Growing and Selling Microgreens - Local Business Plans
Growing and Selling Microgreens - Local Business Plans
Growing and Selling Microgreens - Local Business Plans
GROWING
AND SELLING
MICROGREENS
1
LOCALBUSINESSPLANS.COM
INTRODUCTION
WHAT ARE MICROGREENS?
Before I started Nightlight Farms, I didnt have a clue about what Microgreens were. When I first heard the word, I imagined baby spinach or some other sort of petite salad green. Then, a friend of mine
told me I should try selling them to restaurants. I wanted to get some
vegetables in the ground, but didnt have any land, so I figured that I
would try to grow them in my basement and see what happened. Fast
forward 3 weeks, and I found myself delivering Nightlight Farms first
order of Microgreens to a local chef! Anyways, back to the Microgreens definition.
Our Approach
Weve developed this course because starting a business takes a lot
of work. None of the steps are individually all that difficult, but together, can overwhelm even the hardest working entrepreneur. This course
will help you accomplish each step quickly and efficiently while guiding you on your path to success.
This course includes everything you need to build a profitable Microgreens business. When
youre bootstrapping a business, the most important thing is generating cash flow as soon
as possible. With this guide, you could be earning money within 3 weeks!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
5 QUICK START SCHEDULE Your 8-step getting started guide
8 I. PRODUCING
9
A. GROWING
9
1. Growing Basics
13
2. The Grow Station
16
3. Growing Techniques
21
4. Crops
25
5. Growing your First Crop
27
27
27
28
29
B. HARVESTING
1. Harvesting Materials
2. How to Harvest
3. How to Wash
4. Composting
29
29
30
C. PACKAGING
1. Packaging Materials
2. How to Package
32 II. SELLING
33
A. MARKETING
33
1. Presentation
33
2. Fresh Sheet
36
3. Labels
36
4. Business Cards
37
B. RESTAURANTS
37
1. Overview
38
2. Materials
39
C. FARMERS MARKETS
39
1. Applying to Farmers Market
40
2. Farmers Market Basics
42 III. ADMINISTRATION
43
A. REGISTER YOUR BUSINESS
44
B. BANK ACCOUNT
44
C. LIABILITY INSURANCE
45
D. TAXES
45
E. ACCOUNTING OPTIONS
47 IV. FINANCES
48
A. MEASURE EVERYTHING
48
B. TRACKING INCOME
49
C. EXPENSES
50
D. PROFIT
4
Harvesting
Stainless Steel Harvesting Knife ($7.64)
Scale ($35.99)
Harvesting Subtotal: $43.63
Packaging
EcoProducts EP-RC16 ($85.00)
Plastic Bags ($15.00)
Twist Ties ($3.00)
Packaging Subtotal: $103.00
Marketing
Fresh Sheet (free - $50.00)
Business Cards (free - $60.00)
Labels ($30.00)
Marketing Subtotal: $30.00 $110.00
Administration
Register your Business ($100-$300)
Bank Account (free)
Insurance ($50/month)
Accounting Software (free - $400)
Administration Subtotal: $150.00 $750.00
Low: $784.35
High: $1,464.35
I. PRODUCING
This section is focused on teaching you how to effectively produce
your Microgreens for sale to restaurants and farmers markets.
A brief outline of the section is as follows:
A. GROWING
1. Growing Basics
a) Where to Grow
b) Growing Materials
c) Why Organic?
3. Growing Techniques
a) Prepare the Tray with Soil
b) Seeding Trays
c) Watering Crops
d) Drying your Crops
4. Crops
a) Sunflower Shoots
b) Pea Shoots
c) Micro Radish
d) Additional Crops
1. Harvesting Materials
2. How to Harvest
3. How to Wash
4. Composting
C. PACKAGING
1. Packaging Materials
2. How to Package
A. GROWING
This section is dedicated to teaching you the basics of growing high
quality Microgreens.
1. Growing Basics
This section discusses where to grow and what basic materials to
purchase first.
Where to Grow
Youve got a couple options in choosing where you set up your growing facility, all with different pros and cons. For getting started, I prefer
finding space in an unused basement or garage. I like this because
it is has most of the right conditions (may need to be heated) and is
a traditionally underutilized space that can be rented for a very small
amount per month. With that said, if I had the opportunity to use a
greenhouse, that would be my next preference. I have no experience
growing in a greenhouse, so I cant recommend that its a perfect
option, although it is certainly worth exploring.
Before we get into the different options, lets look at the ideal conditions for growing Microgreens. The conditions that Microgreens like
arent too different from what people like.
Ideal Conditions
Dry
Warm
Lots of light
There is no wrong choice amongst these three. If you cant decide
between your options, consider the proximity to your residence. The
closer it is, the less time youll spend in transit. The important thing is
that you choose something that will work well for you and get started.
