Big Grower January 2021 - 7

COVER STORY
and into the garden, it will fail. At Nature's Way
Farms, quality transcends past the greenhouse
and into the business and the team itself.
" There is a lot of pride involved in what we
built on, " shares Dawn. " We strive for quality and
perfection, and we want to be known for what we
put in the stores. We want it to be a huge success
for our customer. We take the extra step, we put
the extra cut, we put the extra spray, or whatever
needs to be done. "
And the entire team at Nature's Way agrees
with this emphasis on plant quality. " We built a
tremendous team of people here, and we all work
with the same goal in mind. "
And when the COVID-19 pandemic hit,
changes had to be made - but the quality of the
plants, and even more importantly, the quality of
the team members, were top of mind.
" We had to refocus how to keep our team safe, "
says Beatriz. " With COVID, one of the challenges
of the farm really was social distancing. It's one
thing that the sales and marketing team can work
from home, but we can't pull the plants from
home, or fertilize it, water it, cut it and treat it. "
Nature's Way Farms was fortunate and
Ready to Go is a houseplants program
developed to bring instant home decor to
Home Depot shoppers.
QUALITY (OF LIFE) MATTERS
Every successful grower will tell you that
quality matters. It's a no brainer. If the plant
is not healthy and does not perform at retail
experienced an incredible increase in sales this
year, which can be attributed to the quality of the
plants and reliability through vendor partners.
They were able to supply the extreme increase in
demand. With that, however, Dawn says she had
to practically double their packing house.
" We had to add space, we had to build more
houses, we had to expand our loading docks -
so that no one is working out in the sun and in
the rain with the new social distance policies, "
says Beatriz. " It was a massive undertaking to
reconfigure, and now that we have, we're not
going back. We need to stay this way and make it
sustainable. Now, we're prepared for next time. "
Dawn adds, " I know what our future looks like
and our future is strong. We have the customers
that are willing and able and say, 'Sign us up,
we're ready.' So now we have to do our part to
make sure it's there. We can't be in the middle of
spring and now have enough dock space to load
30 more trucks. "
LOOKING FORWARD
It may be cliché, but in our industry, the
saying couldn't ring more true: If you're going
to do something, do it right. There is no better
example of this than Nature's Way's plan to
expand to e-commerce. The conundrum at this
very moment in time is that online sales have
skyrocketed. This is the perfect time to sell
almost anything online. But the very thing that
caused the boom in online sales, COVID-19, is the
same thing that has set their project back.
" We couldn't handle it this year. We didn't
want to lose focus on the needs of our current
customers by evolving this other area of business
during a global crisis, " says Beatriz.
" Our crops are committed to our current
customers, and we need to keep up with their
increased demands. We don't want to launch our
e-commerce and let consumers down when we
can't deliver. E-commerce is a top priority
in 2021. "
You have a
MANUFACTURERS OF GREENHOUSE STRUCTURES & COMPONENTS
Our commitment is to manufacture superior commercial structures and accessories
for diverse industry applicaaons. We provide viable and cost-efficient soluaons by
offering innovaave technology to maximize your profits. Growers have turned to our
team of experts for over 30 years. From designing your greenhouse to ensuring proper
maintenance years ahead, we will be there every step of the way. Dedicaaon, support
and quality is our promise to you.
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Big Grower January 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Big Grower January 2021
