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High Profile Local Food Enterprise Goes Bankrupt

Home Grow-In proprietor hasn't been seen; farmers and customers say they're owed money.

By Colleen Kimmett, 10 Mar 2011, TheTyee.ca

HomeGrowInGrocer

No longer open, the Home Grow-In Grocer on Columbia Street in Vancouver was declared bankrupt March 10. Photo: Justin Langille. [A photo of the Home Grow-In Cambie Market was erroneously posted with this story at publication time. The Home Grow-In Cambie Market has not been declared bankrupt.]

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A charismatic entrepreneur who was lauded as a visionary in Vancouver's local food scene has reportedly not been heard from or seen by associates in days. Deb Reynolds' business, the Home Grow-In Grocery Ltd., has been declared bankrupt. Some of her customers, who paid upfront for a season's supply of produce, say this week's box has been cancelled.

And of all the farmers who together sent Reynolds potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of produce, at least one hasn't been paid in months.

Reynolds received glowing reviews last year, from regional and national media, including The Tyee, when she opened Home Grow-In, a shop that retailed only local food and products.

When this reporter profiled Reynolds and Home Grow-In last fall, she was about to expand the Home Grow-In community with a new store on Cambie -- the Home Grow-In Cambie Market -- that would not only serve as a distribution hub for her weekly produce box program, but also act as a kind of a permanent co-operatively owned farmers’ market, in the heart of the city.

"This way, [farmers] don't have to be there -- they can get 100 per cent of the profit while paying a fraction of the operating costs," she said at the time. "We're trying to prove to the world that a community of small businesses can get together for the benefit of all of us."

Eleven B.C. farmers and local artisans are listed as vendors for the Cambie Market -- which has not been declared bankrupt. Including Loren Taves, who owns and operates Apple Barn farm and cider mill in Abbotsford.

He claims he gave Reynolds $10,000 to lease and operate the space, and says that 13 others invested between $2,500 and $10,000.

"My wife and I were really thinking. . . this is a great way to link up with the city and to actually meet the people and establish, like, grassroots relationships with customers," says Taves. "At the apple barn we do that every year, we have thousands of people come through every year. And we know a lot of them, and that's how we've done our business on the farm for years. And we thought this was a great extension into Vancouver for the same thing."

Taves also supplied Reynold's members-only Home Grow-In Buyer's Co-op (which, last summer, had approximately 300 members) with fresh vegetables from his greenhouse. Five months ago, shortly after he says he invested in the Cambie market space, he stopped getting paid for the produce. Money that was supposed to be coming from member fees, $400 to $700 per share.

"The invoices kept growing," Taves told The Tyee. "I went to her and said, 'listen you told us we would get paid even before we harvested'. One-third down, that was supposed to secure the product, so we could have the upfront costs for it. That was how the program was supposed to work."

Secrecy and excuses

Taves said he began to get worried in January, but every time he asked for a payment, or a copy of her bank statements, she appeared to be in crisis. "It was always, 'oh somebody's in the hospital', or somebody had died," he says.

Taves says he even offered her help to balance her books, but Reynold's remained evasive.

Why did he let the invoices pile up for so long?

"It was out of empathy, you know?" he says. "I kind of got to know her, I was trying to help. It was a community effort, it wasn't strictly business."

"For instance, we ship out of our greenhouse to a packer, and we get paid every three weeks. It's like clockwork. But this was different. I really wanted to help her, because she said 'I'm not good at the business side'. But we never got to, nobody ever saw the books."

Taves said it's only been in the past four weeks that he realized other suppliers were not getting paid either. He continued to ship his produce to Reynolds even though he knew something was wrong, he says, partly because he felt bad for her co-op members who had paid for and were expecting it.

"I just felt, I'll ship because I know in my heart I wanted to do what was right for people who put their money in, even though I knew I was losing, it didn't matter," says Taves. Plus, he was dealing with a perishable product with no other markets.

"Marketing is a huge undertaking, you can't just say, 'I've got stuff here, who wants it?' It's not that easy just to switch out."

Reynolds out of contact

In addition, says Taves, he and the other Cambie Market investors didn't sign shareholder agreements.

"It was done very quickly," he says. "So really, we don't own anything in the market." Taves says in hindsight it was a bad business decision. But at the time, there was so much goodwill, trust and momentum for the project.

