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We’re hiring a Community Marketing Specialist in Pittsburgh!

About us

Harvie (http://harvie.farm) is rebuilding our food system to better support small farmers and producers and make it easier for consumers to eat locally. Harvie supports small farms throughout the country as a software to manage their CSA programs and provide the ability to customize. In our home-base of Pittsburgh, Harvie runs a home-delivered local grocery subscription program, providing members with weekly grocery boxes sourced from local and regional farmers and artisans. 

This program is growing rapidly, and we are seeking a boots-on-the-ground community marketing professional based in Pittsburgh to join our remote marketing team and help us grow Harvie’s Pittsburgh program (harviepittsburgh.com).

About the position

An enthusiastic people-person and excellent communicator, this person will focus on gathering compelling local content and growing Harvie’s social media presence. They will spend their time out and about in the community, conducting interviews, and shooting video and photos to help tell the Harvie story, working closely with our 80+partner farms and artisans. They will be a key part of helping grow our Pittsburgh program, working creatively in the community to raise awareness about Harvie and grow our membership.

This is an exciting opportunity for an up and coming marketing professional looking to grow their career on a dynamic team working towards a bold vision of changing our food system for the better. 

Responsibilities
  • Generate high quality visual and written local content by visiting our partner farms and artisans to conduct interviews, and shooting photos and videos to help tell Harvie’s story and connect our members with the people behind their food
  • Manage and grow Harvie’s organic social media presence, creating compelling local content and using it to strategically generate leads and drive conversions to grow Harvie’s member base
  • Work with Harvie’s paid social media consultant, creating content for them to use in ads
  • Engage closely with Harvie’s members, managing our facebook community group to build member engagement, gain key insights about our audience and our product, and build up a library of user generated content to use across our marketing efforts
  • Build and maintain community partnerships to support member acquisition efforts
  • Help design and implement “guerilla marketing” efforts across Pittsburgh to creatively build awareness about Harvie in the community and drive sales 
  • Leverage community events to build Harvie’s following, representing us at partner events, and coordinating our own events where applicable 
Requirements
  • 2+ years of experience in organic social media management, with proven track record of growing online communities
  • 1+ year of experience managing facebook or other digital ads
  • People-person with a passion for local food and enthusiasm for sharing it with others
  • Excellent communicator orally and in writing, with experience writing marketing copy for various applications
  • A go-getter who is highly motivated to work creatively and collaboratively towards team goals
  • Experience or interest in photography and videography
  • Data-driven and motivated by moving the numbers to help us hit our goals
  • Design experience preferred 
Important details:
  • Full-time position based in Pittsburgh, PA
  • Salary range from $48-59K/year
  • This position will mostly work from their home office, with frequent visits to our Pittsburgh distribution center, and time out and about in the community. 
  • 50% off your Harvie membership
  • Health benefits inc. vision and dental, retirement plan, and paid time off
  • Remote work office stipend
  • Education stipend
  • Equal Opportunity Employer

Apply Now:

Submit cover letter and resume via our application form: https://airtable.com/shr2bF0ff52ceG9b9 

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Pittsburgh’s Got A Brand New Booch ☀️ Vibrant Sunshine Kombucha Will Brighten Your Day

We’re letting you in on a juicy little secret…the Pittsburgh Juice Company has just launched a new sister brand, Vibrant Sunshine Kombucha. The Pittsburgh Juice Company (PJC) cold-presses dozens of flavors of juices and smoothies using raw, vegan, sustainable products. 

Owner Naomi has developed four unique, botanically-infused flavors that are sure to excite your taste buds. Whether you’re looking to rev up your morning or take a mid-day break from the norm, Vibrant Sunshine Kombucha is ready to go whenever you need it. Pick your favorite flavor…or try all four…and experience the sunshine!

Get these 4 flavors delivered in your Harvie box!

Flower Child—Chamomile, Jasmine, Lavender,

Good Vibes—Elderflower, Blueberry, Lemon                                                                   

Hot Stuff—Ginger, Lime, Cayenne                                                                                       

Solar Power—Orange, Cardamom, Cinnamon

Vibrant Sunshine Kombucha
Meet founder Naomi and learn more about Vibrant Sunshine Kombucha!

