West Bend, WI – After much success with their family-owned Farm Store at Schmidt Century Farm, 5485 St. Anthony Road, Deanna and Roger Schmidt are investing in a new building.
“I wanted to start a farm store since 2018,” said Deanna Schmidt. “In the beginning customers would come to the farm to pay for their large beef and pork purchases. We didn’t know many of them beyond the phone call and check drop off.
“Sometimes, checks would be mailed, and we would just never meet with the customer face to face.”
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To better interact with people and educate them the Schmidts started going to Farmers Markets. In 2019, the family hosted its first farm open house.
“That really worked well,” said Deanna. “We got to meet our customers and they were able to get a farm experience and learn where their food comes from.”
Over the years as Roger Schmidt was selling quarter, half and whole black Angus beef, the Farm Store, started becoming extremely popular.
Once an attached garage now became a local market where people could buy specific cuts of meat. Area families, who didn’t have freezer space for larger quantities, were stopping weekly to buy steak, bacon, or eggs.
Without really knowing it, Schmidt Century Farm was on the cutting edge of a national trend, where the public enjoys shopping directly from the farmer and learning where their food comes from.
Seeing that incredible growth means the Schmidts need more space and will be expanding the Farm Store in the coming months.
“The increased capacity in the Farm Store will give us more space for local products,” said Deanna.
“The added space will also help make us more visible and accessible from the road, we can have increased capacity, and there will be room for a commercial kitchen, meeting space, storage and we’ll have a heated shop for tractor fixing and space for vending during our farm open house.”
Designs feature a cozy porch, open balcony, and a much larger space for the Farm Store.
Schmidt Century Farm has also started its own YouTube channel and its products are now available at Green Dog Market, 237 N. Main Street, in West Bend, WI.
