Let’s continue talking about your traffic flow and look at the layout of your venue. Safety is a crucial factor when it comes to evaluating our policies and procedures, so we need to evaluate any safety issues when it comes to how vehicles enter, exit and travel throughout your property.

Traffic Flow

As I shared before, at one of our locations we were looking for a feasible way to redesign the flow of traffic. One of the biggest drawbacks to the existing design forced our guests to have to navigate the flow of traffic as it entered and exited the property. The entrance to our agritourism venue and the location of the farm store were both...

In today’s post we need to deal with a tedious, but important part of any agritourism venture. It’s that part of your business that will cause you problems from day one and your guests will notice as soon as they arrive. It’s that area of your business that makes no money in itself, but allows for you to be very successful! It can be your greatest asset or the source of your downfall. Sounds serious right? It is your parking lot.

One of the greatest stress factors for any guest begins when they arrive and attempt to enter your venue. You have heard it said that “you never get a second chance to make a first impression”? Your parking area...

Pony rides can be a great way to give your young guests a memorable farm experience at your venue while adding revenue to your bottom line.  In addition to the revenue pony rides bring in, they can also be a great marketing tool as they make a great photo opportunity for parents to share with family & friends on social media.

This all sounds like a no-brainer right?  Before you add this to your list of offerings, you need to be aware of the risks and the things you must do to mitigate those risks.

Know Your Pony

This is probably the biggest key to a safe and successful execution of pony rides.  Don’t just find a friend that owns a horse an...

1.  Clean & Plentiful Bathrooms

The reality is that most Agritourism venues with heavy seasonal crowds don’t have enough indoor bathroom facilities to keep up with the demand.  That means we have to resort to the dreaded Porta-Potty.  This is the worst nightmare of germaphobes’.  Your guests may be on their way to having an outstanding customer experience (see our blog post from last week) and a dirty bathroom or Porta-Potty may be the lasting memory that sticks longer that all the great experiences they had that day.  Or if their 5-year-old decides they have to go NOW and there are long lines for all the bathrooms.

With ev...

 1.  Experienced Drivers

Be super selective in this critical safety area.  Just because the minimum age requirement by your liability insurance carrier may be 21 years old doesn’t mean that any 21-year-old that has driven a tractor “will do”.  This is probably the last place you want to try to save on payroll expenses.  First choice is always family or friends that you know have the experience and the personality that is critical to this position. 

If you don’t have family and friends that meet that criteria and are willing to do it, we strongly recommend that you look for seasoned farmers in your community.  These employe...