Outdoor
Can be dry or wet. Would need a covering to keep rain off.
Probably gets cold at night. This means growing
will be limited to spring/summer/fall.
Lots of light. Youll get the most natural light this way.
Indoor
Dry - rain not allowed inside (unless it brings wine).
Warm - room temperature (68 72F) is ideal for Microgreens
No Natural light - Growing in a windowsill will not
be enough light. Youll need artificial lighting.
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Greenhouse
Dry - Out of the rain
Warm - Greenhouses naturally stay about 10 degrees
warmer than the outside. You can also heat them easily
Natural Light - This is comparable to outside
light and can be artificially lit if needed.
Growing Materials
There are a few items that will make your work more efficient. They are
outlined below. Feel free to deviate from this list. Each of these products has worked well for me, but Im sure there are other products that
will work better just as well for you.
1. Water Hose with sprinkler attachment ($15.49)
Hose nozzles are notorious for working well in their first few months
and then turning to junk. Be smart and spend a few more dollars initially on something that will serve you for years to come. My favorite is
the Gilmour Pistol Grip Nozzle, which you can find on Amazon.com.
It has great reviews and has worked well for me. With that said, dont
be afraid to do your own research and buy something you are comfortable with.
2. Tamper for packing seeds (homemade)
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I use this little plastic thing religiously to spread all of the smaller
seeds. Its just an old protein powder scooper. I like it for two reasons:
Size: Its the goldilocks size, but the exact size doesnt
matter because youll be making your calculations of seeds/
tray and scoops/tray based on the size of your scoop.
Long Handle: It makes reaching into the seed tubs easy.
4. Seed Storage
The bags that seeds come in are no good for the frequent access that
youll be demanding of it. Instead, I have found that old protein powder
containers work very well. They are opaque which keeps light from
getting in and damaging the seeds. Also, they have wide mouths so I
can get my big hands in to scoop out the seeds. I couldnt find a link
to purchase new ones, so youll have to make friends with your local
meatheads, or get creative and come up with your own seed storage!
5. Seed Trays (11x21), 40 trays ($80.00)
Make sure to buy the shallower 1 deep germination trays. The shallower trays are better because theyre actually thicker. The depth
makes it easy to add just the right amount of soil, and its easier to
harvest the greens.
Also, dont buy them retail! Theyll be half the price if you find a bulk
supplier. Ideally, youll have about 100 of these on hand, but if you
want to keep your initial investment low, buy 40 now and more later
on.
6. Paper Towels ($5.00)
I use these for two purposes:
Putting in a half sheet with orders to absorb moisture and
keep freshness. (If the crops is more wet than normal, Ill put
in a full sheet of paper towel to absorb the extra moisture).
On top of the germinating seeds to hold in
moisture and act as an artificial soil layer.
For both applications, I prefer the recycled, unbleached paper towels
for the minute ecological impact it has. Ive found that they are actually
more expensive than their bleached counterparts, which doesnt make
a lot of sense. Either way, the difference in price is negligible.
When to use Paper Towels as a soil layer on your germinating crops:
I use paper towels as the top soil layer after planting all seeds except sunflower and pea. I do this for the following reasons:
Keeps the crops free of soil that would have
to be washed off during harvest
Keeps the moisture in the seed while it is germinating
Keeps the seeds in place when stacking
the trays during germination
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I dont use paper towels for sunflower and pea crops because they do
just fine without any top layer and wont stick to the bottom of other
trays when I stack them during the germination period.
Note: When paper towels are on top of germinating seeds, they have
a tendency to wick the moisture from the seeds as they dry out. It is
incredibly important to keep an eye on the paper towel to make sure it
is moist all the time. Otherwise, you will experience poor germination
rates.
7) Grow Data Sheet
Youll transfer the data from this sheet to your spreadsheets every
Wednesday. You can find the grow trial datasheet in the Excel templates provided.
8) Clipboard and pen on string
Use this time tested combo to hold your data sheets near your seed
filling location so you can easily fill in the fields as you seed each tray.
Why Organic?
With this simple business, there are three methods to being organic:
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In this section well detail how to set up your growing operation. This
is the easiest and cheapest way to get started. I absolutely recommend following these steps initially. Over time, you may come up with
a better solution for your needs, but this will get you started growing
fast and allow you to focus your energy on more important things like
acquiring clients.
The grow station is for indoor Microgreen production. I only recommend building this setup if it is going to be inside.
If, however, you are growing outdoors or in a greenhouse, you can
come up with a simpler setup to support the trays and allow the
natural light to get in. When growing with the sun as a light source,
you must have adequate space between the levels to allow the light
in. There is no exact height between shelves, its just something that
youll have to experiment with a bit to determine what works best in
your conditions.