"Always [Reynolds] would say, 'it's a we, not a me'. That was her famous quote."

According to Taves and other sources, none of whom agreed to go on the record at this time, some of the suppliers met with the Vancouver police this week. The Tyee contacted VPD media relations to inquire if an investigation has been launched or if charges have been laid, but did not get a response by publication time.

Taves says he has not been able to contact Reynolds since last Thursday at the store, where she promised him his money by the weekend. The Tyee has also tried unsuccessfully to reach Reynolds. Staff at both store locations -- on Columbia and Cambie -- said this afternoon that they hadn't seen her in several days. At approximately 5 p.m. today, a notice was posted to the door of the Home Grow-In Grocery on Columbia and 18th. It was from professional service firm Deloitte and Touche, and states that the Home Grow-In Grocery Ltd. was declared bankrupt on March 10, 2011 "when the Director [Reynolds] determined that the company was in financial difficulty and no longer able to meet it's obligations. . ."

Taves says he has "never encountered anything like this before in my life," and is uncertain what will happen next.

While the situation has been very stressful, he says he's been trying to stay calm.

"We have a very upbeat-looking life, my wife and I, we have seven kids and I raise them the best I can and you don't want to burden your family with negativity," says Taves. "We see good in people and the community. I don't know what to do. What a horrible way to have to start the year." [Tyee]

Colleen Kimmett writes about food and sustainability for The Tyee, The Tyee Solutions Society, and others.

16 Comments:

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  • Steve Burgess

    1 year ago

    Very sad.

    Deb Reynolds participated in the first Food & Beers event at the MoV. Seemed like a real inspiring success story and a model for the future.

  • Don W.

    1 year ago

    Hopefull

    I have heard many of the same comments.
    We would not have rented the premises for this use if we did not feel that the concept was a good one.
    We had some concerns when the store closed last week for 3 days, on the premise that Deb was sick and in Hospital.
    As expressed in E-Mail comments, we are willing to sit down discuss the situation from the Landlords position.
    Managed properly, this venture has potential.

  • yeepoa

    1 year ago

    how do we help the farmers?

    I live in the neighbourhood, participated in one of the coops last summer and found it not well organised to the point of questionable. Regardless, how do we support these local providers through this rough time?

  • Whistler

    1 year ago

    Oh No!

    I live in Whistler and I don't go to the city often. Since I first hear about the Grow-In Grocer I have had it on my list to visit and I finally made it less than a month ago. It was so exciting to get local produce in winter.

    It is so sad that such a great idea has been tarnished, I really do hope something is worked out to get this back up and running. It sounds like it was just poorly managed and that it may be able to work as a business idea if it is run better. I don't want this idea to die.

  • ASKBiblitz.com

    1 year ago

    Shows how easy it is in Billytown to be lauded as a visionary

    Sorry to say it yet again, but the ease with which B.C. Billies boost themselves and one another with meaningless awards and other undeserved praise is, I'm afraid, the stuff of legend. Local media, too, can usually be relied on to investigate the story ... from A to B.

    This is what happens post-deregulation.

    Time for standards rather than a set of fuzzily-worded guidelines!

  • carfreecity

    1 year ago

    secrecy and excuses

    that says it all
    be upfront and down to earth/guys and gals
    here's a word of advice when things are getting shakey: just say "HELP"!!!!

  • WennoU

    1 year ago

    Disappointing, but not a surprise...

    I'm one of the customers who paid up-front for the Winter Box program. We still have about six weeks left on it, so we're out of pocket the equivalent of about $120. Still, I feel so much worse for the farmers/suppliers that are out of pocket a whole lot more than that.

    The experience has proved to me that I should really listed to my gut instincts more. The whole process was questionable at every turn: it took six weeks to get a receipt, the program started late, I could never get a straight answer on issues. But it just seemed like such a great solution to supporting local farmers through the winter that I made excuses for the sloppy administration. Next year, we're hitting the farmers' market instead.

  • DavidG

    1 year ago

    Sounds like she had a great idea....

    That benefited farmers and consumers. Too bad it ended this way, and hopefully it won't poison the water for the next person who tries to do something innovative.

    I think a business person along for the ride would have been able to balance the enthusiasm with what it takes to keep a business afloat.

