HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (RFD NEWS) — For more than 70 years, The Pancake Shop in Hot Springs has served sausage made by local family operation G.E. Hawthorn Meat Company.
Operating since 1937, G.E. Hawthorn Meat Company is a family-owned, butcher operation known for fresh-cut steaks, quartered beef and pork, and its signature pork sausage.
The Pancake Shop first opened in 1940 and later, in the 1950s, added the iconic pork sausage from the Hawthorne operation.
The Hawthorn family says quality, cleanliness, and continuing the family name remain a major part of the business as they work to keep local agriculture alive in the community.
They add that maintaining those local connections will always be one of the most important parts of the operation.
Some growers are increasingly turning to direct-to-consumer sales to improve margins and build stronger relationships with buyers, while also rethinking how agricultural products are marketed in a changing retail environment.
One farmer speaking with AgInfo.net says producers may benefit from shifting away from traditional broad advertising strategies and instead focusing on more targeted, niche audiences. Steve Sando says modern marketing strategies in agriculture can mirror broader consumer trends, with smaller, more loyal customer bases driving meaningful business growth.
“There’s a marketing guy, Seth Godin, and he talks about the big wave,” Sando explains. “So, if you want to be in on organic food, now you have to be huge. You have to spend millions of dollars on advertising, marketing, and all that stuff. But then he talks about the tail of the wave. And the tail’s really long, and you can actually make money appealing to your tribe rather than trying to chase the broader audience. So you want to do narrow casting rather than broadcasting, and you find your tribe and let them do your marketing for you.”
Sando says building a loyal customer base can be just as important as scaling production, especially for smaller or mid-sized farm operations looking to compete in a crowded marketplace.
He also emphasized the value of digital word-of-mouth, noting that online reviews and customer feedback can significantly influence purchasing decisions and help expand a farm’s reach without large advertising budgets.
