20 Questions with Orchard At The Office

office fresh fruit delivery

Today, we’re playing 20 Questions with Kevin Long and Chris Buchanan of the Richardson-based office fruit delivery service ORCHARD At The OFFICE, who have served the Dallas/Fort Worth area since 2010.

Q: Describe your company in fifteen words or less.

BUCHANAN: We deliver fresh fruit to Metroplex offices.

LONG: That’s it. Seven words.

BUCHANAN: Do we win anything?

LONG (laughing): I don’t think it’s a competition.

Q: Where did the name “ORCHARD At The OFFICE” come from?

LONG: I wanted a name that told a story, that gave a clear mental image and conveyed a journey. Here, in this basket of fruit, you have an orchard…right here at your office! It’s worked well for us.

office fresh fruit delivery

Q: Give us a Fun Fruit Fact we may not know.

BUCHANAN: If you took every fruit on the planet, laid them side by side, and attempted to name them all aloud, you’d irritate people. Even Harlan Pepper would tell you to stop naming fruits.

LONG: One thing I like to show people is how to peel a banana from the bottom, the way monkeys do.

BUCHANAN: And when you do it that way, you don’t get the phloem.

LONG: Right. That’s the technical name for the stringy matter inside a banana.

BUCHANAN: I should have made that my fact. (sighs) I had my chance, but it’s gone forever.

Q: Speaking of bananas, what’s this “bananigans” thing all about?

LONG: It’s really a state of mind, a reminder that health and happiness go together. Whether it’s the “banana smile” or juggling clementines, moments of silliness provide levity that add dimension to a workday.

Kevin Long and Chris Buchanan bananigans
Bananigans at D Magazine

clementine

Q: You describe yourself as a “local business”. What exactly does this mean to you?

BUCHANAN: Well, the company was founded right here in the Metroplex – Richardson, specifically. Our home office is here, our staff lives here, and our fruit is sourced from here. While it may be grown elsewhere – I’m certainly not aware of any pear orchards in Rowlett or Euless – the lifeblood of this business is Dallas. These are our friends and neighbors we’re serving.

Q: What’s the most popular fruit in Dallas?

BUCHANAN: Bananas are by far the favorite. We sell tons every week – and that’s not a figure of speech.

LONG: Yeah, bananas are the most popular, but whenever I’m in a conversation with someone, I’ll often ask them what their favorite fruit is. So many times, people say mangoes! I’m not sure why that is, because I don’t see nearly as many people actually eating a mango, but that’s what they say.

BUCHANAN: They could be lying.

LONG: Yeah, they may be lying.

bunch of bananas

Q: So what’s your favorite fruit?

BOTH (in unison): Mangoes.

Q: What are the smallest and largest offices you serve?

BUCHANAN: There’s one business with only three people, but they’re very dedicated to healthy living, so they go through our 16-piece Mini Office Basket every week. As the Metroplex is the home to so many large-scale operations, we’ve created options for everyone, such as our “Fortune 600 Special”. This helps us serve companies with over 1,500 employees.

Q: What do you do with any surplus fruit?

LONG: When we’re doing really well, there’s barely anything left over at the end of the week! When there is, we donate it primarily to two organizations: the Harvest Project, and the Samaritan Inn in McKinney.

Q: Tell us more about the Harvest Project.

BUCHANAN: Harvest Project is an amazing organization. It was started in 2014 by Danae Gutierrez, who has served on the DISD board and is truly an inspiring individual. It’s a community project that provides fresh produce to families in need at no cost. They’ll provide fruits and vegetables, give recipes and instructions where appropriate, even teach them to shop for bargains. Like Ms. Gutierrez, Harvest Project represents real, grass-roots action to promulgate positive change in Dallas.

Danae Gutierrez of Harvest Project
Danae Gutierrez of Harvest Project

Q: What do you suggest Dallas can do as a whole to stay more fit?

LONG: Eat more fruit, of course!

BUCHANAN: Yes. Beyond that, though, we don’t make nutritional suggestions. We leave the dietary recommendations to those far more qualified. Besides, there’s very little consensus and we try to stay out of the fray!

Q: Understood. That said, are there some more pragmatic tips you can suggest?

BUCHANAN: Some things are fairly straightforward. We did contribute a blog post to D Magazine awhile ago with some basic suggestions for how to stay healthy at the office, five minutes at a time.

Q: Along the same lines, how did y’all get involved with the Dallas Running Club?

LONG: That started in 2016 with one of our administrators, Leah Hinton. She’s friends with Erin and Sean Jett, who served on the DRC Board at the time. They were looking for a business willing to donate bananas to their races, and since we believe very strongly in the maintenance of a vital running community for Dallas, we’re happy to help! It’s a great partnership.

