By DIANE GASPER-O’BRIEN
Special to Hays Post
A lot of customers know him by his first name. And while he sells a large variety of produce, many know Randy Evans as the peach guy.
The “peach king” has been bringing fresh fruit and vegetables from Colorado’s Palisade Peach Shack to communities in western Kansas for several decades.
One popular – and profitable – stop for Evans is Hays, America.
For six weeks every summer, people flock to the mall parking lot at Big Creek Crossing in Hays on Wednesday to purchase fresh Colorado peaches, and they often leave with more than peaches.
While waiting in line, customers can check out large boxes of fruit along with tables of vegetables that include beets, corn-on-the-cob, tomatoes, cucumbers and green beans.
Prospective buyers can be seen smelling cantaloupe and tapping watermelons in choosing what they believe is the best pick of the lot.
A venture that started with selling peaches and pears back in the 1970s has turned into a full-fledged vegetable/fruit operation for Evans.
After getting a taste of a good thing, people informed Evans they wanted more.
“I started adding on a little bit as people kept asking,” Evans said. “So I added other fruits and vegetables. I just wanted to pay for my fuel. And then …”
And then he started his business called Out of the Box Biz which now features a full-time market in Dighton.
‘Picking’ their own
He watched some peach-seeking customers one Wednesday in Hays as they picked up peaches from the display, turning them over and over before deciding which one to buy.
Others request a flat of a dozen peaches. But one of the most popular items are entire boxes of the scrumptious fruit, many to freeze for the winter.
Just like the produce, customers come in all shapes and sizes and ages – and in a variety of modes of transportation.
Some stand in line with babies in strollers or on their shoulder.
Several show up early to make sure they are the first in line. Others are determined to go home with what they came for, no matter what it takes to get to the end of the line.
Judith Case had a friend of hers drive her to the mall parking lot one Wednesday morning this summer, then used her wheelchair to check out the boxes and tables of goodies herself.
Case said she has been coming to the market for years. She is not only pleased with the quality of the produce but the service as well.
“It’s fresh, and it’s good,” Case said simply when asked exactly what keeps her coming back time after time. “I used to freeze them.”
She smiled at two grade-school age boys helping customers deliver their purchase to their vehicles.
“The kids are so polite and helpful,” Case said.
“It’s nice to see the younger generation helping out like this,” added Case’s friend, Diana Ficken.
Youngsters have learned both good service and hard work from the master of both.
Evans and his entire crew are polite and helpful with their customers no matter what their age.
Even the youngsters are good at chatting up customers.
“This is my last day working, because school starts tomorrow,” Braydon Pollock said as he carried a box of peaches to a customer’s vehicle in mid-August.
Braydon, a fifth-grader at Dighton Grade School, is one of several youngsters who Evans brings along with him.
Getting the word out
As far as advertising arrival times each summer, Evans puts out notices through Facebook on his business website at www.outoftheboxbiz.com.
But the best advertisement is the quality of the produce itself and someone telling their neighbor or friend about them.
Evans said he has enjoyed getting to know a lot of people over the years. And he welcomes first-time customers with the same enthusiasm as he does his regulars.
He smiled while talking about a recent customer who made the hour-long trip from Grinnell to Dighton to pick up $750 dollars worth of produce.
“I think that was the largest purchase ever,” he said.
“Customers are very faithful,” Evans added. “We really appreciate that.”
The business actually began as a request from his own family members about 50 years ago.
Evans was living in the western Colorado town of Delta at the time, and his family from western Kansas asked him to bring back Palisade peaches when he came to visit.
“I started filling the back seat of the car, then the trunk and then a trailer,” said Evans, who ended up buying a semi trailer and a motor coach.
After his late wife, Marsha, fell ill, Evans moved the family to Kansas in 2005. After Marsha passed away in 2008, Evans decided to make his hometown of Dighton his new permanent home.
He remarried in 2010, and his current wife, Marla, and her family are now a big part of the experience.
As this year’s tour winds down for the last trip this week – in Hays on Wednesday, Scott City on Friday and Garden City, Saturday – he sometimes fields the question when he will retire.
He usually replies he isn’t sure because he enjoys meeting – and serving – people.
“I just really like the people,” he said. “It’s really rewarding in that way.”