Boy, it’s been awhile since we’ve posted. The end of April, beginning of May is always a busy time for us as the Orchard, as everything is coming in bloom and things start to get geared up! In the midst of May, we always have an array of things going on. Among those “things” is having the opportunity to have summer interns! Each year we strive to have three college interns focused in different areas of the business. This year we have interns in the areas of Marketing/Business Development, Orchard Operations and Landscape/Maintenance. Giving students the ability to gain hands on learning is something we believe strongly in. Therefore, we have decided to feature the interns throughout the summer on the blog! First up is Aaron, our Marketing/Business Development intern. See below what he has been up to so far this summer!
My name is Aaron Miller and I am currently working as the marketing/business development intern here at Kimmel Orchard. This is my 3rd week working as an intern here at Kimmel and I have already gotten to be involved with quite a bit. One of the things I’m doing is helping with the 90 Days of Giveaways campaign to celebrate Kimmel’s 90th anniversary. It’s been very interesting to observe the success of this campaign so far. The giveaways have helped our Facebook page grow almost 400 likes in just over 2 weeks. From what I can see so far, it looks like this has been a very good way to connect with our customers.
Another project I’ve gotten to start on is researching how we can improve our group tours here at Kimmel. I’ve looked at how quite a few other orchards set theirs up and also looked into tour curriculum varying for different age groups. This has definitely been a fun challenge because we have an opportunity to be unique if we can find a good way to personalize our tours to suit different grade levels.
I also had the opportunity to work the Strawberry Festival on Saturday. I worked a cash register in the apple barn and was amazed by the turnout. It was very interesting seeing how many people came out for the festival after seeing what goes into marketing an event like that. Erin used the large number of people interacting with the 90 Days of Giveaways campaign to get the word out about the strawberry festival and I believe that is what helped get so many people out to the orchard that day.
So far I’ve gotten to experience a lot of different aspects of how the orchard (or any business) runs. It’s been very exciting to be able to offer up ideas and try to help the orchard have a successful start to the summer. Whether it’s brainstorming for our group tours or learning how to handle some of our books, I believe I’ve already gotten some good experience and am very excited for the summer ahead.
Kimmel Orchard & Vineyard 