Indie Innovators: A Q&A With Farm 2 Counter’s Paul Allen
By Greg Lindenberg on Jul. 15, 2018SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Paul Allen, founder and general manager of the Farm 2 Counter convenience store and Farm2Counter.com delivery service in Springfield, Mo., is not a typical c-store operator. He’s not really a c-store operator at all. He’s a yacht chef—on dry land.
When he was studying at the Culinary Institute of America, Allen answered an ad that said, “Do you want to make a lot of money, travel the world and cook for the rich and famous?” His answer: “Yes, yes and yes.”
So for 12 years, he was a yacht chef.
“Now I’m implementing my yachting experience in a convenience store,” he said. “I try not to get too many ideas from gas stations and convenience stores so we can do it very uniquely.”
The Farm 2 Counter concept started out as a delivery service. The 2,400-square-foot c-store followed, opening in December 2017. It features locally grown and organic produce and other products with no high fructose corn syrup. It also offers foodservice and fountain and other select c-store merchandise.
- CSP named Allen one of its 2018 "indie innovators." Click here for more and to see who else made the list.
Here are more details in a Q&A with Farm 2 Counter’s Paul Allen …
Photo courtesy of Paul Allen
Millennial Motivation
Q: How did being a yacht chef prepare you to become a c-store operator?
A: The convenience world is a new world for me. In yachting, I would shop locally in the Cayman Islands or St. Martin’s or wherever we would be, because I would start running out of fresh produce as soon as we got there. I learned how to get fresh fish, vegetables and food and researched the areas to see what they are known for and what was in season. That’s how I became a person who shops locally. I was forced into it.
I pride myself on buying. I love going to the farms, making new relationships. That’s my dream job; that’s what I did as a yacht chef—I would always try to find the best ingredients for my clients, and now I can use that for my convenience store.
I then moved back to Missouri where I’m from and met my wife, Ashley, who is a millennial, and we were doing Farm2Counter.com. I thought, why don’t I make a convenience store for millennials? They’re eating in these gas stations more than they’re eating in the grocery store. Someone has got to step up.
Photo courtesy of Paul Allen
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
Q: What differentiates Farm 2 Counter from other c-stores or other retailers?
A: It’s such a cool opportunity to take a gas station or a convenience store and totally rethink it. I don’t know how people do it, so we’re doing it our way. It’s an awesome ride. You don’t know what you don’t know. I had the people hook up the soda machines totally different and do things the way I felt like as a chef it should be done: as simply as possible.
It gives me an amazing feeling to change somebody’s life who would never go into a health food store. We don’t claim to be a health food store—we’re just a convenience store. But we are a hybrid convenience store that does it much differently than any other convenience store.
We probably have 10% of our own products and 90% of name-brand products. We’re going to add more as we find labels that we like and ingredients that we like so we can get a better deal and offer a better price.
Photo courtesy of Paul Allen
All Walks of Life
Q: How would you characterize your core customers and their needs?
A: We are so diversified, and that’s really what I wanted to do was make a niche that was for everybody. We’ve started to attract people who are into healthy eating.
I feel that we are transforming the everyday citizen into having a higher food standard. We want to plant a seed for someone to come in and get an organic soda and an organic sandwich and a nutritious, healthy energy bar. We tap into that one person and they get addicted to our food.
We get all walks of life, from people who use their food stamps and EBT to people who use their black American Express no-limit card. We have a higher checkout ring because people get groceries here. We get customers who spend $120, $150 every single week. And then we get a person who comes in and gets a soda or a bottle of water.
Photo courtesy of Tom Russo
You Can’t Beat a Local Egg
Q: What does Farm 2 Counter offer for people who are into healthy eating?
A: We have local, non-GMO pasture-raised eggs for $2.99 a dozen as our summer price. Most people charge $6 a dozen for eggs like that. We’re not beating Walmart’s egg prices, but we’re beating Walmart’s organic egg prices. And you just can’t beat a local egg.
Our Vitality butter is the cheapest price in the nation, at $3.99. We’re trying to do the staples the best that we can and appeal to all audiences.
For local, certified organic, grass-fed ground beef, we charge $5.99 a pound as our summer price. Most stores in town charge $9.99. We reached out to that purveyor and told them what our philosophy and what our goal was, and we got a better price point on that beef. We said we’re not going to make as much money on it, but we want it to be one of our leaders, one of our products that brings people into the store.
