DUBOIS – A Clarion County business manager has gained some insight on how to grow his unique company by hearing the recommendations of a group of Penn State DuBois business majors.
Zeb Bartels, manager of Clarion River Organics, was looking for ways to expand his wholesale produce company, and diversify the products and services he offers.
Based in Sligo, Clarion County, Clarion River Organics’ unique business model involves a co-op system with Amish farmers in the area who grow all-organic produce. Through his business, Bartels puts that produce on the market.
“We work with farmers in Amish country and collect their produce, and provide transportation to get the goods to market,” explained Bartels. He pointed out that his company trucks produce to specified drop sights on regularly scheduled delivery days. Customers, who pre-order their produce, then pick up their orders at those sights.
Founded in 2009, Clarion River Organics boasts drop-off sites throughout the state of Pennsylvania, as close as DuBois, and as far away as Erie. While Bartels has found success in this distinctive business, he knows he can branch out into new areas that would provide greater opportunity for growth.
Penn State DuBois Senior Instructor of Business Administration Laurie Breakey saw that opportunity, as well. She happened to be a customer of Bartels’ last year, and struck up a conversation with him about a way her students could help the business to grow, while also bolstering their education with real-world experience.
“As a customer, I was just fascinated by the whole thing,” Breakey said of the business plan followed by Clarion River Organics. “I wanted our students to know these businesses exist in our area and to see that what they are learning in the classroom is applicable to these local businesses.”
Breaky developed the project for students in her Business 321 course, which focuses on service learning and working to assist communities and businesses. The students conducted marketing research into demand, demographics, feasibility of growth options, and offered suggestions for areas in which the business could grow, and how that growth could be achieved.
Those ideas included the establishment of independent retail locations, expansion of current facilities to accommodate on-site sorting of produce, a social media marketing campaign, and much more.
Student Taylor Kutch of Clearfield said the experience was not only educational in a number of ways, but it also provided inspiration for him in choosing his career path.
“I thought it was very cool that we got to work with a local business; this wasn’t a mock exercise, it was something that was relevant to this business and can really help them,” Kutch said.
“My part of the project was to evaluate laws and regulations, and those things interest me. I have an interest in business law, anyway, and this really turned me on to doing something like that.”