DURHAM, NC - In our previous feature with Happy Dirt, we learned about the company’s origins from Founder and Chief Executive Officer Sandi Kronick. Now we turn to Pat Bayor, Vice President of Sales and Purchasing, to explore Happy Dirt’s unique place in the supply chain.
“Through our program on the East Coast, we’re able to offer our customers organic options year-round,” Pat begins. “When you go back five or ten years, that might have been unthinkable.”
Operating primarily in North Carolina, with strong partners in Florida and Georgia, Happy Dirt delivers on seasonality, too, allowing it to fill supply gaps and enabling retailers to partner with new farmers for a few months.
“Happy Dirt works very hard for the farms to create sustainable programs for them,” Pat goes on to say. “They’re the backbone of all that we do, so we’re always trying to put them first. I’ve been in the business for a number of years, and I’ve never seen a model that really lifts up the farmers like Happy Dirt does.”
Pat’s industry experience runs deep. With over 40 years of expertise, he means it when he says he’s never seen a model like Happy Dirt’s.
“Every year, we do comprehensive production and crop planning with our top farms. Line by line, we review what we bought, what we planned for volume, and we assess: Did we fall short? Did we buy more of that product and sell more of that product? We’re constantly fine-tuning and innovating with our farmers,” he says.
Soon to kick off the North Carolina season, Happy Dirt will soon be offering organic strawberries, lettuces, new crop greens, and spring vegetables. The strength of the operation, as Pat tells me, is the diversity of its crop assortment.
“On the wholesale side of our business, we offer 60-plus items year-round,” Pat explains. “With today’s economy, most companies want a one-stop shop where they can lean on a partner to find them solutions year-round.”
Through my conversations with Pat and Sandi, I definitely see Happy Dirt as a partner to depend on.
