We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kemi Pavlocak . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kemi below.
Kemi , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the toughest things about entrepreneurship is that there is almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?
We currently operate two stores. One in rural desert of San Diego County and the other in Old Town San Diego. The location couldn’t be any different. We started out with the rural store five years ago. O’Shun’s Orchard was very much focused on agriculture and land development. I was slowly working on my bees. But we soon found out that the only store in town where our apiary was located was about to permanently close. My husband, also business partner, we went back and forth on whether we should step in. I really wasn’t interested because retail is not my thing and this community was foreign to me. I grew up in Brooklyn NY and Mike grew up in a New Jersey suburb. I felt someone who was a local resident should takeover. Well, we waited, and nobody stepped up, that should have been a sign to us but Mike was over-confident and felt it would not be that difficult. Just stock the shelves and sell what people want. Lord were we wrong. Low income rural communities are a huge challenge. First rural doesn’t mean cheap or low cost. Almost everything is more expensive besides the land. This is because of low demand and distance from major hub. Especially for food, we are sold items at a higher price than what their sold for at chain grocers. So here we are trying to offer food in a food desert but most of the people that live there either can’t afford to shop at the store often enough to sustain the store. But the town still needs a store because there is also transportation challenged individuals. The bus only stops in town once a week and takes a whole day to return.
In addition to the numbers that don’t work in our favor there is also the culture. There are some kind and generous people in the community and we are very grateful for them. But I was extremely surprised to learn about how much drama a small town can cause. It is very much related to the fact that most live in a bubble and they basically rotate news and gossip amongst their small circle. Then you add social media to it and it’s an extreme echo chamber. We’ve been dealing with crazy rumors, suspicious or skeptical. rural locals for over five years now. And for over two years it soon evolved to blatant attempt to try to shut us down. They tried very hard, even using government anonymous complaint system to burden us continuously. Most of my friends tried to convince me to let them have their store back. But I could not let people like that feel victorious and further damage the community.
Kemi , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
O’Shun’s Orchard is an agricultural, retail, and eco-tourism company. We have two storefronts, apiaries, and a honey brand SAVAGE BEE-CHES ®. What sets O’Shun’s Orchard apart is our dedication to community, authenticity and sustainability. We are solving the problem of creating a profitable business in a small rural community. Small rural communities across the state and country are struggling to survive. This difficulty in creating a local economy often leads to widespread poverty and isolation within the rural community. The solution is creating a connection to the rural town through products and services. Our retail stores and honey products help promote the area. Our stores introduce visitors to the area, expands the reach and engagement. This increases awareness and interest, thus promoting eco-tourism and investment in the area. Most people in San Diego County never heard of Ranchita but now we are slowly changing that. Creating a narrative to describes the beauty of the location, perfect for a weekend getaway, and the delicious honey.
I am a beekeeper, veteran, and engineer. Educated in systems engineering and certified in process improvement. I was raised in a city, so I have a city type view of how rural towns are seen. In a sense, changing the narrative in a small rural town requires someone from outside the town to bring change that is needed. Our first store in Ranchita was struggling when we took it over. Listening to locals and reading history, it has always been struggling. It was also always operated by people from the rural community. Once we took over, the store has never look as good or had as much internet presence. It still supports the community and hires people from the community. We paused a bit on our honey and eco-tourism to focus on the store in Ranchita, Ranchita BODEGA. We really got broken in, I swear it was a crash course on how not to open a business in a tiny rural town. But we learned. We went through COVID and then the store burned down but now we are in a good place. Now we have refocused on our honey, SAVAGE BEE-CHES ®. Opened a boutique in Old Town San Diego where you can taste different blossom varieties and/or shop for outdoors gear. Ranchita BODEGA is reopening from a summer break and looking forward to offering snacks, drinks, beer to the locals and those visiting the desert area. And also partnering or helping to promote outdoor activities in the rural area.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Our store in Ranchita burned down in 2021. A few weeks before the store burned down our daughter was diagnosed with cancer. It was so surreal. I was sad over the building that’s been around since early 1900s burning down but I was already devasted about my daughter. It’s nothing I could have ever imagined. But we received so much love and support from friends, family and strangers. They didn’t want us to close down and so we kept at it. We’ve made a name for ourselves amongst the outdoors community and so news of the fire reached people that really liked what we were doing and wanted us to continue.
Because of them we are still here. And our daughter is in remission.
Have you ever had to pivot?
As I explained earlier, the store in Ranchita simply couldn’t be sustained by the locals. The populations was too small and low income. So we started observing the area bit more and realized that the Pacific Crest Trail is only four miles from us. This trail is a big deal and I was shocked people purposely walk 2,550 miles from Mexican border to the Canadian border. Anything more than 3 miles for me and I’m done. But we watched, followed a few groups, read articles, learned as much as we can about these thru hikers. What would be needed or wanted when they reach us which is the 101 mile marker. That saved the store.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.oshunsorchard.com
- Instagram: @ranchitabodega, @savagebee.ches
- Facebook: @ranchitabodega, @savagebee-ches
- Linkedin: @ranchitabodega, @savagebee-ches
- Youtube: @ranchitabodega, @savagebee.ches