Meet PCG Member – Hiram Ramirez: Business is Mushrooming
Say the words “farm” or “farmer” and visions of rolling hills with rows of crops perhaps dotted with hoop houses pop into mind.
But not so for PCG Professional Member Hiram Ramirez and Urban Gourmet Farms. His farm – the first ever mushroom farm in North Carolina – is comprised of a group of large shipping containers – one an office and several soon to be a lab at the newly developed Roots Farm on Providence Road in Weddington, NC. Roots Farm, is an agriculture-centric community built around a working farm. Urban Gourmet Mushrooms has the distinction of being the first specialty farmer to plant a business on the property.
Ramirez initially starting his business with two partners in 2015. Things started small, with three partners and two rooms in a warehouse.
As business began to develop he started working with lots of PCG member chefs. “I was aware of PGC for about a year before I realized I wasn’t a member”, laughed Hiram, who officially joined in 2016. Looking back, he knew starting a new business would be tough, but no one told him how tough.
Shortly after the business started, one partner left, which was messy at first; but as it turned out, was a good thing. Ramirez owned and operated the farm with his partner in life and in business, Michelle Smith. In that first year, the couple worked hard, reaching out to chefs across the city and the state. They had big plans, slowly building a unique concept they could now call their own. As with any new growing business there were hurdles.
But just a year after being out on their own, came the hurdle Hiram never thought he would have to face – Michelle’s sudden death in December of 2016. He says now, those days are mostly a blur, but Hiram remembers that Guild members were there when he needed them most. For that, he continues to be appreciative.
“It’s a unique community where we all take care of each other. PCG members supported me as friends and in business when we lost Michelle. I didn’t know what to do, so with the support of Charlotte’s culinary community, I just kept going.”
Support has been a two-way street, however. Hiram has been there for PCG as well – from supplying product for past PCG collaboration dinners and Farm-to-Fork events .. to being a presenter at past Food & Beverage Symposiums.
As 2019 came to an end, Ramirez was building back his business as a sole proprietor with over two dozen restaurant accounts and Saturday morning booths at both Matthews Community Farmers’ Market and South End Market.
Things were going well; and then, prospects suddenly got much better with a call to be a part of the newly developing Roots Farm. The unique farm-to-table community founded by Margaret and Smokey Bissel has 330 acres of farmland for field crops and row crops and includes 225 acres of hardwood forest, ripe for foraging. 70 percent of the land will never be developed to allow for open space, trails and a way to help preserve the land for future generation to enjoy.
The principals at Roots Farm wanted Ramirez and his Urban Gourmet Mushroom Farm to be a part of it all.
With the promise of room to grow his business in size and space, January of 2020 found Ramirez taking a leap of faith as he moved his entire operation to the land in Weddington. There would be more room to grow here and the change to be on the ground floor of something really big, a developing community of like-minded farmers, doing things right.
In a weekend, his two-room warehouse in Charlotte morphed into a trio of shipping containers and a dedicated office, with plans to build a 30×40 foot lab with a steam room so he will be able to inoculate as well as grow. 2020 held a lot of promise for Hiram Ramirez and his farm of cultivated wild mushrooms.
Until March.
Charlotte restaurants closed under the North Carolina COVID pandemic restrictions on March 15, 2020. Some slowly reopened for to-go and curbside pick-up options, but no one needed all the mushrooms they had regularly been ordering just a week before.
Hiram had a shelves of oyster, trumpet, shiitake, chestnut, lion’s mane and maitake all ready to pick, when all of a sudden, his customer base was gone.
Like other farmers, he was growing crop based on the business he was doing in late February.
When things shut down, no one was ordering and there he was with an entire crop of ripe perishable mushrooms ready to be harvested. He stood to lose it all.
Like farmers everywhere, COVID restrictions forced a pivot in the way Hiram started doing business.
Ramirez credits friend and fellow PCG member and small business owner, Jesse Leadbetter of Freshlist with helping him move the bulk of his perishable product that first couple of weeks.
Thankfully farmers’ markets remained open and he was able to continue to sell mushrooms to locals shopping on Saturdays instead of in grocery stores. He delivered to people in his neighborhood and those market customers who didn’t feel safe coming out.
Like many other farmers he also set up an online ordering system.
“The ability to have the public preorder as chefs have always done, has helped to plan and control my inventory a lot. I did what I needed to do, to move product.”
Now, as business is picking up again, he remains ready for anything. His goal is to continue to move forward, get his lab built and start growing his own inventory from the get go.
Even with all the COVID cutbacks, he has hired a farm manager, Grayson Boger and has had a high school intern lending a helping hand as he learns more about Mycology for a school project. While Hiram is at the Matthews Community Farmers’ market every Saturday morning, Ann Hamilton sells for UGF at the South End Market.
Currently, Hiram doesn’t sell foraged mushrooms; but Boger is a licensed forager. Pair that with the fact that at Roots Farm property there is plenty of forest to forage, and the possibilities are endless.
Even under the shade of the tall pines and oaks at his new home base, the future for Hiram Ramirez and Urban Gourmet Mushroom Farm is looking like a brighter than it has ever been before.
Profile written by Heidi Billotto