For East Cobb resident Janis Holland, simply delivering fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables to her customers isn’t enough.
She likes to show what they do with the food they get from her mom-and-pop service, Holland Botanical, every week.
Holland also takes photos of meals she’s prepared for herself and her family, including most recently a bowl of peaches and cream oatmeal with grainless granola and honey.
“It really makes you feel good to know you’re doing a good job,” Holland says of the testimonials she’s received from customers.
For nearly nine years, she and her husband Jonathan have been serving the East Cobb, Roswell and Woodstock area, initially in a weekend pop-up format, and since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily home delivery.
They’ve also put their sons, former and current football players at Pope High School, to work in what’s become something of a family business.
“It was a side hustle, but we wanted it to be something bigger,” said Holland, whose husband still runs a landscaping business. “We saw a need in the community for produce.”
Like any such entity, Holland Botanical has had to adapt quickly and in dramatic ways.
She said she switched from Saturday set-ups at the Shallowford Falls Shopping Center because “people here are busy on the weekends and they just couldn’t get here.”
She still does some pop-ups tied to community fundraisers and some seasonal mobile farmers markets at select locations in Atlanta.
But she reflects on the original format now as “a great idea at the wrong time.”
The overhead for a full-time farmers market is prohibitive, so going to an all-delivery format—with free delivery to ZIP Codes 30062, 30066, 30067, 30068, 30075 and part of 30188—has made the work she does more efficient.
“Everything stopped,” Holland said, referring to the onset of the pandemic, “and we rebooted it.”
Now it’s a full-time job for her, serving typically between 75-100 customers a week. They fill out their orders on her website by Monday afternoon, and she delivers Tuesday and Wednesday.
Holland travels once or twice a week to the State Farmers Market in Forest Park, filling out orders that include separate fruit and vegetable baskets and a combined fruit-veggie basket. She chooses some of the items based on availability and seasonality, and customers can make special requests.
Holland Botanical charges $25 for a basket, which contains enough food for a typical family supply for a week. The emphasis is on Georgia-grown products, including items from other suppliers.
“We want to make it affordable to eat healthy,” Holland said.
While her delivery service is free, she does have a place on her order form for customers to add a gasoline tip, which she said is very helpful in times of soaring fuel prices.
While the margins are tight and the nature of a fresh produce delivery service remains fluid, she’s convinced this type of business is viable.
Despite the reality of the pivots she’s had to make, Holland’s passion for what she does hasn’t subsided.
“I don’t think we could sustain an à la carte menu,” she said. “But I believe in getting healthy food into peoples’ hands.”
While some remain careful accepting their food due to COVID concerns, “our customers are just so happy to see us.”
Holland also gives back to the community by donating leftover food to those who need it.
“Just message me,” Holland said.
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