Guide · Subscriptions
12 min read

How to Manage and Sell Subscriptions

A practical guide to locking in recurring revenue, simplifying weekly fulfillment, and turning one-time buyers into long-term members.

Nina Galle
May 19, 2026

Offer subscriptions to your customers with ease.

What’s the best way to lock in recurring revenue and increase cashflow predictability? Selling subscriptions to your customers. This feature is designed for you no matter what you sell – meat, produce, or other.

Let's jump into the benefits that Local Line Subscriptions has to offer:

  1. Seamless Wholesale Orders

    Create standing orders for wholesale customers including restaurants, cafes, grocery stores, and distributors.

  2. Run Your CSA or Box Program

    Create subscriptions for your CSA members or offer a recurring box program for your meat, produce, eggs, dairy – whatever you sell. Local Line allows you to manage all your subscription types right from your back office.

  3. Sell Subscriptions by Weight

    If you sell variable-weight products like meat or seafood, subscriptions allow you to alter the final weight before charging your customers. Charge the exact amount for your products, every time.

  4. Flexibility at Every Stage

    You have full control! Before launching your subscription, you can select the valid price lists, specify the fulfillment options, delivery frequency, customize the settings (like the ability for customers to skip or cancel), and select the applicable product packages.

Here are some key concepts to know:

Creating subscriptions for your customers is easy. Here are the important key concepts to understand how subscriptions work on Local Line:

  • Subscription plan: Defines how orders are created on a recurring basis. Your subscription plan specifies the customer, product(s), frequency, fulfillment, and payment details.

  • Draft order: A future subscription order will be drafted but not submitted. It’s like having products in your cart but not having proceeded to check out yet to place the order. Inventory is not deducted at this stage, and the order is editable. Draft orders are displayed in the Upcoming order section when viewing an existing subscription. Draft orders can also be skipped.

  • Subscription order: An order that is created automatically based on the criteria defined in the subscription plan. This is when inventory is deducted and payment is processed.

  • Subscription discount: A percentage discount you can apply at the price list level in Price lists > Settings, that is applied to all subscription products and packages on an order. It is not applied to any non-subscription products that are on the same order. I.e. all subscription products get a 10% discount.

Let’s take a look inside Local Line:

To display subscription products on your storefront, you need to define subscription settings in two places: Price Lists and Products.

Price List Subscription Settings

First, select which price lists you want to create subscriptions in. If you are using an existing price list, you can access the subscription settings by editing the price list.

In the settings, you can:

  • Enable Subscriptions on the price list.

  • Set Fulfilment Options (i.e., which delivery and pick-up locations apply to this subscription), and set fulfillment frequency (i.e., delivery occurs every 2 weeks).

  • Set Subscription Order Lead Time. For example, if the required lead time is 7 days – then at 7 days before the delivery date, the customer’s card will be charged and the inventory will be deducted.

  • Define payment methods. Credit card, cash, e-transfer – you choose. You can also opt to prioritize store credit by default. This is relevant if you run a buy-down CSA model or pre-paid orders where the customer receives the same order weekly.

  • Add discounts. You can offer discounts and other incentives on subscription orders.

  • Enable subscription skipping. You may want to offer your customers the ability to skip their subscription orders.

Product Subscription Settings

To enable subscription options to appear in your storefront, you must define subscription settings in your Products table.


To edit subscription settings for a product, click the product you’d like to update. You can also access subscription settings when creating a new product. In the subscriptions tab in the Product detail modal, you can:

  • Select which price lists you want to include.
  • Select which packages you want to include.

Once you press save, your subscription options will appear on your storefront.

What Successful Farms Do

The most successful farms using Local Line combine strong systems, customer-focused thinking, and the flexibility that subscriptions provide. Across North America and Australia, farms are using Local Line to streamline operations, increase order value, and build loyal customer communities. Here are three real-world examples of what success looks like.

Coopers CSA Farm: Running a 500-Member CSA with Confidence

For over 30 years, Steve and Lisa Cooper have operated one of Ontario’s most recognized CSA programs. What started in the early 2000s as a small membership of 50 has grown into a community of more than 500 active CSA members and over 700 subscribers. Today, they offer everything from fresh produce to pasture-raised meats, baked goods, and maple syrup.

As their membership expanded, the Coopers needed a platform that could grow with them. They tested multiple systems, Farmigo, then Harvie, but ultimately found their match with Local Line. From onboarding to daily operations, Local Line allowed their CSA to continue expanding without losing the personal touch that makes their farm special.

The transition to Local Line was seamless. The onboarding team migrated hundreds of customers, set up their delivery routes across Toronto, and helped them launch ahead of their busiest season. Their customers immediately felt the difference, shopping became smoother, faster, and more intuitive.

