Celebrating Texas Food from Farm to Fork — How Kathryn Elevated Hardie’s Digital Presence to Honor the People Behind the Produce

Client: Hardie’s Fresh Foods
Industry: Food Distribution & Local Agriculture
Role Focus: Digital Marketing, Brand Promotion

The Challenge

When Kathryn joined Hardie’s Fresh Foods as their Marketing Coordinator, she stepped into a fast-paced environment supplying fresh produce to restaurants, schools, military commissaries, and grocers across Texas.

Though the company had a strong reputation in the industry (of more than 70 years as a family business), their online presence—especially on Meta platforms—was underdeveloped. The connection between farmers, chefs, and distributors wasn’t being fully captured or celebrated online.

The mission was clear: build digital excitement around Hardie’s products, highlight the roots of where the food came from, and create stronger visibility for the hardworking Texas producers who made it all possible.


The Vision

Kathryn and her team aimed to:

  • Elevate the Meta platforms (Facebook & Instagram) into powerful brand storytelling tools.

  • Collaborate with the internal email marketing team to align messaging around product availability and seasonality.

  • Launch traveling food shows in the Austin, Dallas, and Houston markets to celebrate local and specialty food vendors, giving farmers a spotlight and customers a story of where the food was coming from.

  • Utilize booth sponsorship packages from the show to provide additional built-in online promotion—creating a full-circle value exchange.

  • Use moving billboards (the delivery trucks) as a brand reminder, not only for the logo, but by overseeing brand photoshoots to ensure final deliverables would be consistent with the brand vision, messaging, and could be used throughout the social accounts.

The Strategy

1. Meta Channel Optimization
Kathryn took ownership of Hardie’s Meta presence, refining the visual identity and reworking the content strategy to focus on:

  • Farmer features

  • Behind-the-scenes farm visits

  • Chef shoutouts

  • Fresh product arrivals

  • Seasonal availability updates

  • She prioritized storytelling over sales, all while knowing that connection and education would lead to conversion.

2. Cross-Team Collaboration
Working closely with the coordinator for all email campaigns for external communications (hello Chefs and other restauranteurs!), Kathryn ensured that social posts and email content reinforced each other.

  • When heirloom tomatoes were in peak season, both email and Instagram spotlighted them with vibrant visuals and chef pairing tips.

  • The entire team also always executed the traveling food show events, from deciding on the location, to local farmer sponsorships, to all content catalogs, invitations, and other promotions, to post-event tracking of what new items could be attributed to these events.

3. The Traveling Food Show
The Hardie’s Fresh Foods team conceptualized and launched a two-part Food Show event:

  • Local Farmers & Specialty Items Food Show — celebrating locally grown products as well as highlighting artisanal, high-end culinary offerings. These shows rotated between major Texas cities, offering tastings, demos, and storytelling opportunities for farmers and vendors. Chefs (and invite only foodies) flocked to this special event to see what items were just being released to the market, giving them a competitive edge in their kitchen.

  • Chef’s Cookoff — Every event needs a main attraction and this was it! We personally selected chefs and they were given the task to compete against one another, similar to the television program called “Chopped!” We hosted a variety of cooking competitions including a grill off, pastry contest, and entrée contest.

4. Vendor Promotion Packages
To encourage booth purchases and increase ROI for vendors, Kathryn developed a built-in digital promotion strategy:

  • Each booth included a custom social media spotlight

  • Vendors received a post on Hardie’s Meta channels (these were pre-stories days!)

This created a win-win loop: vendors got visibility, Hardie’s built buzz, and followers got engaging content tied to real products.

The Results

Over 12 months, Kathryn’s work drove measurable growth:

  • Facebook Page Reach: More than doubled with a 3.2x increase in post shares

  • Vendor Booth Sales: Sold out at 7 consecutive food shows

  • Farmer-Focused Content: Became the most shared and saved category on social

  • People loved the new truck styles! They grabbed the attention of not only local chefs and foodies alike when deliveries were being made to local restaurants across the state, but a new standard in truck branding for fresh foods companies was born.

But the biggest win? Vendors and customers alike began referring to Hardie’s as more than a supplier—they were now seen as a community connector and local food advocate.

The Takeaway

Kathryn transformed Hardie’s digital footprint by turning simple product posts into stories, relationships, and events. Her ability to link online and offline strategy created a marketing flywheel—one powered by authenticity, creativity, and a deep respect for the people behind the food.

Behind-the-scenes moments of Kathryn maintaining Hardie’s brand image at photoshoots and events.