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There are a few things to be aware of with this grow station. Nothing
big, but they are worth mentioning:
1. The structure is metal but the shelves are made of particle board.
Because the shelves will get wet when you water them, they can
wear out and deteriorate quickly. Something you want to avoid.
You can replace the shelves later with melamine, or you can cover
them with a sheet of plastic from a painters drop cloth.
2. 5 Levels of Production instead of 4.
You can actually get 5 levels of production from one unit. The only
trick is that youll need to come up with your own custom top light
support because the unit only comes with 5 levels of shelving. This
is an easy fix, but not as easy as if it came with 6 shelves out of
the box.
Lighting + Electrical: The lights discussed below are the key to the
high quality of the greens and low operating cost of the grow station.
The important things to know about these lights are that they are T5
fluorescents with a grow spectrum bulb. These bulbs are perfect
for growing plants in vegetative growth, but they do not have the right
spectrum to allow these same plants to flower. This is perfect for us
because we just need our Microgreens to have strong vegetative
growth before we harvest them.
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There are limitless ways to build a grow station that fits your needs.
To make things easy, I recommend you buy a metal shelving rack as
outlined below. If you have building skills, feel free to build a custom
unit out that fits perfectly into your space and fits your needs.
I like this metal construction, because of how easy it is to assemble
and install. The process couldnt be simpler.
Start by building one of these, it can handle 4 trays per level, and
with 4 levels, it can handle 16 trays at a time. This will be plenty to get
started growing Microgreens. When you are ready to grow more at
once, you can simply buy another unit and double your production.
Below well calculate how many trays of production and how many
Kilowatt Hours of electricity well be consuming for each tray per day.
Growing Area:
1 level (of shelving) = 2 X4 = 8 Sq. Ft of growing space = 4 tray
capacity.
4 levels = 8 Sq. Ft * 5 = 32 Sq. Ft. of growing space = 16 tray
capacity.
Footprint = 2x4 = 8 Square Feet.
Lighting:
1 light unit = 28Watts X 2bulbs T5 bulbs Fluorescent 48
1 level = 4 lights. 56W
4 levels = 4 lights. 224W
16 hours of lights * 224W = 3,584 Watt-Hours
4,480 Watt-Hours / 1,000 Watts = 3.58 Kilowatt Hours
Average Price of Kilowatt Hours = 10cents
10c * 4.48 KWH = .36 cents per day
Cost of electricity for 1 grow station = .36 cents/day
Cost of electricity/tray = .36/16 = .023 cents/day
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3. Growing Techniques
This chapter is all about how to perform the necessary techniques.
To give you a glimpse of how I started, below is a journal entry I made
when reflecting on my growing Microgreens for the first time:
My Grow Journal:
I went to the local urban farm store the other day and bought six
packs of seed, six plastic trays, and some seedling mix. I figure,
the best thing to do is get started.
So, I put the soil in the trays, then the seeds on top, and finally
brown (recycled w/o bleach) paper towels on top of that. ah, but
before the seeds and paper towels, I watered the soil with a hokey
setup of a pitcher (from my roommates blender and a vegetable
steamer (to disperse the water).
After the paper towels were laid down over the seeds, I watered
them too, not really knowing how much to put on.
After inspecting the seeds the next day, I realized that the soil was
pretty dry (my basement is very dry because the furnace is down
there), so I surely could have added more water. Luckily in the
next few days, I came up with some sprouts... hooray! Now the big
task is to keep these little guys from dying.
Its been 4 days since I germinated the seeds, and all 6 trays have
sprouted. The peas took the longest, but I just checked them a
few minutes ago and can see that most of them have taken root,
although they will still spend tonight under the paper towel.
As a side note, one packet of each seeds did not come anywhere
close to filling the trays like I wanted to. Im going to need way way
way more seeds if Im going to continue this method of growing.
Needless to say Ive come a long way with this. As usual, read through
this advice, give it a shot my way, and then continue to improve on it
and make it your own.
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Our goal is to create a soil filled tray that has the right conditions
for starting seeds. This means it will have the right moisture and flat
enough that each seed keeps from rolling into the other seeds. If the
soil is uneven, lots of seeds will collect in the same place and increase the risk of mold.
I have always used the best soil I can find (Fox Farm Ocean Forest Find on Amazon.com).
In fact, I know that one of my direct competitors uses the same seed I
do and restaurants have chosen my greens over my competitors because the taste was far and away superior to his. Take a lesson from
me, and give your greens the highest quality soil you can.
Now, with that said, at a retail price of $15/1.5 cubic foot it is certainly
expensive, so you want to make surevf a chocolate cake. It should not
be so wet that the tray is draining water. And, likewise it should not be
so dry that there is a gap between the soil and the tray. Good soil with
high organic matter content acts like a sponge. You can keep adding
more water and it will just absorb it.
