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Designing for New Food Routines in Community Supported Agriculture

Christiana Lackner, Master in Design Degree CandidateCarnegie Mellon University School of Design

Design Masters Thesis Project FindingsApril 2014

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Research Focus

There are many stakeholders in CSAs. I focused my research on CSA members.

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Challenge

Approach

Member retention is a challenge for many CSAs. A 2004 study prepared for the Small Farm Success Project showed that the more years someone is a member of a CSA, the more likely he/she will rejoin a CSA again.

How might we enable new CSA members to get past the initial “hump” of sticking with a CSA?

A frustrating first year of membership could scare someone away from CSAs forever!

Discover the routines of “experienced” CSA members.

Design service interactions to help less experienced CSA members develop these routines.

# years in a CSA

new CSA member

experienced CSA member

likel

iho

od

of r

enew

ing

CSA

mem

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ship

1 2 3 4 5

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Research

I Interviewed six current Penn’s Corner CSA Members as well as two people who had previously been CSA members. Questions prompted people to discuss why they joined the CSA in the first place, how they decide what to make with share items, if and where they find recipes, and what kinds of weekly routines they had for grocery shopping.

“I really don’t know what to do with radishes. They’re sitting there wasting away and I don’t know what to do with them. I’m just glad I found something to do with the leeks from the box.”

“If you know how to prep and store things you can keep things for weeks. It takes some initial time but… I learned from reading, from cooking shows. They teach you principles, techniques, and rules.”

“I like when decisions are made for me. This is what’s in sea-son and available. I don’t have to wade through a myriad of choices and decide what to get.”

“I didn’t know what anything was. It was overwhelming and kind of a disaster. So I didn’t do anything for a number of years.”

A compost bin makes this member feel less guilty about share items going bad.

An elaborate grocery list system helps this member keep the right food staples in-house.

Members did not seem to know each other when passing on the pick-up porch.

Interviews revealed that some members had a more established routine using the CSA shares than others.

Interview Participants

years in a CSA

1 participant, currently a CSA member

1 participant, not a CSA member521 43 —

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Discoveries

More experienced CSA members have certain skills or “know-how” that newer members may lack. They develop a new food routine that enables them to view the box as a supportive structure and to enjoy the ritual of preparing something new each week. Sticking with a CSA requires developing this new routine.

Experienced CSA members reported learning these skills by repeatedly trying new recipes or techniques. New CSA members need education, inspiration and encouragement to trial and develop a new food routine with the CSA share.

new skills for a Csa routine

Knowing what to make

Knowing what share items are

Knowing what staples to have in-house

Backup plan for box pick-up

How to prep/cook share items

How to store/ keep share items

How to combine share items

Sharing recipes with the community

Swapping share items with others

sometimes trying new recipes was unsuccessful

A meal diary revealed how members get inspired, and how they plan meals Members have various tools to help them plan and prepare foods

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CSA Member Archetypes

I discovered four archetypal CSA members with different needs. Their stories and characteristics provide a better understanding of the contexts of CSA members.

family with young children

working couple

Arlene has two young children ages 3 and 6. She joined a CSA a few years ago after the birth of her first child because she wanted to make sure she and her family were eating healthfully. Arlene likes that she does not have to decide what to buy. Instead, she takes inspiration from the box for what meals to prepare. Arlene likes trying new recipes, but has a difficult time finding recipes that fit with the contents of the box - sometimes she needs to buy more of one of the items in the box or buy a number of other ingredients in order to use just one item from the box in a recipe. She also finds that as the seasonal produce changes, she has a difficult time remembering what she has made in the past that her family really liked.

Needs: inspiration, kid-friendly recipes, recipe collection

Needs: encouragement, recipes for two, back up plan for box when out of town

Ned and Carol are recently married. They once had to pick up a CSA share for a friend who was out of town and really enjoyed the fresh produce, so they decided to join a CSA themselves. Carol enjoys experimenting with new foods, working CSA produce into the recipes that she and Ned like. However Ned does not really pay attention to the box, and simply goes out to get his own ingredients when it’s his job to prepare dinner. Sometimes this leaves box items unused and they go to the compost pile. Both have busy work schedules and Ned sometimes travels for work so they find it difficult to finish the box each week.

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dietary concerns

new to cooking

Needs: inspiration, diet-friendly recipes

Needs: encouragement, food & cooking knowledge, recipe ideas

Ray has diabetes. He joined a CSA a few years ago to encourage himself to eat healthier. He has some favorite share items that he really looks forward to and some other items that he very much dislikes. Certain box items are difficult for him to cook with because they require adding sugar, which he cannot eat because of his health condition. Ray has a number of favorite dishes, but wants to try new recipes with share items to keep him interested in maintaining his diet.

