SBDC Guidance Spurs Colony Acres Family Farm’s Agritourism Expansion Success
Written by: Darren Miller (/people/darren-miller) – University of Iowa JPEC
For more than 15 years, Colony Acres Family Farm in North Liberty, Iowa, saw growth and potential. But when it was time to add a barn as an epicenter of its agritourism business, Dean and Katie Colony turned to Paul Heath at the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), which is under the umbrella of the University of Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center.
“Neither my husband nor I really had any real business background,” Katie said. “We didn’t take any business classes or anything, so we had to learn and do things by the seat of our pants. Having Paul there to hold our hand and guide us and say ‘OK, this is what you need, this is what they are asking for, let’s put it together this way’ was very helpful.”
Dean and Katie met in college where he was a cross country/track athlete and she was an athletic trainer. Dean earned an ag studies degree and returned to the Colony farm in North Liberty; Katie worked for a physical therapy clinic, and discovered an entrepreneurial mindset our of necessity. With a 2-year-old at home and twins on the way, Katie transitioned to staying at home.
“We needed to have some other income as well as trying to keep the family farm alive,” she said.
To keep Colony Acres Family Farm going and growing, Dean and Katie planted pumpkins on the property to see if people would buy them on an honor system. The idea was to get people back to their roots and bring them to the soil of an authentic family farm. The business blossomed and now includes a 5K run, corn maze, and much more that attracts school groups and more than 20,000 tourists a year. After working out of tents and trailers for years, the Colony’s knew it was time to construct a multi-faceted barn that would include a full commercial kitchen and have the ability to host retirement, graduation, and corporate events.
“Paul helped get numbers together on how our business was doing and what the projections looked like 2, 5, 10 years out as long as we continued the growth we had made in order to justify getting mortgages and loans we needed,” Katie said. “He was helping us create a business plan while we wondered if we could make this work and not just have it be a little hobby thing.”
They definitely could make it work and the barn was finished prior to the 2023 season. It boasts vaulted ceilings and banquet seating for up to 170 or conference seating for 200. The indoor space is climate controlled with air conditioning and radiant hear and includes modern bathroom facilities.
Katie said that most people don’t realize they can utilize the SBDC resources, free of charge.
“For us, it was a matter of putting figures together in an official document that we could share with the (financial) people that needed to have that document,” Katie said. “We needed more data to make sense. We knew we were on the right path with our business, it was just getting those numbers in a more official document, and Paul was the right man to make all that come together.”
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