Pantry in the Paddock: The story of how a small egg business became Yorkshire's first vending machine-only farm shop

Julia said that the move to contactless had been partly driven by an unfortunate event but also with an eye firmly fixed on providing produce that would be different from the produce offered in many other farm shops and that they wanted to bring to their local customers. Such has been their success that Pantry in the Paddock has now begun attracting new custom from further afield.

“A couple of years ago we had a cash machine broken into and we made a decision that we no longer wanted to carry cash. Our vending machines are all touch screen and card payment.

“It was in late 2020 and early 2021 that we began to see the potential for expansion into selling Yorkshire produce with high provenance and good quality.

“We undertook quite a lot of research visiting different markets and looking at what other retailers were selling and we wanted to sell something that was a bit different and that generally you can’t get in any other shop.

“Everything we now stock is something that we have tried in our own home. We have worked on the principle that we can then recommend each product to our customers wholeheartedly because we have tasted it and like it.

“Our current produce list, which we are growing all the time, includes Warrendale Wagyu of Warter, tray bakes from White Cherry Bakery in Pocklington, bacon and sausages from WF Burton butchers in Pocklington, pork pies and sausage rolls from Leakes’ butchers in Market Weighton, chutneys and preserves from Pucketts Pickles in Easingwold, Barncliffe Brie from Shepley near Huddersfield, Bywater Butter from Hesper Farms in Skipton, cheeses from Cryer & Scott in Allerton Bywater, Ali Bilton’s fabulous Christmas cake, just in, from Pocklington and Justin Staal’s smoked salmon.

Julia said the growth of the business has come organically and that by learning more about their customers is being put back into how they will operate in future.

“We’ve had an encouraging response and continually receive lovely messages from those who have found us and have experienced the produce. We started with a soft launch rather than a grand opening and we’ve built our trade up through word of mouth and social media.

“Our customers like that they can buy eggs direct from the farm as they know they are fresh and they also now know they can come here and buy something different to where they might normally shop because we have good quality products they will struggle to find elsewhere.

“We are in a good location and have also added a coffee machine. I’d initially anticipated customers would come, buy and go, perhaps enjoying their coffee in car, but we now have seating out and will probably extend that next year because we are now attracting cyclists and walkers and those who stay at a local caravan park and holiday homes.

“It is all about looking at opportunities going forward and supplying what our customers want. We are already thinking of the seating areas and maybe nature walks to give another reason to come to Pantry in the Paddock and making it more of a destination.

Richard said that the progress they have made has shown there is potential to grow further.

“Julia is very good at seeing what is available through the contacts she is constantly making connections with and is choosing products that relate to the season, as she did this summer when we were selling tomatoes, cucumber and other salad produce from local supplier Rocket & Russet of Fangfoss and cordials from Side Oven Bakery in Foston on the Wolds. Generally, people might come first for a few eggs and then might look at something else.

“We have the capacity to take on more produce and that’s what we are doing while feeling our way and finding other new product lines. The pantry grew organically from a little hut we made out of spare parts from the chicken buildings into something more substantial

Richard warns that what started Pantry in the Paddock may not be around for much longer though if the current dilemma facing egg producers continues.

Most of his eggs are all in one basket as 99.9 per cent of what his free range hens produce are contracted to a major buyer and he explained that the current state of play in the egg industry was a major concern, not least because of the increased pressure being currently brought to bear over Avian Flu restrictions and worries.

“We started in free range layers in 2011 and we have expanded along with market requirements. We’ve been producing at a loss for quite an amount of time. Our industry representation group British Free Range Eggs Producers Association (BFREPA) wrote to retailers and it was made aware more widely in the Daily Mail in May that the impact of the costs that producers were exposed to were going to have a massive impact on supply.

“We’ve now got massively increased costs. My electricity bill tripled last month and my feed has gone from £220 to £400 per tonne. Labour costs have also increased and agricultural inflation, referred to recently in the national farming press, is running at about 30 per cent, whereas consumer inflation is around 10 per cent.

“We’ve been exposed to these increases in costs for a period of time now and it is really starting to show. Everybody is doing their best to mitigate their avian influenza risk.

“It is terrifying. Every day you go into those sheds thinking am I going to see a bundle of birds dead and is that going to be the end of all of this for now.

“Our choice to stay or get out of the industry is something we are going to have to look very seriously at. It might not be our choice to get out of it. We might just have to do it.

“The eggs we sell through the pantry are the larger size eggs that didn’t fit through the packing machine.

Pantry in the Paddock is at least one bright spot for Richard and Julia who are both from farming families in the East Riding and are looking to their farming and retail business future positively in what are hugely uncertain times for everyone involved in the egg producing and poultry world.