Local Flavor Enhance Success
In less than two hours, you’ve arrived at Jollay Orchards, an operation that has been building its farm retail market and entertainment since 1985.
“The majority of our weekend business is from Chicago,” said Jay Jollay, who operates Jollay Orchards with his father, Jerry. They’ve built up a mailing list of 5,000 families from Chicago and other closer towns such as Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and South Bend.
They hosted their first school group in 1985 and they currently run four wagons, with 40 people in good weather, on a fall weekend. “We’ve evolved since 1985 into hayrides and entertainment,” said Jerry.
“It has become extremely important to us and the viability of our business. We put a lot of time and energy into promotions,” said Jerry about the retail market and entertainment. He estimates these operations are 50% of their revenues and in some years as high as 80%. They attend shows like the North American Direct Marketing Association show and a Halloween show in Chicago for ideas.
The orchards are decorated with Halloween figures and there’s now a haunted house on the property in the Brick School, an old one-room schoolhouse that was started by the community in the mid- to late-1800s. They also have a straw mountain, petting zoo and extensive farm market and bakery. They normally need about 20 workers from the weekend after Labor Day until Halloween. Employees work as bakers, in retail sales, cashiers, stocking and mainly dealing directly with customers, according to Jerry.
“This year’s attraction was the caterpillar crawl,” said Jay at the recent Michigan State Horticultural Society Show in Grand Rapids in December. He said a greenhouse, that now houses the caramel apple line, was added three years ago.
Jerry said their operation has become known for the warm caramel apples that visitors can build themselves. Visitors also return year after year for another specialty, apple pie baked in a paper bag, an idea borrowed from a friend in Wisconsin, he said.
“It’s the best apple pie in the world. It’s like Jay’s potato chips. You can’t eat just one,” said Jerry. He said a staff of four people bake several thousand pies in the fall and they work hard to create a whole bakery atmosphere with homemade cookies, muffins and apple dumplings.
“Those are two items we’ve become noted for,” said Jerry about the pies and caramel apples. They also sell cider, doughnuts, jams, jellies and soup mixes, as well as gourds, squash and pumpkins in the retail market.
A permanent barn is transformed into the farm market in season and the large greenhouse holds the caramel apple line and small sitting areas for eating the caramel apples or special four inch pies that many eat on the spot, Jerry said.
“Find your target market. You can’t please all the people all the time. We market toward younger children.” Jay said parents will do what kids want to do. The Jollays have built their business by word of mouth.
The Jollays utilize a web site at www.jollayorchards.com, which Jay calls the single most important marketing tool. “We’re only beginning to see what the power of the Internet is going to have,” he said.
Jay advises farm marketers to have fun, because it shines through. “A positive experience you have to create. I’m not always Mr. Smiley. If I’m not, I have to act,” said Jay. He said the end of the season can get particularly grueling.
Jerry said he would not advise all growers to venture into the retail arena. “It takes an unique mindset. You have to be willing to deal with a lot of public in a short period of time. You have to have a sense of humor. By and large it’s been fine,” said Jerry.
He’s grateful Jay opted to come back to the farm after earning a business and marketing degree from Michigan State University. He said Jay’s expertise in farm marketing has been a large asset to the business. “It’s not only a business, it’s a lifestyle,” said Jerry.
Jay and Jerry Jollay represent the fifth and sixth generation on the farm that has been in the family since 1857. Years ago, like many Southwest Michigan farms, the farm included fruits and vegetables while today it’s primarily a fruit farm with apples, cherries and peaches. Jerry purchased the farm from his grandfather, Ray Krieger in 1969.
Krieger was one of the first in the area to do u-pick sweet cherries, said Jerry. He said his grandfather approved of their new entertainment and retail ventures and was amazed that city people would come to the farm and pay for the privilege of doing it. “My grandfather and grandmother would come in the parking lot on a weekend and watch the people come and go,” said Jerry.
The Jollays currently grow 140 acres of cherries, fresh market peaches and eight varieties of apples. In the last 15 years they’ve also increased to 10 acres for growing pumpkins, squash and gourds, which are all sold retail. All their fruit for the fresh market goes to the Watervliet Exchange while the fruit for processing goes to the Knouse Co-op, Coloma Co-op and Pro-Fac, three major processing companies, according to Jerry.
In the last 30 years there’s fewer processors and fewer growers, but he’s not sure the acreage has gone down. “The profit margin has diminished at the same time. It’s more difficult to make a profit than at that time,” Jerry said.
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