We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katelyn Haegelin . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katelyn below.

Katelyn , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Growing up in Castroville, we were surrounded by farmland and ranches, and yet, the food we got from the grocery store was from all over the country and even the world.

The housing boom in the area made it much more profitable to fill fertile soil with concrete and houses than it was to farm and produce food.

It may seem simple-minded to think that supporting small, local farms is going to change all that, but we think it’s important to have a local supply chain for something so valued as the food we eat. We have all seen how fragile the global supply chain is, witnessing the shortages and price increases.

By giving farmers an outlet for their produce, we hope to encourage more small farms to pop up in the area. And of course we are excited give Castroville a market for fresh, quality groceries.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Both me and Kerri, my sister and business partner, are mothers to four children, whom we have raised as stay-at-home-parents. We were both ready to get back into the workforce but didn’t know our place until now. I always said that if I went back to work, it would be something meaningful.

We both raise our own flock of hens for egg production and I also have sheep and ducks that we raise. We plant a garden every year and have gone through lots of trial and error in farm life. I had a dream of growing and raising all the food we consumed, but It became clear we were never going to be self-sustaining homesteaders without help.

It takes a village.

Every farmer, rancher, or small business owner specializes in what they do best, so why was I trying to reinvent the wheel? I started sourcing all of our groceries from the farms around us, and less than a year later, we opened All Local.

My job has been rewarding. Not only am I bringing high-quality groceries to my town and making face-to-face relationships with my community, but I also have the pleasure of working with really great people, who genuinely want to help others.

All Local was formed by sisters, Katelyn and Kerri, in December 2022. The women wanted to support local farmers and ranchers in the area, while bringing high-quality food to residents of Castroville and the surrounding community.

The neighborhood market will take you back to the generation when milk was sold in glass bottles and farmers hand-delivered their produce to the market. In fact, the building of 1215 Fiorella St. was originally a meat market, built by Edmund Hans in 1910.

All Local wants to invite you to support your local farms and small businesses, as we take a step back to a simpler way to get food from the farm to our tables.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I first started All Local. I developed the logo, website, and licensing requirements and finally launched my online store. I was gutted with anxiety and excitement, both fearful and hopeful. Went I posted the link to Facebook and announced I started my business, I got so many dings from my phone alerting me that people visited my site. Days went by and still, nobody placed an order. I was discouraged but kept at it. Finally, I got a few people ordering and then a couple of regulars.

I was new to marketing, new to e-commerce, and new to owning a business in general. Vendors were excited about the idea of me helping them get their products to the customers, but I was ultimately failing. The customers were few and far between. Despite the excitement around the concept of buying directly from local farmers and delivering right to the customer’s door, I was not getting enough traffic to keep up the business.

Opening a brick-and-mortar store would be a big investment of my time and money, but I had a feeling if I could just get the products in front of people, we could make something special in our town, which desperately needed a grocery alternative to Walmart. I had so many goals and aspirations, but taking the concept a step further took sacrifice. Why would I invest to expand a failing business? Maybe I had the wrong business model?

This is the part of the story where my sister comes in. We started brainstorming on how her passion for baking could cohabitate with my current business. Together we decided to go into business and open a retail location in Castroville.

Deciding to open a storefront and transition away from online/delivery service was a pivotal decision in my business venture. I was terrified to take a risk, but we have gained community support and are always looking at ways to expand or pivot based on our customer’s needs.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

We have the pleasure of seeing familiar faces every day at the shop; it’s the charm of a small town. And everyone knows how fast word travels in a small town… Word of mouth is probably the most effective way to gain clientele. One person raves about the goat cheese we carry, and before you know it, the whole yoga class is hooked.

Facebook and Instagram are great ways to share photos of what we have in store, and promote our wonderful vendors. Followers will come in asking for a product we posted, so we know that social media helps.

So far, I haven’t paid for an ad on Facebook, because I gain the most reach when people share my posts with friends, and those friends share to their friends. People are interconnected in ways that make the world seem small, and when my audience is a pool of people who live in the same general area, I rely on the grapevine to reach more customers.

There is also a great network of business owners in the town, who support each other. We have a Chamber of Commerce, which has really helped us spread the word, but ultimately it comes down to having good products to sell. If people LOVE it, they tell their friends, and everyone keeps coming back.

Contact Info:

• Website: alllocalcastroville.com
• Instagram: alllocalcastroville
• Facebook: All Local – Castroville

Image Credits
Christina Martinez Photography All Local Southwest Farms