And, if you haven’t visited The Pittsburgh Juice Company yet, you should definitely stop by. The distinctive storefront of their flagship location in Lawrenceville combines bold hues with industrial modern metal work, designed and executed by Naomi. With advanced degrees in architecture, Naomi brings her skills to bear in this striking facade. Go enjoy the architecture and a midday pick-me-up. Live well, and be energized.
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The Art of Nonchalance — Meet the Owner and Chef at Sprezzatura, One of Harvie’s Newest Producers

Sprezzatura is an Italian word which, in typical Italian fashion, means so much more than just one word in English. The art of practiced nonchalance, we can all use a little more sprezzatura in our lives—whether it’s at a high stakes business negotiation, a dinner table “eat your veggies or no dessert” negotiation with the kids, or an internal negotiation to choose the latte or the cappuccino when you’re next in line. 

If you’re looking for a lesson in sprezzatura, look no farther than Pittsburgh’s very own Jen Saffron. Jen is the owner and chef at Sprezzatura, a heritage-inspired Italian cafe and caterer located in Millvale. Jen pays homage to her family’s time-tested recipes, dishing out food and an energy that just make you feel good about life. 

Jen learned to cook from her mom, and she told us she won’t cook anything she wouldn’t eat herself. You better not ask for stale banquet fare like chicken parm when Jen’s catering your next event. What you can expect is a savory veggie lasagna with too many layers to name, herb-infused ricotta stuffed shells drenched in homemade red sauce, and caramelized onion tarts topped with kalamata olives. Oh, and matching biscotti and dogscotti cooked up for you and your best mate by Lorraine (our canine taste-testers wholeheartedly approve of these bakes). 

Jen and Lorraine at their kitchen in Millvale.
Jen and Lorraine at their kitchen in Millvale.

Jen’s story is just as interesting as her menu. With a background in war photography and filmmaking, and service as a Dean at a major research institution, Jen was worried what her peers would think when she decided to leave it all and bite into cooking professionally. During our visit, she recalled her absolute worst day in the kitchen. It was a dreadfully hot day in Arizona, and she was making mistakes left and right. Stepping outside for a break, she saw an old colleague approach. If she wasn’t already sweating, this did her in. She knew he wouldn’t understand why she chose this over a secure, salaried career. Summoning her sprezzatura, Jen chatted with him, and what he said to her was utterly surprising and affirming. “You know, we’re all jealous of what you did.” 

In 2018, Jen began catering in Pittsburgh and selling at winter markets when times were tough. This is how she began to realize that she could turn her food gig into a full-time business. Now Sprezzatura is a dine-in cafe in Millvale’s Food and Energy Hub, open for dinner Thursday-Saturday and available to cater your events! We highly recommend you visit for a meal. As part of the EcoDistrict, the Food & Energy Hub is a model for carbon neutrality and repurposing Pittsburgh’s vacant buildings into vibrant community gathering spaces.     

Harvie’s launching two of Jen’s amazing recipes that are a must try— Lemony (vegan!) Chickpeas and Artichoke Parmesan Dip. These come to you packaged and refrigerated, ready to nosh. Sign up today to try them out!  

Click to watch! Jen Saffron introduces Sprezzatura and two of her featured products.
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Now Hiring Member Relations Specialists in Pittsburgh!

About Us

Harvie (http://harvie.farm) connects local consumers with local farmers who deliver shares of farm fresh products customized to their personal preferences.

Our company was started in 2006 to meet the technology and marketing needs of local farmers across the US, Canada, and internationally and has served 1000’s of farms in the last 13 years. The Harvie platform was introduced in late 2016 to address the changing landscape of food buying and to help farmers grow sales and profit by making local food more accessible through a customer friendly CSA / farm share model. The concept has grown rapidly since.

To keep up with growth, the Harvie Team is hiring a Harvie Member Relations Specialist.

