Schrute Farms, a 60-acre agrotourist attraction and locally acclaimed beet farm in Scranton, Pennsylvania, was put to the test when a new competitor entered the market.
Jim Halpert, former salesman for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, began selling beets at the local farmers market shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020. Claiming it gave him something to do until the paper company could equip staff with proper equipment to work remotely, Halpert introduced beet lovers to a whole new way of doing business by accepting credit card payments.
“First rule in roadside beet sales, put the most attractive beets on top. The ones that make you pull the car over and go, 'Wow. I need this beet right now.' Those are the money beets.” - Dwight Schrute, Owner, Schrute Farms
According to Schrute, one single Schrute Buck is equivalent to 0.0001 US Dollars. If you’re one of the lucky few who works at Dunder Mifflin–where Dwight is also employed–you can exchange 1,000 Schrute Bucks for an extra five minutes of lunch break.
As one can imagine, paying for beets with a credit card offered a simpler way of securing their favorite nutrient-dense vegetable without the hassle of scrounging up Schrute Bucks. In addition to the beet farm, Dwight also offers a Bed and Breakfast service in his 9-bedroom farmhouse on the property. When he first launched the concept, it too, could only be paid for in Schrute Bucks. With the addition of a new revenue source and more and more customers turning to Jim Beet Me, he knew it was time for a change.
Not farming beets was just not an option. After all, Dwight believes, "Those who can't farm, farm celery.”
With a newfound determination to win back his customers and grow the Schrute Farms empire, he said goodbye to antiquated, manual processes and hello to more modern technologies.
“They say that no man is an island. False! I am an island and this island is volcanic. And it is about to erupt. With the molten hot lava of strategy!”
It was exactly that molten hot lava strategy that inspired Dwight to begin a digital transformation beginning with implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) system, Salesforce, to keep track of customers. Eventually, he added Stripe and Sage Intacct into the mix to improve invoicing and financial reporting.
At first, he was pleased with the transition. He knew how many customers he had and which beet varieties sold the best. As one of the highest-ranking salesmen and original assistant to the regional manager for Dunder Mifflin, Dwight was confident he had the information he needed to grow his business beyond his wildest dreams.
That was until a Schrute Farms employee, Mose–also Dwight’s cousin–was doing a routine data import from Stripe to Sage Intacct when he realized that he hadn't formatted the columns in the spreadsheet correctly. The data was a mess, and they both knew the business couldn't continue to grow with disconnected systems. That's where Venn Technology stepped in, helping to clean up the data and build a three-way integration between Stripe, Sage Intacct, and Salesforce using middleware platform Workato.
Now with the integration, Dwight can keep his customers in sync and email them invoices for his new monthly beet subscription program which has taken the nation by storm. Schrute Farms can even include shipping charges on Stripe invoices that sync over to Sage Intacct, so he never misses a beet, made more important by the fact he continues expanding into new markets.
In fact, ever since he took his businesses online, he’s had a flood of inquiries from specialty supermarkets all over the United States requesting specific beet varieties to further diversify their produce offerings. To address the growing demand, Venn Technology recommended he implement Formstack for Salesforce to automate data collection and respond to vendors more quickly. Once terms have been finalized, contracts can be generated and signed electronically to onboard new vendors without manual intervention.
And, since the integration supports multi-entity business structures, he can see how both businesses–the Bed and Breakfast and beet farm–are performing independently within the same system. Best of all, Dwight declared victory over Jim Beet Me after reclaiming his loyal following.
“Fact: Venn is the best Sage Intacct integration firm that has ever existed."
Venn Technology is proud to have played a role in Schrute Farms' continued growth. Integrations are at the root of what we do, and we look forward to a longstanding relationship with Dwight and Cousin Mose of Schrute Farm fame for many years to come.