Kiss the Cow Farm
Business Focus
A diversified, organic, family farm in Barnard, with a small herd of pastured Jerseys, ducks, turkeys, broilers and layers. Kiss the Cow sells directly from their farm store, at local farmers markets, and a bit of wholesale to local restaurants.
Loan Summary
Looking to expand their milk sales beyond a raw milk dairy, the Robars took out a $15,000 Business Builder Loan to help purchase pasteurization and ice cream making equipment to further diversify their operation.
The Backstory
Randy and Lisa have been farming since 2008, refining the mix of their operation to make their small, family farm economically and environmentally sustainable.
In addition to selling eggs, pastured broilers, ducks, and turkeys, the couple has been producing and selling organic raw milk from their small herd of Jerseys. Given their out of the way location, Organic Valley wouldn’t make the trip out to pick up the milk for so few cows, leaving the Robars unable to sell to a processor.
Thus, they saw creating a super premium ice cream offering as a way to increase the profits off their farm, without having to rely on the complications of selling their extra milk into the wholesale market. Their ice cream recipe includes their own grass-grown organic cream, milk, eggs, and other local ingredients and premium flavorings.
Randy and Lisa have been working with Rose Wilson from Vermont Farm Viability to put together a strong economic plan for their farm. Rose helped them compile their numbers for equipment, ongoing expenses, and projected revenues.
After finding a local facility where they could set up shop, and piloting their ice creams at local farmers markets, the Robars lost the private funding they were counting on. They scrambled to research Vermont agricultural lenders, before applying to the Vermont Farm Fund based on Rose’s recommendation.
Randy and Lisa used their $15,000 Business Builder Loan to jumpstart their ice cream making business, putting the funds towards purchasing a pasteurizer and ice cream making equipment. The plan was to sell their frozen treats at farmers markets and selected festivals.
Everyone loves ice cream. We are basically selling smiles, which is a good feeling.
Randy and Lisa Robar
The Bottom Line
One year in, the Robars have been selling their acclaimed ice creams to locals around Central Vermont. It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Kiss the Cow, though. They haven’t been able to get as much time as they wanted in their planned facility. And, while they are ahead of plan on sales, they also see a need to keep expenses down and increase production to meet demand.
Randy is hopeful that this coming year will see them more than meet their challenges. Their production facility should be giving them much more time starting later this summer, and this winter Randy plans to keep making and freezing ice cream to have a sizeable inventory heading into the summer of 2017.