About the Position

Our Member Relations Specialists work as the front line of customer support for both assisting our partner farms as well as their customers with technical questions. Support requests come in through several channels, primarily email, but also phone and online chat. Supporting our farmers’ members often involves tasks such as helping them get signed up, scheduling vacations, making cancellations, processing refunds, billing questions, technical difficulties, and other account management issues.

This is an exciting opportunity for independent, self-starting individuals who are ready to grow with Harvie.

Responsibilities:

  • Answers support requests via Zendesk, Live Chat, and phones based on Service Level Agreements, the company Style Guide, and maintenance of a high customer satisfaction level
  • Conducts inside member sales calls on an as needed basis
  • Works closely with the Farm Management concentration to carry out audit tasks in a timely manner ahead of season start dates
  • Regularly assesses external member communications for effectiveness; works with the Marketing team to tweak communication when necessary
  • Vigilant in finding member request trends and acts upon them to improve the member and farmer experience from start to finish, including identifying farmer training needs
  • Shares ongoings of the Member Relations concentration with all other Customer Success concentrations on a weekly basis
  • Stay up to date on new software deploys to best serve our members
  • Continually trains across concentrations to maximum knowledge base

About You:

  • Natural problem-solver with the ability to deductively get to root causes of problems
  • Able to manage and reach multiple goals simultaneously
  • Highly organized and attentive to detail
  • A thoughtful communicator with the ability to handle a high volume of communications from various channels while being mindful of tone and empathy
  • Advanced computational skills
  • Comfort with friendly phone support — support is unscripted and requests are often unique
  • Able to work independently yet collaboratively
  • Able to learn or have experience with web-based utilities such as Google Suite (Gmail, Google Docs, Google Sheets), Zendesk, Atlassian Suite, Guru, Slack, and Zoom
  • Majority of work can be conducted from home, with semi-frequent visits to our Harvie Farms Pittsburgh distribution center in Pittsburgh

Important details:

  • Full-time position
  • Competitive starting salary range from $45 – $55k
  • Health benefits inc. vision and dental, retirement plan, and paid time off
  • Harvie farm share stipend
  • Remote work office stipend if working remotely
  • Education stipend
  • Full-time work is 40 hours a week including some regular weekend coverage required
  • Equal Opportunity Employer

COVID-19 considerations:
When visiting and working from the Harvie Farms Pittsburgh distribution center, we require the use of masks and proof of vaccination when applicable.

Apply: https://airtable.com/shrCteXXSKhzUiNzq

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Now Hiring: Shift Supervisor at Harvie Farms Pittsburgh

About Us

Harvie Farms Pittsburgh is a local foods home delivery service based in Lawrenceville. Founded in 2020 with a mission to make it as simple as possible for families to have access to local foods, Harvie Farms is a farm share model that emphasizes customization and convenience.

About the Position

We are looking for smart and motivated individuals who want to work in a start-up food hub environment as our Shift Coordinator. Each week the Harvie Farms crew works together to aggregate products from our farm and producer partners and then creates customized farm shares for customers in our Pittsburgh warehouse space. The Shift Coordinator oversees all Operations Assistants, ensuring that they have the necessary framework to successfully build the most crucial, tangible piece of our distribution operation: the Harvie box.

Responsibilities:

  • Oversees and monitors the performance of staff during their shifts ensuring:
    • A lack of errors
    • An efficient workflow based on training protocol and guidelines
    • Problems are addressed on the fly as they arise
  • Identifies staffing needs and meets them by developing an organized employee schedule, where absenteeism and tardiness are tracked
  • Provides ongoing onboarding and training for new hires and identifies the need for continuous improvement plans for current staff
  • Promotes an environment focused on safety and immediately addresses any safety concerns or incidents
  • Assists in developing, documenting, and training workplace processes and standard operating procedures

Important Details:

  • Full-time
  • Compensation begins at $17/hour
  • Benefits currently include paid time off, with healthcare coming soon!
  • Work days include Monday through Friday
  • Willing to work a variety of shifts including the occasional 5:30 am shift

