Every customer is part of The Farm Barn family

A family-owned local business through and through, The Farm Barn’s Jodie Schilling says that one of the aspects of the store which the team pride themselves on, is the way it has always been able to support fellow local suppliers and customers across the Barossa Valley and beyond.

Back some eight and a half years ago, when Jodie’s family first took over the business, she said at the time, it was relatively small in scale compared to what customers know now.

“We’ve always had animals and loved animals. We live through our animals, so it seemed very fitting that we took over,” Jodie said.

However, alongside her husband Brian and their six children, The Farm Barn family extends far and wide, welcoming customers and suppliers into its ‘household’.

“Our aim was always to be a local family, supplying and supporting local families…” Jodie said.

“…I always say to customers: ‘by supporting us, a local business, you’re supporting other local families and businesses as well.’

“Which I guess is something that gets lost in bigger corporations, which makes us completely different to some of the other businesses out there.”

Behind the scenes, Jodie shares that there are a lot of locals that The Farm Barn support, whether it’s buying their poultry and birds, or supplying fodder and feed – she is more than happy to support the local economy which supports her business so well.

“We have built up over all those years a really good relationship with a lot of our suppliers and customers, and honestly it would be hard to just pick out a couple of them,” Jodie said.

With so many suppliers and customers now a part of The Farm Barn family, Jodie is more than happy to treat them as such, placing a big emphasis on good customer service, which she says can sometimes feel rare.

“We actually hand deliver a lot of our items personally to customers, and we do a lot of those every week,” Jodie said.

“We’ve got a lot of customers that either don’t have a trailer or don’t have a big enough vehicle to fit their deliveries in, they could be elderly, they could be somebody with a disability,” Jodie explained, sharing how The Farm Barn offers a door-to-door delivery service, without a third party
involved.

Jodie is also very proud of the fact The Farm Barn offers staff assistance to customers by getting their purchases out to their vehicle.

“We pride ourselves on carrying goods out, and (providing) good customer service right out to their car,” Jodie said.

Whether it be as a customer, supplier, or a visitor to one of The Farm Barn’s travelling petting zoos – adding a touch of friendly assistance is always a top priority.

“We like to try and have all those personal touches that have gotten lost of the years,” Jodie said.