From UpFlip.

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Scott Webster and his brother started The Fruit Company from their parents’ basement, and now it’s a fully fledged agriculture company generating a whopping $18M per year. With one small idea, both Scott and his brother launched a farming business now considered to be a fruit empire.

Ben’s parents already owned an orchard, and the idea for The Fruit Company began with the desire to deliver fruit nationally. In 1999, other online businesses had started to take off, so Ben decided to try it out for himself and launched on November 1. Within 15 minutes, The Fruit Company had its first online order. By the following year, orders increased to over 1,800 and kept doubling year after year. When the farming business officially hit over 8,000 orders, The Fruit Company was featured on O, The Oprah Magazine’s holiday cover.

The journey hasn’t been one definitive path. With the housing crisis in ’08, the company lost $1M, and their biggest competitor went through bankruptcy. Scott, however, turned the economic downfall into an opportunity to invest in real estate and enter partnerships with big distributors like Costco.

In this episode, Scott shares key strategies to scale in the business of agriculture, what makes his company stand out from the competition, and the unique phases of growth in his business. He also explains the importance of quality staff and how operations run differently during peak times.

Resources:
Gain Access to the Upflip Academy – https://bit.ly/4fo1KOh
The Fruit Company: https://www.thefruitcompany.com/

#farm #farmer #farming