About You:

  • Able to maintain a full time presence in the warehouse to monitor, observe, and coach Operations Assistants
  • Excellent leadership skills with the ability to motivate and give clear direction
  • Advanced ability to communicate and problem solve
  • Adaptable, flexible, and open to change
  • Self-starter and takes initiative 
  • Project and time management skills with the ability to prioritize and delegate tasks
  • Ability to effectively manage a team with a wide range of personalities
  • Must be able to lift at least 50 pounds
  • Must be able to stand for long periods of time

Apply:

Follow this link to our application form: https://airtable.com/shrISN3AYFzndWZ0r

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Now Hiring – Harvie Farms Pittsburgh Operations Assistants

About Us

Harvie Farms Pittsburgh is a local foods home delivery service based in Lawrenceville. Founded in 2020 with a mission to make it as simple as possible for families to have access to local foods, Harvie Farms is a farm share model that emphasizes customization and convenience.

About the Position

We are looking for smart and motivated individuals who want to work in a start-up food hub environment as an Operations Assistant. Each week the Harvie Farms crew will work together to aggregate products from our farm and producer partners and then create customized farm shares for customers in our Pittsburgh warehouse space. Products will include produce, eggs, milk, cheese, bread, meat, flowers, and other locally made products. Room for advancement is available for the right candidate.

For a more public-facing role within the Operations team, we are also looking for interested applicants to work as a delivery driver. This role entails bringing the custom-packed boxes to our members’ doorsteps in a timely manner and serving as the face of the company.

Important Details:

  • Full-time and part-time available
  • Compensation begins at $15/hour
  • Benefits currently include paid time off, with others coming soon!
  • Work days include Monday through Friday
  • Willing to work a variety of shifts including the occasional 5:30 am shift

About You:

  • Quick worker with an extremely high attention to detail
  • Motivated to communicate and work well with a team
  • Reliable, prompt, and flexible
  • Familiar with various types of produce and farm products in a diverse farm share
  • Interested in supporting local farms and providing high levels of customer service
  • Able to do repetitive tasks that involve lifting and hauling on a warehouse floor

Apply:

Follow this link to our application form: https://airtable.com/shr48yrV6PeEEmXQm

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The Dirt on Harvie Farms Pittsburgh’s Sourcing Standards

Harvie Farms Pittsburgh has done a lot of growing in the past year. As we scale this new model for local grocery distribution, we are faced with the exciting new challenge of meeting the full grocery needs of our 1500 customers while maintaining sourcing practices that align with our values and those of our customers. Today’s post comes from Harvie Founder and CEO, Simon Huntley, sharing his thoughts about that challenge along with the sourcing standards we’ve committed to for products in our Harvie Farms Pittsburgh Local Grocery Boxes.

The way we eat determines how our land is used and who our economy supports. Good food brings joy and health to our lives and those of the people we love. It shapes the way we connect with each  other and with the place we call home. 

I grew up in a rural community south of Pittsburgh, on the PA/WV border with very few job prospects beyond the dying coal industry. The central question of my work over the last 15 years is: how can a family make a living on the kind of rural farm where I grew up? If we can get this right — improving farm viability, strengthening rural economies, and prioritizing people who are not served by our current economic system — we can make this business, and your grocery dollars, a mechanism for powerful change. 

This business model began as a tool for small farms to sell their products to more customers by making their CSA / farm shares more consumer-friendly, but over time it has grown into a full local grocery delivery service. As more people join and buy a higher percentage of their weekly groceries from Harvie, it’s clear that we need to expand our product offerings.

We have a chance to build a revolution with our dinner plates in a way that fits into our daily lives. For me personally, I am eating significantly more local food year-round than I was in the past using CSA programs and farmers markets. In fact, this month I’m taking the #EatLocalJuly challenge and I’m going to eat exclusively from my Harvie box for an entire month. 

