We recently connected with Marty Loya and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Marty, thanks for joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

My husband and I were trying to figure out what to do with 6 acres of farmland that I inherited from my parents. My father had always grown cotton, but it was not something we were interested in. It required too much water, machinery and other items that we did not have the resources to purchase. We had 6 fruit trees and a fig tree that were producing. So we started selling from our kitchen in our house. My husband posted on Facebook Marketplace that we had figs. We received hundreds of inquiries. From there we started to build our customer base. When COVID hit, my husband sold outside under some trees and people would drive up, roll down their windows only to allow the bag and fruit and money to be exchanged. Then I applied for a grant from HFFI (Healthy Food Finance Initiative) and was award enough to retro fit one of the original building of the farm to set-up Bodega Loya. My husband did the construction and I had to procure and purchase other items such Point of Sales System, refrigerator, tables, sinks, lights, door and many other items. My experience of a Project Manager help keeps within budget and be ready to open. April 2021 we opened our doors to Bodega Loya.

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

My background has been technology, and I attended the University of Texas of El Paso as an engineering major. Both of these roles and my experience in watching other run their own business allowed to establish some best practices in running a small business. One of the first things I did was to separate our personnel finances from the business finances. I also learned how important it is do integrate systems together for the exchange of information.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I worked in Customer Services for many years assisting customers with the software they purchased from our company. I learned how difficult to keep a customer versus acquiring a new customer. Customer service is vital to your business. A customer will always remember you by the way you treat them. Giving customers a little extra goes a long way.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I own the business with my husband but continue to work full time as a Business Process Consultant for a great company. Keeping up with technology is key to me and have had intern programs for the past two years utilizing technology. Technology needs to be implemented on the farm in order to grow and be sustainable.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gwsfarm.com
• Instagram: bodega.loya