We get bread from Neighbor’s Mill in Springfield, Mo. We charge about 25 cents less than the bread company charges. We don’t make a ton of money on this bread.
We’re the best price in town for bread, eggs, meat and butter.
Photo courtesy of Tom Russo
The Cat’s Meow of Root Beer and ‘Farmer’s Gatorade’
Q: What else does Farm 2 Counter offer?
A: We have the only organic soda fountain in the whole state of Missouri, by Tractor Soda, out of Idaho. We have the best root beer on the planet Earth. As a chef, when I traveled to an island or a country, I’d always get a creme brulee and the root beer. We have found the cat’s meow of root beer. This one is the favorite that I’ve ever had. We have nine different brands of root beer, none with high fructose corn syrup. I have them in order from full bodied to the lightest.
Another thing we’re working on with Tractor Soda is a line of vinegar sodas. They used to call it the "farmer’s Gatorade." It’s honey and vinegar and fruit flavoring, made with an organic sugar. The vinegar cleans out your body. It’s an acquired taste.
Photo courtesy of Paul Allen
Hold the Corn Syrup
Q: What are your biggest challenges in operating Farm 2 Counter?
A: We don’t do any high fructose corn syrup in the entire building. We probably have 10 products that we don’t do, but high fructose corn syrup is the main one because of the way it makes people feel. If I can get that word out, I’m going to change the way people eat at the gas pump.
Another challenge: How am I going to keep my convenience stores local once I have 100 of them and they’re all over the United States? The answer: We only do Missouri beer. We have 69 varieties. We’ll feature Missouri wines—80% will be from Missouri, and 20% will be other great wines that we recommend. Every convenience store that we have will only feature its native state’s products first.
We have spirits too—whiskey and vodka that are brewed right here in Springfield, and we’re getting a rum that comes from Branson, Mo. We don’t do any bottom-shelf liquor. So there’s no plastic bottles, no lesser-grade vodkas. Our vodka is Tito’s, which is small batch.
Photo courtesy of Tom Russo
Spreading His Wings
Q: On your way to 100 stores, how do you plan to expand from your current single location?
A: We looked at another gas station here in town that we’re in talks about buying. The goal is to go from here to Kansas City and make our way into Colorado. The food scene is awesome there.
Maybe California will eventually be on the radar, but rent is much cheaper in the Midwest. We want to take baby steps, so for the immediate future, we’re looking at a place here in town that has fuel pumps. Our convenience store doesn’t have gas pumps. We don’t plan on adding them, be we do plan on finding a location that has pumps. Fuels is where the convenience-store can really spread its wings.
We’ve also found two places that are in Kansas City that are in food deserts. That’s what we’re drawn to. We’re really trying to make a need for what we have.
We don’t want to go to Main Street. Why don’t we just go to the busiest parts of town? Everybody’s doing that already. There are already plenty of gas stations and health food stores in the busy parts of nice cities. But what about the places that are not so nice? I’m intrigued with that.
Photo courtesy of Tom Russo
A Farm 2 Counter Encounter
Springfield, Mo., resident Tom Russo visited Farm 2 Counter for CSP and offered these impressions:
"I find its location unusual—it is in an out-of-the way, quiet neighborhood. Within several blocks there are streets with much more foot and automobile traffic. The peaceful location creates an instant laid-back, friendly vibe, which upon entering the store is enhanced by the decor. The use of unstained wood, corrugated tin panels, faux stone wall tiling and old-style light bulbs above the checkout counter re-enforces the 'This is not your usual convenience store' statement.
"The ability to grab fresh, local produce, regionally produced, nonprocessed dry goods or locally brewed beer and spirits without having to fight the carts and long lines in the supermarkets is a definite plus.
"Staff was very friendly and shared knowledge of locally sourced products as well as natural products from farther afield. An employee said the store receives a lot of foot traffic from the laundromat next door, with customers seeking out sandwiches made in-house with local breads, meats, greens and vegetables. The owner is also building a raised herb garden behind the store to offer fresh herbs in season.
"I can see this store being a real benefit to the neighborhood. It reminds me of the local, old-fashioned green grocer that we visited two or three times a week on the street where we lived in England. Farm 2 Counter seems like a hybrid, upscale country farmstand married to a downsized Whole Foods Market."
Photo courtesy of Tom Russo