The work ahead for Harvie is how to develop a whole new supply chain that can support local, regional, and smaller producers, while ensuring our customers can rely on Harvie for all of their groceries. As we continue to expand our offerings, we are beginning to formalize our sourcing guidelines to steer our decision making. As we do this, we want to give you full transparency about how we choose what can go in your box. It’s important to us that your grocery spend goes directly to producers who are making the world a better place. We are passing along a higher percentage of your dollar (4 times more!) to the people behind your food than typical grocers.

How do we choose which products and producers to work with? We are always trying to improve, but today I want to share with you what we are thinking so far. We will stand on these principles in all of our sourcing:

Quality — We strive to source the best tasting, freshest, and most nutritious products.

Local Economy — We prioritize purchasing from business owners who have a direct connection to your community. When a product you need is not available locally, we’ll find the best version of it that we can according to our standards.

Good Stewardship — We work with producers who are good stewards of their land and animals. Whenever possible we will source from farmers who use organic and regenerative growing practices, and will always avoid those that abuse pesticides and the people and animals under their care.

Human Impact — As Harvie grows, we aspire to build relationships with producers that raise industry standards for transparency, living wages, diversity, equity and inclusion.

Viable Rural Communities — We strengthen rural economies by connecting rural producers with consumers in urban areas.

Story — We build connections between you and your producers by telling the stories behind the food and the people who create it and by inviting you to connect in person when possible.

Transparency — You deserve to know everything you can about what you put on your family’s kitchen table. We always label products accurately, verify certifications and tell you everything we can about the products you purchase.

Resilience — We believe in building a diverse network of producers and products and shortening the path between producer and consumer to create a more resilient community food system.

This is how we will ensure your grocery dollars have the most positive impact for your dinner table, your community, and our food system. And you can be a key part of shaping the next phase of this movement. If there’s something you want to eat that isn’t currently available on Harvie, let us know — our Facebook Community Group is a great place to post your thoughts, or feel free to send an email to support@harvie.farm. 

We have an exciting few months of local food coming your way — July, August, and September are the best months of the year for eating in Western PA. Get ready to fill your boxes with sweet corn, eggplant, and tomatoes. And on the grocery side of things, we will have crackers, pierogies, pitas, potato chips, dried fruit, nuts, and more snacks coming your way soon!

Thank you for being a part of the movement.

-Simon Huntley

 

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Harvie Farms Pittsburgh Seeking Part-time Operations Assistant

Harvie Farms Pittsburgh is a local foods home delivery service based in Lawrenceville. Founded in 2020 with a mission to make it as simple as possible for families to have access to local foods, Harvie Farms is a farm share model that emphasizes customization and convenience.

We are looking for smart and motivated individuals that want to work in a start-up food hub environment as an Operations Assistant. Each week the Harvie Farms crew will work together to aggregate products from our farm and producer partners and then create customized farm shares for customers in our Pittsburgh warehouse space. Products will include produce, eggs, milk, cheese, bread, meat, flowers, and other locally made products.

Most work hours will be daytime Tuesdays through Fridays starting immediately. Room for advancement and additional hours available for the right candidate. The best applicants will be:

  • Quick workers with an extremely high attention to detail.
  • Motivated to communicate and work well with a team.
  • Reliable, prompt, and flexible.
  • Familiar with the various types of produce and farm products offered in a diverse farm share.
  • Interested in supporting local farms and providing high levels of customer service.
  • Able to do repetitive tasks that involve lifting and hauling on a warehouse floor.

Compensation begins at $15/hour. To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to jordanmason@harvie.farm. Positions will fill quickly—we recommend applying soon.

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Pittsburgh: Meet the Local Grocery Box

We’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how to build a food supply chain that works for everyone involved, and it’s challenging work. After hearing from members and producers, we took a step back and the Local Grocery Box stepped up. Before the Local Grocery Box at Harvie Farms Pittsburgh, we offered various subscriptions for vegetables, meats, and add-ons like coffee and bread. It was a lot for our members to keep straight, and we questioned how scaleable that model was. Now, with the Local Grocery Box, our Pittsburgh members can get their entire grocery haul all in one subscription and we can better support more local producers. By having one subscription type, we can purchase more regularly and consistently from producers so that they can count on us as a market for their products. 