Rachel has just graduated from nursing school and has started working full time. She is new to cooking for herself, and she is excited to learn how to cook things. Rachel joined a CSA a year ago at the suggestion of a friend and because she has been learning more about the benefits of buying/eating local food. She and one of her roommates share a box, so whoever has an idea for a box item first gets to use the item. Sometimes this leaves odd items at the end of the box that Rachel or her roommate don’t know what to do with. Rachel also has little cooking experience and it takes a lot of thought to figure out what box items are, what to make with them and how to prepare items. Sometimes she is disappointed with what she makes, and she feels like she’s not taking full advantage of the box.

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3 Service Interactions to Build a CSA Routinedigital weekly share guide

• educates members about share items with images, preparation tips and storage suggestions

• encourages members to try a new recipes

A prototype of the digital share guide

Members like seeing images and information about how to handle share items. They currently read at least the email reminder and sometimes the blog. Providing this information on the blog can help new members build up knowledge for how to use share items and provide inspiration to all members for what to prepare.

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A toolkit provides a CSA member with everything to host a season kick-off party:

Guests bring a dish prepared with a local ingredient. They make a nametag for themselves and label for their dish. At the party CSA members try new foods and meet each other.

The host follows up with an email to the pick-up community listserv listing all of the dishes served and the CSA member who prepared it. Members are encouraged to use this listserv to share recipes and tips throughout the season. Members may also use the list to coordinate pick-ups when in need.

Nametags & Food Labels Follow-up Email Template

piCk-up Community season kiCk-off party

• inspires members to learn and share ideas by making the community more visible

• creates a community support network by enabling weekly communication

Members get inspired by learning what other CSA members are doing with share items. Developing a more visible CSA community can enable this sharing to happen. With a season kick-off party, CSA members from the same pick-up location meet each other, making the connection more personal. A digital forum allows the community interaction to continue throughout the season.

Invitation Template1 2 3

The pick-up community party is hosted by a CSA member. The invitation comes from the host directly and provides inspiration by expressing something that the host likes about the CSA.

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Invitation Template

piCk-up Community season kiCk-off party

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Follow-up Email Template

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welCome to your new food routine

• makes people conscious that they are embarking on a change in their food routine

• communicates that the CSA will help people make this transition

New members are at a moment of openness to changing their food routines when they join a CSA. By framing the CSA as a change in the way one plans and prepares food, members can be inspired to develop the skills for a successful CSA routine.

Welcome to Penn’s Corner CSA! We’re glad to have you as a new member of our local food community.

Eating local is exciting but can be challenging if you’re trying it for the first time. Don’t worry, we’re here to help eating local become second nature for you. The weekly share guide, posted on our blog, lists items that will be in your next share. Images will help you to identify what share items are and give you informa-tion about how to prepare and store items. We’ll also provide some recipes to get you started in learning what to make with CSA share items.

Try our suggested recipes and share your ideas with your community. Soon you’ll have a new food rou-tine, and you won’t remember how to eat any other way!

We encourage you to attend your pick-up community’s season kick-off party! It’s a great way to meet some like-minded, local foodies in your area.

Your CSA community is an excellent resource for:• sharing ideas for recipes with CSA box items• finding someone to take your extras when you just can’t finish everything• having a back-up plan when you go away for the week• getting inspired to expand your local food routine• learning cooking tips and tricks

Look out for an invitation for your kick-off dinner soon!

Welcome message language frames the CSA as building a new routine and highlights the community as a resource

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Next Steps

digital weekly share guide

• Build up a database of images and prep/ storage tips for CSA items

• Implement new blog template to improve presentation of information

• Include link to blog post of weekly share guide in weekly reminder email

• Provide recipes geared at different archetypes

• Solicit a couple of dedicated CSA members to trial hosting a kick-off party

• Provide kick-off party toolkit to the host (email template, nametags/labels).

• Create a listserv for these pick-up communities that participate in the pilot (lsoft.com or Google Groups)

• Survey participants at the end of the season - was the kick-off party & email listserv valuable?

• Consider the language used to welcome new members

• Try framing joining a CSA as “starting a new food routine”

• Communicate that the CSA will be supportive of new members in this transition

The proposed service interactions are meant to help members commit to the CSA as their new “normal” food routine. Retention rates are a good metric to see whether these interactions help people commit to the CSA over multiple years

piCk-up Community season kiCk-off party

welCome to your new food routine

measure member retention before and after!

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Questions?email Christiana at christiana.lackner@gmail.com

The information contained in this report was collected for a Design Masters thesis project through the Carnegie Mellon University School of Design.