted, and it's working.”

Machin's family has built up the business since they began selling produce from a table on the side of the road 20 years ago. “We began with pick-your-own, then established the shop and then the cafe, which has now become the hub of the business. This year we were looking forward to our best year ever - and then Covid struck.”

Forced into lockdown

The cafe was forced to shut in mid-March, which immediately took out the Balloon Tree's highest-margin operation - and, while the shop was deemed an essential business, Machin's fears for the safety of staff and customers prompted him to close that as well.

“We'd tried to keep it open but this was early on, customers didn't understand what social distancing was, and although we decided to try one customer at a time, with bouncers on the door, the team felt unsafe so we shut the doors.”

Like many businesses, the closures gave Machin a huge headache. “Having shut the kitchens, we encouraged our staff there to take holidays, but I was responsible for a total of 60 employees. I must admit I did have a few sleepless nights.

“I breathed a lot easier when the government introduced the furlough scheme. A month earlier, none of us had heard of the word - now it was saving my business.” The bank's business advisory service Mentor gave Machin advice that helped smooth out the process: “I had thought we might need to close the business but Mentor gave us practical advice, especially after the furlough scheme was introduced, on the importance of keeping it going and how to go about that.”

Click, collect and beyond

Encouraged by the relief the government support afforded, Machin launched a click-and-collect service for the shop - but soon found it had its drawbacks. “We could only do 100 orders a day, and we'd normally serve 250 customers when the shop was open. This was also when people couldn't get food, so they were desperate for us to open, and, as a food producer, we were desperate to help them. We knew we had to reopen - we just had to work out how.”

So he ordered in Perspex screens and equipped all his shop team with masks and visors - but gave them the option of working or being furloughed. “Some had vulnerable relatives so chose not to work, which was perfectly understandable, and keeping our employees and their loved ones safe was absolutely a priority,” he says. “But it did reduce our staff from 60 to seven including me. There was a lot of working ridiculous hours!”

“Our motto has always been 'fewer farm miles, more farm yards', and lockdown has given more people a desire for what we call 'superfresh' foods. More people are shopping locally and I think will continue to do so.”

“The first six weeks was all about survival, nothing more,” adds Machin. “Like everyone else, at the start we were like rabbits caught in the headlights, but Mentor gave us advice on health and safety issues and how to maintain our staff and keep the business running.”

A reopened shop, along with volunteer driver deliveries to elderly and vulnerable customers, proved a huge hit with the community. “They've given us fantastic support - returning customers but also a lot of new ones. Our motto has always been 'fewer farm miles, more farm yards', and lockdown has given more people a desire for what we call 'superfresh' foods. More people are shopping locally and I think will continue to do so.”

And you don't get fresher, of course, than fruit and veg you've picked yourself. “The online booking service for the pick-your-own is really taking off - I think we are actually going to end up needing about five or six meet-and-greeters,” says Machin.

Opening the doors for a new era

With the immediate issues sorted, Machin is looking to the longer term to attract visitors to the site at Gate Helmsley, six miles outside York. “We'll be providing takeaway teas, coffees, sausage rolls, etc, for the moment, and we're looking at socially distanced seating, and developing our outdoor space, when the time comes that we can reopen the cafe. We're working on new cafe guidelines where, for instance, you sit at one table, you don't move, and a waiter comes with an iPad to take your order.”

He still only has around 15 of his staff back at the moment - although one consolation of a small team is that day-to-day consultation is easier. “We're a small business so can pivot pretty quickly anyway, but this has speeded up the decision-making even more. Previously we might have had a weekly meeting, but with just myself and the general manager and seven staff, there have been days when we've had to act quickly and just told everyone 'Right, this is how it's going to be'.

Of course, the future for the entire business landscape remains uncertain, but Machin is hopeful. “We've worked with Mentor to put together short-term and mid-term plans; I'm not worried about the next three months or even six months now,” he says. “As with everyone else, it may become uncertain as we head into the winter and where that might leave us a year down the line. But we're OK at the moment.” 

“There were moments right at the start when I thought we'd lose the lot. It was our Mentor business adviser who told us to keep trading. I'm very glad we did.”