In 2018, Loki Fish Company is rolling out a new program for our local Seattle-Area customers: A Community Supported Fishery (or CSF) Program.
CSF stands for “Community Supported Fishery”. Community supported fisheries are modeled after community supported agriculture programs (CSA), which you may have seen/participated in in your local community. Under a CSF model, customers make a single lump payment in advance for credit toward our wild salmon products. You decide when and how often you'd like a $100 (or more) portion of your share delivered or staged for pickup, and you enjoy special VIP pricing on your purchases.
Like farming, fishing is by nature a seasonal business, which means many of our expenses are front-loaded. We pay up front for fuel, moorage, shipping and processing costs associated with our fishing season and then recoup those expenses by selling our fish throughout the year. As a result, we (and other seasonal harvest-based businesses) need to rely on a cushion of cash as well as credit cards and bank loans to fund our harvest season.
By building connections with customers and using a prepayment model, we are able to rely less heavily on banking institutions and credit card companies and our customers can ensure that they will have access to a steady supply of salmon throughout the year at a discounted price.
On a personal level, a CSF model makes sense for Loki because we have always prioritized our direct relationship with clients. We are committed to direct-marketing our fish and cutting out the middleman, and implementing a CSF model is one more step toward a direct line between us as producers and the people we serve. When you participate in a CSF program, you know that the dollars you spend are going right back into supporting a sustainable, family-owned fishing operation.
Buying in bulk saves money. It's just a fact! But not everyone has an enormous pantry and freezer in their home, which makes bulk buying logistically impossible. When you become a partner in our CSF program, you are essentially buying in bulk and taking advantage of our ample freezer space. You can withdraw a reasonable amount of fish periodically (we recommend receiving monthly orders) and still enjoy the benefit of VIP bulk pricing.
How much you save depends on how much fish you pay for in advance.
For a base-level prepayment of $200 or more, receive 15% off of market pricing. (Your $200 payment will be posted as a $230 credit). Your discount increases from there depending on how much credit you add to your account. Add $400 or more for a 20% discount, $600 plus to receive 25% off, or spend $1000 to receive 30% off. That means a $1000 prepayment will post as $1300 of credit to spend. That's a lot of free fish!
To join, select your preferred pick up location and prepayment amount.
Once you are signed up and your credit is on the books, you're all set!
To schedule a CSF pickup, you simply login to your CSF customer account and use our online CSF shop to build a box. Once you've hit the $100 box minimum and you're happy with your order, you'll be able to schedule your delivery or pickup. Then (depending on how you've opted to receive your fish) just show up at the designated time and place, or sit back and wait for your delivery to arrive on the designated day.
Your first distribution will be delivered in an insulated cooler tote. This is your CSF Partner tote. Remember to bring it with you when you pick up future orders, or to leave it out on your porch if you've opted for home delivery. We'll send you a reminder email so you don't forget! We'll provide frozen gel packs to keep the fish cold, which you can return to us next time you pick up, or leave in the tote for us to retrieve if you're a home delivery customer.
If your credit runs low, simply visit our CSF management page and add funds to your account, or set your account to auto-replenish to ensure you always have access to delicious, sustainable wild fish. Simple!
Currently, we offer pickup sites at our active Seattle Farmer's Markets, at our warehouse in South Park, or you can opt for local home delivery. Since we pay a percentage of our market sales to the market association for vendor and stall fees, pickups at the market will be subject to a 5% pickup fee. Please keep this in mind when you select your prepayment level for market pickup.
If you'd like to receive fish without incurring a fee, we would encourage you to pick up at our South Park warehouse location in the Cloverdale Business Park, or opt for local home delivery! Both of these options are fee-free and convenient.
We currently don't deliver to the Eastside, North of Shoreline or South of Federal Way, but as our program grows, we would love to add pick up sites in neighboring cities. If you would like to host a pickup site, or would like to speak with us about coordinating a pick up site in your city, please contact our office! We'd love to talk.
You can sign up for our CSF online. First thing, pay a visit to our CSF customer agreement page. There you'll find the details on how the program works. Once you've done that, click over to our CSF sign up. We use a program called Farmigo to maintain our CSF and track customer accounts. Once you sign up through their portal, you can prepay for fish, build boxes and schedule pick ups or deliveries. The system will keep track of your balance and we will send you regular updates on available products, potential schedule changes, and the balance on your account.
Once you've signed up a confirmation of your account, pickup location details, and start date will be automatically emailed to you.