  • Michelle Hoar

    1 year ago

    The idea is good

    As a loyal customer who was very excited about the model, I'm incredibly sad to see this happen. There were great volunteers, staff, you'd get to meet the farmers sometimes, the selection was great. Hopefully the farmers can pull together - maybe with some of the other organizers - and pull it back together. It was an amazing community and vibe. It should survive, just under better leadership, with - obviously - open books for the safety of the farmers and other producers.

  • ASKBiblitz.com

    1 year ago

    So-called farmers markets

    Frankly, I'm appalled at the utter lack of quality farmers' markets here. UBC Farm is a terrific disappointment - $5 lettuces, tiny, mean-looking zucchinis - huh?

    There's a very small community market in the east end that features a paltry amount of high quality but high-end artisan breads and teeny-tiny jars of 'homemade' jam - all excellent - for $5-$6. Feh.

    The seasonal so-called farmers' market in West Van on certain Sundays is nothing but high-end crafts, for goodness sake, with a few miserable dried mushrooms.

    I hear the Trout Lake market is pretty good but too far for my money.

    If farmers have quality produce to unload, they should organize a market - IF they truly are undercutting retail outlets. Kin's Market is pretty tough to beat. If they can't, fuggeddabouded. I'll stay home.

  • pianosaurus rex

    1 year ago

    doesn't have to fail really

    I wonder why the landlord and the suppliers don’t re-start this operation themselves with a handpicked full-time trusted operator. The customer/supplier base is still there right now…..

    Since the mid70’s this is a great place to purchase fresh food along with many other items; member or non-member.

    http://east-end-food.coop/

  • yeepoa

    1 year ago

    different model than Community Support Ag (CSA)

    I hope this fail will not turn most people away from CSAs. I participated in Deb's program last summer and had troubles with it from the get-go. I followed my second set of gut instincts and skipped the winter one, despite truly wanting to participate in a winter plan.

    I also participate in a summer CSA (with Glen Valley Organic Farm
    www.glenvalleyorganicfarm.org , delivered locally by NOWBC www.nowbc.ca ). It is a much more direct connection to my farmer, does not give me a discount for paying up front, allows me to help remove the farmer's fate from the bank's reach, and provides me with outstanding produce. I am aware that if the farmer has a bad year, the return is less than what I'd hoped, and I'm okay with that. Why should the grower take ALL the risk for my foods?

    Here is a good bit of information about CSAs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcR2J63_44c

  • cboo44

    1 year ago

    Another Fairy Tale Goes Down in Flames

    Now the warm & fuzzy crowd have discovered what the major grocery chains discovered several years ago. Local BC produce is an unreliable product, in both quality and delivery. BC CAN produce good quality and deliver on time, but only out of greenhouses, not really from "the farmer" is it? The only product the warm & fuzzy crowd want from the greenhouse is their BC Bud.

  • BC Mary

    1 year ago

    Don't give up on a good thing!

    .
    There are good people (obviously) involved in a very worthwhile food- and farm-venture.

    I hope there are good bean-counters (sorry) who can pull things together for Grow-In and make a fresh start ... all the wiser because of what you've been through.

    I don't know much about bankruptcy but I thought its purpose was to sort through the rubble, arrange for amends to be made, and then step aside. Could Deloitte Touche be brought on-side with a hoped-for re-start in mind ... with the appropriate changes, of course?

    If Grow-In was as good as it sounds, a really big effort should be made to compost the old structure and re-create its strengths. Goodness knows, the current times are calling for exactly this kind of farm-food to families enterprise. Big challenge, but huge benefits too.

    Best wishes.

  • Don W.

    1 year ago

    Market on Cambie still open

    The Home Grown Market on Cambie is still open and operating.
    This location is NOT Bankrupt.
    The independent vendors and farmers are still selliing their products.

    They want the community to know this fact.

  • wildgrl

    1 year ago

    It's about local, not undercutting retail

    To the commenter who said: If farmers have quality produce to unload, they should organize a market - IF they truly are undercutting retail outlets.

    It's not about undercutting retail markets. It's more about getting local food consistently, and supporting local food, especially from smaller growers.

    I do agree that some of the prices seem high, but after reading the Tyee article about the true cost of a BC watermelon, it made me think. Bottom line, if we eat primarily foods that grow best in our region, their yields are abundant. When I grow zucchini, one plant can produce prodigiously; likewise for Swiss chard.

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