Brecknock Orchard’s Concession Stand in a Custom Shed

Brecknock Orchard is a beautiful, 75-year-old, family-run orchard located in Mohnton, Pa. This orchard offers a variety of outdoor adventures, but the seasonal Pick Your Own experience has grown wildly in its popularity and inevitably outgrew this family-owned orchard’s retail store in 2015.

Imagine biting into a sweet plump, or golden peach on a late summer evening. The sweet juices permeate your mouth and cause your taste buds to dance. This wonderful summertime experience is made more special by the fact that you are the one who picked that very peach. You didn’t pick it out of the grocery aisle, but directly from the mother tree and surrounded by acres of freshly grown fruits and vegetables in the open country air. How satisfying it is to pick your own fruit and to know exactly where it came from.

The Pick Your Own experience is a seasonal adventure that is accompanied by several festival events. Summer and fall bring in the busiest times of the year, but the popularity of this “Pick Your Own” fruit and vegetable experience led Daryl and his team on a search to provide more efficient space to serve their customers.

Initially, they set up tents outside of their retail farm market to curve the overcrowding and to promote better customer flow. This only lasted a year, and the team at Brecknock quickly realized that the tents did not provide proper shelter for their staff, supplies, and equipment. Additionally, Daryl was looking for a structure that could provide more permanence and could increase customer flow.

In Search for a Custom Shed Builder

With these criteria in mind, the search began for a custom-built shed.  Through careful research and thoughtful questioning, Daryl and his team came across Sheds Unlimited and unanimously agreed that the custom-built sheds they offered had the most potential to fit the bill of their own design. The greatest challenge Brecknock faced up to this point was the need for something more than just the average custom shed.  So, after contacting several custom shed builders, they agreed that Sheds Unlimited would be most capable to deliver the custom design of a “concession” style shed needed to best serve their customers.

There was not a model building that we were aware of so we could say ‘that shed is what we want.’ Our greatest challenge was that this shed needed to be customized to meet our need for a PYO shed.

The arrival of Their New Custom Built Shed

The whole team at Brecknock waited expectantly for their new “portable concession stand” to arrive. It was due to arrive at the beginning of September right before their busy fall season. The delivery date was only two months from the day they had finalized the shed order.

In anticipation of the new addition to the Orchard, Daryl prepared a level gravel area with an electrical hookup ready for the shed delivery.  The delivery day came and disappointed no one at Brecknock orchard. The shed arrived on time and was carefully put in its designated place.

The whole delivery and setup were supervised by a Sheds Unlimited representative whose presence ensured a smooth and thorough setup. The representative brought paint to touch up any minor scratches on the shed that occurred during transit. He also wanted to confirm with Ben and Daryl that all the components in their shed were as expected and to their complete satisfaction. Ben and Daryl appreciated that all the necessary electrical work was in place and ready to use.

Now the whole team at Brecknock enjoyed walking through their newly completed custom-built shed. The large swing-open concession doors with fold-out countertops on three sides made for excellent customer service. The spacious interior was wide enough for at least six staff to move freely as they served customers at the three serving windows. The open ceiling had a large circulating fan to keep the staff comfortable on the warmest days. The built-in countertops along all the walls provided ample storage space above and below the countertops. The shed entrance doors were on one end, consisting of double doors that swung open wide enough to set a bin filled with picking baskets inside the shed.

Sheds Unlimited went above and beyond by providing a five-week turnaround time to have the shed in place, electricity hookup, and ready to use during our busiest season.

A Successful Search Ends with Complete Satisfaction

Now with their busiest season underway, they were prepared and empowered to enter it with a new level of efficiency and quality. And that fall they did just that and were pleased to observe increased effectiveness in setup and in service to their customers. The new custom shed was a complete reprieve from the previous use of tents.

There was no looking back now for the team at Brecknock Orchard. The future looked brighter than ever for their orchard, its operations, and most importantly its customers, whom they feel is their mission and honor to serve.

In the future, we will contact Sheds Unlimited as the builder for our next custom-built shed.