BUCHANAN: Yeah, the Dallas Running Club means a lot to us. My wife is an athlete who has logged more miles than I care to count and the whole history of the DRC, Tal Morrison, and White Rock Lake as a sort of “running sanctuary” are fascinating to me. It really feels like we’re part of something special.

Dallas Running Club Race
Orchard At The Office provides bananas for Dallas Running Club races

Q: What are the trendy fruits right now?

LONG: Avocados are the biggest trending fruit right now. Last year, America spent more importing avocados than any other fruit, including bananas. That is an entirely new development, and our sales reflect the popularity of avocados.

office avocado

BUCHANAN: Definitely. I’d also have to say that clementines, also known as “Halos” or “Cuties”, do extremely well. There’s actually several different varieties of citrus we conveniently call “clementines”, and they’re all delicious and have lots of mouth-watering appeal!

LONG: Chris handles our marketing, as you can tell.

BUCHANAN: Fresh fruit, y’all! Visit our website right now to learn more about our office fruit delivery service!

Q: What’s the most unusual fruit you’ve ever sold?

LONG: Durian!

BUCHANAN: Oy vey. Here we go…

LONG: He hates durian, but I love it. Durian’s an Asian fruit that looks like a giant pod – about the size of jackfruit but even more spiky – and when you open it, the edible fruit almost has a banana pudding consistency.

BUCHANAN: And there all resemblance ends.

LONG: It does have this very complex, powerful aroma. I get why people don’t like it, but I find it fascinating. Eating durian is an event!

BUCHANAN: So’s a tsunami. All I’m saying is that there’s a reason it’s banned on Singapore Rapid Mass Transit. It’s exponential: it starts off smelling like a field of chives, then comes the sulfurous essence, then what can only be described as a “rotting” smell kicks in. Then it’s like they all compete with one another to see which can fill the room quicker. And that pretty much describes the flavor.

LONG: Hey, I’m not saying everyone will like them. More for me, that’s what I say!

Q: Talk about the “seven banana myth”.

BUCHANAN: OK, I learned about this from Karl Pilkington…and when I say “learned”, it was clearly some sort of nonsensical urban myth. The idea was something to the effect that if you ate more than six bananas in a day, you’d have a lethal potassium overdose. It’s been thoroughly debunked in a number of studies, of course, but like Twinkies or zombies, misinformation has no shelf life – it’s always staggering back from its grave to eat the brains of the living.

Q: From a delivery standpoint, what’s your favorite building in Dallas?

LONG: I’ve always liked delivering to the Comerica Bank Tower. The freight dock is efficient, the security staff is courteous and professional, and the entire building is very attractive and easy to get around.

Orchard basket with Hunt Bridge

Q: Are there things you’ve learned about Dallas as a result of delivering fruit here that you didn’t know before?

BUCHANAN: Well, I’ve certainly gotten to know all the local structures and the business that dwell within them. I used to go to Klyde Warren Park, for instance, and I’d look around and think “oh, there’s that cool new building with the blue glass, and there’s the one with the D Magazine logo” and so on. Now I’m thinking of the building names, and exactly which business is in there, and which ones are our customers and which ones will be.

Q: What kind of music could we expect to hear at ORCHARD At The OFFICE headquarters?

LONG: That totally depends on who’s in the office! You could hear everything from ambient to metal. I like to have music going to keep the brain’s alpha waves going. But every once in awhile, I’ll mix it up with some Tool or Van Halen.

BUCHANAN: I gravitate toward jazz fusion or any music that Outcry Theatre might employ in one of their amazing shows. I love the music of Tori Amos and Sigur Rós, and that sometimes creates problems as I find myself listening to it a bit too much and getting all emotional and weepy.

Q: Sell me fruit. Right now.

BUCHANAN: Our fruit really sells itself. Quite often, if we make people aware that there’s this office fruit delivery service in Dallas, that concept generates interest.

LONG: Everybody loves fresh fruit. “Would you like a banana?”

BUCHANAN: I would, actually. Let’s go eat.

LONG: Sounds good.

fresh fruit basket
Premium-quality fresh fruit for Texas offices

Meet Chris Buchanan and Kevin Long of ORCHARD At The OFFICE

Happy office workers

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Buchanan and Kevin Long.

Chris and Kevin, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
The seed for ORCHARD At The OFFICE was planted in 2010, when our “Chief Banana” (that’s what it says on his business card), Kevin Long, was working as a Creative Director for an advertising firm and decided to bring fresh fruit into the office in lieu of the usual sugary snacks. The fruit was devoured instantly, and Long knew he was onto something. By October of that year, he was ready to convert the potential to kinetic, and ORCHARD At The OFFICE emerged.

In the years since growth has been exponential. For some time we’ve been the largest office fruit delivery service in North Texas, providing Metroplex businesses large and small with tons of bananas, Jazz apples, the ever-popular clementines, plums, grapes, berries… a whole variety of fruit flavors.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Trial and error is, of course, a necessity of growth. Nothing is truly a mistake if one learns from it, and if we did everything the exact same year after year, we’d surely stagnate and eventually wither away!

