Duda’s Farm opens produce stand at Tanger Outlets
A longtime grower and purveyor of produce in Southwestern Pennsylvania, Duda’s Farm Inc. is striving to rebound from a period of financial woe and to reestablish its vaunted reputation across the region.
“We’re still struggling to stay above water, but we haven’t drowned yet,” said Mark Duda, co-owner of the Fayette County-based business with his brother, Andrew. “We’re giving it all we’ve got.”
Duda, possessor of a meteorological degree, is hopeful of weathering financial storms that have lurked in recent times, including a bankruptcy filing in 2023 and a continual rise in the incidence of crop damage by deer.
He discussed plans for the business during a telephone interview Tuesday, and they included expansion of roadside stands and services, not shutdowns.
Four such stands are open for business, including a key location – at Tanger Outlets in South Strabane Township. Duda’s had an established spot in Crown Center Mall in North Franklin Township, but was displaced there, Mark Duda said, because of repaving and construction work.
He and his brother wanted a Washington area location, where there is an abundance of vehicular and people traffic.
They shopped around before gaining approval from Tanger, where Duda’s launched its new endeavor on June 23. Its spacious stand, with an open red and white roof, sits on the periphery of one of the mall’s large parking lots.
Duda’s, which ended last year with only two operating stands, now has them in Uniontown, Belle Vernon, Chalk Hill and Tanger. This is in addition to the farm market in Merrittstown, near Brownsville.
It is planning to add at least two other sites. Mark Duda said the company appears to be be close to launching a stand in West Mifflin and is considering expansion into Morgantown, W.Va.
Because the produce stand at Tanger has been functioning for less than two weeks, it is difficult to get a barometer reading on business there in the early going.
Delaney Ansell, niece of Andrew Duda, works for Duda’s Farm, usually at the Chalk Hill site. She was at Tanger on Monday, overseeing operations.
“I think it’s been pretty steady here, “but I think it’s been a little slow because a lot of people don’t know this stand is here,” she said in the late morning.
The number of patrons did ramp up in the afternoon, though, perusing and purchasing an array of fruits and vegetables that were on display. Corn was among the selections, though not the sweet corn that is a longtime signature item with Duda’s. Mark Duda said it would be available soon.
Ansell, a rising sophomore at West Virginia University majoring in nursing, has an engaging personality and interacted well with customers. She had a tip jar near the register displaying WV lettering and the words “college fund.”
Farming has always been a vocation rife with challenges, and Mark Duda said the farm is confronting those challenges by being proactive with its business and with combatting the deer problem by placing scarecrows and small windmills in the fields.
Duda’s Farm is striving to accomplish more than treading water. It wants to do swimmingly.
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