by Karl H. Kazaks GLADE CREEK, NC — Phenomenal growth. Fantastic success. That’s how the recent history of Bottomley Evergreens & Farms can be described — a history still being written, with future milestones of growth and accomplishment yet to be obtained. The numbers speak for themselves. “I didn’t even sell Christmas trees six years ago,” Mitchell Bottomley said. The first year he dipped his toes into the Christmas tree business he shipped 2,000 Fraser firs. His involvement in the industry quickly accelerated, as he grew his business by some 100,000 trees per year. Last year, Bottomley sold about 550,000 Fraser firs. This year he planted 750,000 Fraser fir seedlings and expects to ship over 600,000 trees. His ultimate goal is to harvest and ship 1 million Fraser firs per year. Mitchell Bottomley got into the evergreen business 20 years ago. He was 18 years old, had just graduated from high school, and started making pine roping. For many years roping was his main business, and much of his work was contract. About 10 years ago, he decided to branch out — to start marketing his products himself and to increase the amount of products he had for sale. “I wasn’t doing wreaths 10 years ago,” Bottomley recalled. Yet last year he sold 2.2 million wreaths — and 2 million garlands, some 500,000 centerpieces, along with other ornamentation like bouquets, swag and mantelpieces. Bottomley Evergreens & Farms has shipped Fraser firs to all lower 48 states plus Canada and the Virgin Islands. Its primary customers are some of the nation’s biggest chain and grocery stores — Costco, Wegman’s, WalMart, Home Depot, Sam’s and Lowe’s. Much of their business is in the Midwest and Northeast. “We service most of the chains from Maine to Miami,” said office manager Mack Osborne, who is also Mitchell’s brother-in-law. They also sell a good bit of Christmas greenery in Texas and northward. “This year we’ll have 2,500 or 2,800 stores to monitor,” Osborne said. “Our biggest customer for Christmas trees is Home Depot,” added Mitchell Bottomley. Mitchell Bottomley has been an innovator in several aspects of the Christmas tree industry, including using pallets to ship trees and using cold storage for holding Christmas trees. The cold storage spaces are outfitted with misters and humidity control. Those devices keep the trees fresh and allow Bottomley to attack the onset of the Christmas tree season quickly by having a supply already on hand. Without using humidity control, Bottomley said, “If you cut a 50 pound Christmas tree, three weeks later it’ll weigh 45 pounds.” With his system, Bottomley can keep his trees at 50 pounds right up until shipment. Bottomley grows and sells only Fraser firs as Christmas trees, and currently has over 6 million Frasers in the ground. He also grows boxwood and
white pine, but they are tipped for the greenery decoration Bottomley makes. He is also partners in a property near Gresham, OR, which produces cedar and noble fir. “We’ll ship Fraser firs westward and haul back the cedar and noble fir cuttings to use in our garlands and centerpieces,” Osborne said. The company has a three-pallet minimum, and ships trees up to 14 feet tall. Most of the hauling is done contract, but Mitchell Bottomley also recently started a trucking business when a local hauling company folded. It has grown from six tractors three years ago to 32 this year. Bottomley’s goal is to have about 70 tractors. Though the trucking business is not focused on serving the evergreen business, it is a helpful insurance to have on hand when one of the contract haulers runs behind schedule. The year-round staff at Bottomley’s business (including the trucking operation) numbers about 170, with about 70 of them dedicated to Christmas tree work. In the holiday season the staff grows to about 1,200. Many of the seasonal workers are locals, but Bottomley also employs hundreds of H-2A and H-2B workers. This year he will have good quality housing for 800 such workers. This year, Bottomley is adding over 100,000 square feet of cold storage, bringing his total cold storage space to some 300,000 square feet. The new space is in a large, vacated factory that Bottomley recently took over and renovated. It will be the new distribution center for his Christmas tree processing and shipping (though the existing cold storage in other locations will continue to be used). In addition to Christmas greenery, Bottomley also grows several hundred acres of cabbage, sweet corn, and pumpkins. Sweet corn they sell mainly to Kroger, whereas Harris Teeter and WalMart are big buyers of his pumpkins. “We’re the largest growers of pumpkins in the United States,” Mitchell said. They grow about 1,100 acres of pumpkins themselves and contract out another 700 or so. Overall, they grow about 60 different varieties of pumpkins, squash, and gourds, including white pumpkins, pie pumpkins and heirloom varieties. “People are always going to celebrate two holidays,” Osborne said, explaining the company’s decision to focus on Christmas greenery and pumpkins. “Halloween and Christmas. Last year we shipped 1,800 trailer loads of pumpkins.” “We were doing 100 trailer loads of pumpkins a day,” Bottomley added. With business growing in, as Osborne said, “leaps and bounds,” he has signed the company up for new, custom-built inventory control software which is about to go live. Soon thereafter, the company will be hiring a team of at least five or six sales executives to help handle the business. That means rearranging the office space to accommodate new bodies, just one symptom of a growing business. “We should hit a home run this
Mitchell Bottomley’s wife Deanna helps run the trucking business Mitchell operates in addition to his growing operations. Their dog Dozer is a good companion.
In the past six years, Mitchell Bottomley has gone from shipping just 2,000 to more than 500,000 Fraser firs a year. Photos by Karl H. Kazaks year,” Osborne said. And how is it Bottomley Evergreens & Farms has hit a home run in so many consecutive years? “Quality is the main thing that’s driven his business,” Osborne said, referring to his brother-in-law. “As long as you’ve got quality and good logistics you’ve got the business. He sells a premium product to everybody.” Bottomley echoes that analysis. “If you’ve got good quality and good service price will take care of itself.” What’s more, Bottomley makes sure his name is affixed
to all of the products he sells. That’s how much of his business came about — by buyers seeing his labels on the quality products at someone else’s store. In addition to the tags and stickers, Bottomley uses for his Christmas greenery, he also has custom artwork on the sides of the pumpkin bins he ships. “I’m proud to put my name on it,” Bottomley said. “People will see we’re quality-driven.” Driven too, to write the next chapters in this hugely successful business enterprise.
Page 5 - Section B • COUNTRY FOLKS GROWER • July 2012
Business is booming at Bottemley Evergreens & Farms