The biggest challenge we’ve faced – and I doubt it’s unique to us – has been the issue of training and documentation. When it’s just a couple of people running a business, very little is written down: everyone just “knows”. Once the business grows and new people are brought in, knowledge gaps become apparent. After I heard myself saying “Did you not know that? Oh, wait… how would you have known?” I realized we needed to make a concerted effort to put documentation together and create training procedures.

What are you most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others?
Critical to our success is our singleness of purpose: we provide fresh fruit to D/FW offices, pure and simple. Focusing on doing one thing exceptionally well allows us to stay on track. Now, there are plenty of people who could simply provide fruit to offices. The two things that have allowed us to thrive, even as competition has emerged, our dedication to premium quality and superior customer service.

“Premium quality” means that we’re willing to apply the extra time and dime to giving our friends-in-wellness the “best banana for the buck”: top-of-the-line fruit, hand-inspected, and always guaranteed. “Superior customer service” means, not just individual attention, but the goal of a 24-hour turnaround for any issue. No phone trees, no dismissing customer concerns under the guise of “company policy”. We care about our customers and their wishes, and we’re rather obsessive about exceeding their expectations.

Contact Info:

Delivering wellness to offices

In the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, one company has taken up the challenge delivering wellness to officesof delivering wellness to offices. As a concept, wellness has become a concern that has found firm footing in the corporate environment.

Businesses are increasingly recognizing the link between healthy lifestyles and productivity. Companies are willing to budget resources to provide everything from smoking cessation materials to aerobic instruction. Weight loss challenges, yoga classes, fruits and vegetables in the break rooms and board rooms all contribute to a healthier bottom line.

A Singular Mission

Richardson-based ORCHARD At The OFFICE has a singular mission. Specifically,  they deliver fresh fruit to the businesses of Texas. By putting together a variety of baskets of top-quality fresh fruit, they allow companies small and large to eat healthy with minimal fuss. But these folks are not mere “grocery-getters.” Their knowledgeable and energetic staff knows their fruit facts. By seeing themselves as partners on a mission to provide health and great taste, ORCHARD At The OFFICE is dedicated to the cause of healthy living.

The Right Mix

“It’s an amazing response,” says Kevin Long, founder, and Chief Banana. delivering wellness to Houston“People welcome the difference.” He should know. He first got the idea when he was employed as a creative director of an advertising firm. Long decided to experiment with bringing in bananas and apples instead of donuts. The result was gratifying. “They attacked the baskets! They were really excited.” So much so that Long got the confidence to take his idea and start his own enterprise in 2010. As the business has expanded, the offerings have increased. Customers can receive the ever-popular bananas, apples, oranges, as well as a variety of pears, citrus, stone fruits, grapes, and berries. “Helping our friends to find the right mix for their office is part of the fun.”

Delivering Wellness

Monday morning sees a flurry of activity at the company’s headquarters, as baskets of fruits are loaded into vehicles. Then, the baskets find their way into offices throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The drivers operate as the primary point of contact and serve to answer questions and note any special accommodations. For the Chief Banana, that’s what it all comes back to. “Fruit is a gift on so many levels. It’s a gift to yourself.”

ORCHARD At The OFFICE can be reached at 972-295-9091 or getfruit@orchardattheoffice.com.

This article originally appeared on the D Magazine website on February 26, 2016.

Lessons from the Farm

The Agricultural Approach to Small Business Management.

This article was originally published on the D Magazine website on 2019.05.30.

Anyone who works for a small business knows they must be prepared to wear many hats, sometimes in unison. As the Operations Wiseapple for ORCHARD At The OFFICE, I am at times required to take charge of logistics, customer service, marketing, vendor management, and accounts receivable – all in the same phone call.

Much of the practical experience I can share in business management I’ve gleaned from those who operate the original small business: the farmers throughout the world. Whether it’s “sixty acres up on the Caprock” James McMurtry sang of or a massive, county-sized ranch near the Rio Grande, there are certain basic principles a successful agrarian must adhere to. I have found that adhering to those principles has helped shape our success and make ORCHARD At The OFFICE the largest office fruit delivery service in Texas.

Here are some of the basic principles I can share:

KNOW THE “SHELF LIFE”

In our business, we deal with fresh fruit: bananas, clementines, JAZZ apples, avocados and more. Fresh fruit is, of course, perishable. It’s not going to maintain its freshness, or indeed the ability to be eaten, beyond a few days. This means our business processes are geared around purchase and distribution of fruit within the parameters of perishability – which means we can only be as “flexible” as our product allows.