Harvie Farms Pittsburgh local grocery boxFor members, it’s like ordering online from Whole Foods, except every single item you purchase is carefully selected from small, regional producers and curated to fit your tastes. The Local Grocery Box comes in five sizes so that members can order as much food as you need each week; choose from vegetables, meats, pasta, preserves, beverages, snacks, dairy, and more! Add exactly what you want in your box, and then wait for it to be delivered to your doorstep. The Local Grocery Box subscription also comes with unlimited delivery skips, meaning that you can easily create a schedule that works for you. Going on vacation? Still have plenty of food from last week? No problem, just skip a delivery with the click of a button. 

How we spend our money and how we eat have direct results in the world. We can shape a more sustainable future by supporting small, family-owned farms and artisans with our grocery budget. Members can be confident that their dollars are going right back into our local food community; 50-60 cents of each dollar goes directly back to our producers compared with an average of 14 cents going back to farmers in the national grocery system. Additionally, our members help provide local jobs in the Pittsburgh area. This is impactful change. 

By personally scouting for producers in the area, we’ve been able to bring on a wider selection of groceries to fill our member’s tables. One example is Yarnick’s Farm and Greenhouses in Indiana, PA. Simon went to visit Dan Yarnick’s farm last week with a few members of the Harvie team, and Dan is so excited to bring his products to Harvie members in the new Local Grocery Box! We’ve got his hydroponically grown tomatoes for sale on Harvie Farms Pittsburgh right now. Dan has over 50 years of farming experience and has invested heavily in his operation to grow this quality product. With Harvie Farms Pittsburgh, now he can sell to his local community instead of shipping his tomatoes to New York City! 

For us at Harvie, the Local Grocery Box is a tangible step towards the food system we envision. Learn more about the Local Grocery Box here, and if you’re in Pittsburgh, we hope you’ll join us in the revolution! 

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Media Alert: Harvie’s Got Something to Say about Local Food

The local foods landscape has seen a tide change in the past decade, and COVID-19 quickly ushered in the newest wave of innovation and consumer demand. We’re keeping tabs on the latest trends and digging into the issues around sustainable agriculture to bring you the best ways to support a food system that works for you and the planet. We are amped that we’ve been featured in two national media outlets this past month, and humbled to share our take on the future of local food.

Our first mention this month was in the Wall Street Journal article “The Digital Farmers’ Market: New Shortcuts to the Freshest Food,” which explains the inception of several local food tech companies and their vision for where the industry is headed. In the article, our CEO Simon calls out the origins of his CSA tech platform Small Farm Central in 2005, and the evolution into the Harvie you know and love today. The responsiveness of local food tech companies to the needs of farmers and consumers is unique, and this is the best way we can beat the big guys—farms and grocers alike—to create a food system that cultivates community, sustainability, and trust.

You may not be surprised to read yet another article about the age old plant-based vs. meat diet debate. But, we are in a new moment where top restaurants such as Eleven Madison Park are making the plant-based plunge, slashing animal products from their menu. While individuals and businesses can certainly make their own choices about the food they prepare and eat, categorically writing off animal products as a health and climate disaster is a surface level response to a deep issue of animal production practices, and ignores the actual benefits that animals can have in a balanced farming operation. As one example, recent studies indicate that well managed pasture lands can sequester impressive amounts of carbon and provide habitat for hundreds of species of insects. A plant-based, monoculture corn field couldn’t create that level of environmental asset. Moreover, for those home chefs who do enjoy eating animal products, removing them from our diets would strip us from the culinary exploration and delight that they bring to our palettes. Chef Dan Barber from Stone Barns Center in upstate New York knows this, and raises and sources sustainably produced meats to include in his exemplary menu. If this conversation piques your interest, check out the full op-ed in the Washington Post by Harvie COO and farmer Kyle Jaster, and let us know what you think! Find it here: Ditching meat isn’t the answer for climate change: better farming is.