Today, Coopers CSA runs 46 weeks per year, delivering thousands of orders across the Greater Toronto Area. Their “choose-your-own-adventure” model allows members to customize their weekly boxes, shop more frequently, and get exactly what they want, all supported by recurring orders.

The results speak for themselves:

  • Average order value climbed above $100
  • 85% of customers order two or more times per month
  • Customer satisfaction increased significantly

But their secret isn’t just good software, it’s a genuine connection. Lisa personally replies to customer emails within the same day, something that consistently surprises and delights members. Steve sends a weekly email from the farm every Saturday morning, sharing stories and updates. These simple touchpoints drive a 20% bump in sales each time.

For the Coopers, Local Line is the backbone that supports their community-focused, customer-first business, a powerful combination that has carried them through decades of growth.

Branch & Burrow: Building a Thriving Meat CSA in Australia

On the other side of the world, Suz and Trent run Branch & Burrow in New South Wales, Australia. Their journey began with a small flock of hens, and has grown into a thriving pastured livestock business offering eggs, chicken, pork, and grass-fed lamb.

Before Local Line, Suz managed orders through WooCommerce, but the limitations became overwhelming. She couldn’t sell by the kilo, inventory was difficult to manage, and the platform wasn’t built with Australian farmers in mind.

Local Line changed everything.

With subscriptions, Suz was able to shift from chaotic late-night packing sessions to a predictable, organized workflow. Her customers now subscribe to a monthly meat CSA, place pre-orders, or buy à la carte—all in one system.

Her system is simple and efficient. Suz uploads fresh inventory once a month, opens a private price list for her CSA members, and public pre-orders sell out quickly. She now packs orders by household size and preference, which saves hours every cycle.

In Suz’s words: “I’m doing double the orders in half the time.”

Local Line’s reporting tools became another essential piece of her success. She uses them to track monthly sales, understand product performance, and plan production without juggling spreadsheets. And despite being in Australia, she describes Local Line’s support as personal and fast, always answered within 24 hours.

For farms balancing family, off-farm jobs, and a growing customer base, Suz’s experience shows what’s possible with the right systems in place.

Edwards Family Farms: Turning Loyal Customers into Members

In North Carolina, Stacie and her husband transformed a simple desire for better eggs into Edwards Family Farms, a regenerative operation producing pasture-raised chicken, pork, and beef.

As demand increased, Stacie experimented with different subscription models. Her first “Chicken Club” solved customer demand for hard-to-get cuts, but the backend became difficult to manage. That led her to create the Herd Farm Membership, a flexible subscription that rewards customer loyalty with discounted pricing, early access to the best cuts, and fun surprises like shirts, hats, and cast-iron skillets.

To support this model, she needed a platform that could match her creativity and give customers a clean, intuitive shopping experience. GrazeCart wasn’t flexible enough—too many rigid subscription formats, too many separate products, and too much time managing the software instead of the farm.

Local Line’s product variants, clean storefront design, customizable categories, and supportive team made the choice clear.

Stacie refined her storefront into curated, themed categories like “DIY Chicken Broth,” “For the Risk Takers,” and “Collagen Boosting Faves.” These sections make shopping fun, build confidence, and reduce friction. She uses strategic price anchoring and social-proof categories to guide customers toward higher-value purchases.

The results have been impressive:

  • Sales are up 56% this year
  • Customer engagement is higher than ever
  • Operations have become dramatically more efficient

Stacie attributes her success to a mix of strong marketing, clear systems, and data-driven decisions—but also to the ease and flexibility Local Line provides. “If it’s not simple for you, it won’t be simple for your customers,” she says, and Local Line helps her keep everything streamlined.

What These Farms Have in Common

Despite being thousands of miles apart, these farms share a few key habits:

They focus on customer experience: From personal emails to intuitive storefronts, successful farms make it easy, and enjoyable, for customers to buy.

They prioritize efficiency: Systems and workflows are streamlined. Inventory is managed in batches. Subscriptions reduce guesswork and repetitive tasks.

They use data to make decisions: Understanding what sells, when it sells, and how customers behave helps guide pricing, promotions, and production planning.

They embrace flexibility: Whether offering customizable boxes, multiple pickup options, or membership perks, they adapt their models to fit their customers, not the other way around.

They choose technology that supports growth: Local Line’s tools give them the structure they need while still allowing them to run their businesses the way they want.

The best part of it all?

You can add subscriptions to your Local Line account for only $25/month. No additional percentages or fees per subscriber.

At Local Line, we want to show you that selling online is easy and great for business. Thousands of farmers use Local Line to grow their farms.

Try selling subscriptions using Local Line! Sign up for Local Line today or chat with our team to learn more.

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