This idea has broad applicability. A wedding photographer has a very specific window – the actual event – in which they absolutely must get their work done, regardless of time allotted for pre- and post-production. A restauranteur must keep careful track of the ingredients that comprise the items on their menu. “Use It or Lose It” – this is the understanding that nature creates deadlines. As a result…

NO EXCUSES

When the cotton is ready, it doesn’t care if the harvester is broken down, or if the farm is shorthanded or the landowner doesn’t really feel like “adulting”. Either the work gets done or the crop gets lost, which means a successful farmer, even one bereft of mechanical acumen or a line of credit, must devise creative solutions on the spot.

I cannot overstate how important this principle has been in practical application. Whether it’s being aroused from a lethargic moment with the thought of “those bananas need delivered by tomorrow!” or taking the time to work out how to get fruit delivered to Fort Worth in a timely fashion, it has helped me immensely to picture a farmer with a broken tractor part, looking at a field demanding urgent attention, and think “I’d better come up with something”. Necessity truly is the mother of invention and creative problem-solving is a source of self-confidence at any age.

YOU CAN’T FORCE THE CORN.

Genetic modification notwithstanding, crops will grow at their own pace. All the self-will, teeth-clenched determination, or plucky “can-do” attitude on earth won’t turn an apple seed into an apple tree overnight.

A billion dollars in funding will not turn a first-time entrepreneur into a success without a commensurate amount of experience.

As someone involved in marketing, I must always remember that no matter how determined I am to grow the business, I cannot convince, force, manipulate or cajole a person into eating more fresh fruit than they’re hungry for. When I remember that, instead of trying to squeeze water from a stone, I can focus my energy on spreading the word – in our case, Workplace Wellness Through Fresh Fruit. People who run businesses in the service industry understand: a person only wants so many haircuts, or guitar lessons, or high-bandwidth multi-channel digital receivers. Give your customers as much as they want, but don’t spend 50% of your time trying to get another 5% out of them…because you can’t force the corn. It will be ready in its own time.

MEMORIES OF THE ELEPHANT AND THE GOLDFISH

This could be as accurately described as needing the memory of the football coach and the kicker, or a hundred other analogies. Simply put, the idea is this: learn the long-term patterns and see trial-and-error as your most valuable instructor…but put mistakes immediately out of mind rather than dwell on them.

Fruit basket in rural areaThe hospitality industry has been known for being on the leading edge of the former for decades. Since the early 1980s, some hotel chains have been maintaining records of guest preferences, so that when that person checks into a hotel in Albany, there’s already an extra comforter and two hand towels in their room because that’s what they requested last time in Albuquerque. Medical and automotive centers will send out reminders of when service appointments might be made. Identifying patterns beyond the day-to-day, and taking action on them, requires the memory of an elephant.

SUGGESTED READING: "PROVIDING SUPERIOR CUSTOMER SERVICE"

Yet at the same time, the operator of a lawn service may mess up on a hedge trimming. If they decide that they “suck at life” and need to go home and nurse their self-pity with large quantities of wine, they won’t operate a lawn service very long. They need to accept responsibility, make appropriate amends with the property owner immediately – and move on. Self-doubt will sabotage their ability to be effective with their other jobs, so they need the memory of a goldfish. The moment has passed; focus on the present.

While I could enumerate other examples, I don’t want to run the risk of drifting into Poor Richard’s territory. There is no doubt operating a small business in any sector is demanding, difficult, and not for the faint of heart. However, the rewards that come with it – the fruits of our labor – are as enjoyable as an apple orchard…and we are proud to put agrarian effort into bringing that orchard to your office.

ORCHARD At The OFFICE can be contacted at 972.295.9091 or at getfruit@orchardattheoffice.com

Our Willow Baskets


Presentation is a vital component of the ORCHARD At The OFFICE fruit delivery service. We “eat with our eyes” and so we do our best to make sure the fruit is attractive as well as delicious, and that it comes artfully-arranged in our fabulous willow baskets sourced from a Top Secret location.

Willow basketLao Tzu said “shape clay into a vessel; it is the space within that makes it useful.” So it is with our baskets. Form must follow function, and you can’t spell function without fun! So we fill our baskets with edible smiles: bananas, apples, oranges, clementines, pears, peaches, plums…everything an office desires to stay healthy and happy!Fresh fruit in willow basket When the baskets are empty, we retrieve them from our customers so that they can get limitless opportunities to provide happiness to businesses throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and Greater Houston.

One week, they might be used to deliver fresh fruit to an accounting office in North Dallas…

Making delivery in willow basket…and the next, they might be providing healthy snack alternatives to a software development firm in Sugar Land or Houston. Reusing our willow baskets is part of our commitment to reducing waste. Avoiding single-use cardboard boxes is better for the environment!

Whenever you see the signature willow basket, you can be assured that the fruit inside is guaranteed to be fresh and delicious!Willow basket at meeting

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