In fact, if the soil is thirsty, youll notice that it absorbs water quite
quickly, and if it doesnt need to be watered it will take longer for the
soil to absorb (with that said, if it is way too dry, it will also take a long
time to absorb). Youll get a feel for the right soil moisture with a bit of
experience. Until then, just pay close attention to it as you water it and
dont worry too much about getting it exactly right.
Your trays are now ready to seed!
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vSeeding Trays
Once you have filled your trays with soil, you are ready to seed them.
Theres nothing too tricky about this.
There are a couple of things to remember:
Spread the seeds as evenly as you can from the air. Its best not to touch the seeds and move
them with your hands after theyve landed, because it coats them in wet soil and will add
dirt to your harvest.
Seed them much denser than you think youll need. Its crazy how much seed you use per
tray. Youll do diligent trials to see what amount of seed creates the best yields, but for now
just go by the guidelines I have included in section 1.1.4.
Find a method that works for you. As Ive said earlier, I have a protein scooper that works
well for spreading seeds. As Im seeding a tray, Ill spread one scoops worth, than 1/2 a
scoop, then measure it. The amount of scoops of seed per tray obviously depends on the size
of your scoop. I have a spreadsheet detailing how many scoops of seed go into each tray, but
well get into that later.
Because some seeds love water so much, you can ensure a full
germination of your crops if you soak the seeds for 3-12 hours beforehand. Be careful though, if you leave the seeds too long you can
actually drown them.
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The only seeds youll soak are sunflower and peas. Ive tried soaking a
few other types to see what happened, but nothing beneficial came of
it. With that said, dont be afraid to experiment!
Seeds Soaking
Each day youll unstack the trays, water them, and then
restack them in a different order to make sure all of your
crops are being equally challenged. Once the greens are out of the
soil 1/2-1 they are ready to be unstacked and placed under lights.
Side note: You can stack all types of crops, but do your own trials
and see which ones respond to stacking the best.
Example Process: Seeding Trays w/ Radish Seeds
1. Prepare soil in tray (previous section)
2. Bring Radish seed container to seeding table
3. Fill scoop full of seeds
4. Spread seeds evenly by tipping the scoop over andshaking back
and forth (about 8 above seed tray)
5. Fill scoop 1/2 full
6. Spread remaining seeds as above.
7. Cover it with a paper towel.
8. Water (next section)
Side note: Seeding sunflower, peas, and other Microgreens follows
this same pattern. The only difference with sunflower and pea shoots
is that, because of their larger seeds, you may prefer to have a larger
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scoop on hand. All other Microgreen seeds will work well with the
smaller scoop.
Watering Crops
There are two distinct stages of growth for Microgreens. The time
before they have sprouted enough to be placed under light (the germination stage) and the time they are growing under lights and are
awaiting harvest (vegetative growth). While they will take roughly the
same amount of water in each stage, you will use different settings on
your hose nozzle: Mist and Shower.
Germination Stage Mist:
During this stage you will set your water nozzle to mist and water the
Microgreens daily for 3 seconds. We use mist in this stage because
the high pressure saturates the paper towel most effectively. After the
crops have germinated we remove the paper towels (for the crops that
use paper towels) and place them under light.
Vegetative Growth (under Lights) Shower:
During this stage we set the water nozzle to shower because it gives
lower pressure and higher volume needed to get water to the soil
without knocking down the often delicate Microgreens and causing
them to rot.
Other considerations:
Rot/Mold: Rot and Mold is created when two wet leaves are in
contact with one another without drying out. Our aim is to keep the
Microgreens in a dry environment. Ideally, we would water them
from the bottom, keeping their bodies and leaves from ever getting
wet. But this isnt practical, so we take care in not overwatering
the greens, or allowing them to fall down from the pressure of the
water.
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When your crops are wet, you want to dry them out. If you
dont, youll be exposing them to more risk of rot and mold.
Use these simple techniques to dry your crops if they are
too wet. Youll also use these techniques to dry your Microgreens after you wash them.
What is too wet?
Regular watering is not going to make your crops too wet.
Your crops are too wet if they still appear damp 24 hours
after you water them.
Still Growing:
If the live ones are wet, simply blow a fan across the top of
them and they should dry out.
Post-Harvest:
If, after harvesting, the greens are still wet, dry them by
placing them on a screen and blowing air over for as long as
is needed to dry them adequately. This could be anywhere
from 5 minutes to 2 hours depending on your specific conditions.
4. Crops
This section is dedicated to an in-depth explanation of each of the
three crops that youll be growing. As always, use these techniques to
get started and always look for ways to you can improve them.
Sunflower Shoots
Pea Shoots
Treat these exactly like the sunflower seeds. The only thing different is
how much water they absorb when you soak them overnight. As a rule
of thumb, make sure you have 3 times the volume of peas of water in
your soaking container. Youll be amazed how much they expand.
Seeds/Tray: Pea Shoots
Days to germinate: 3
Days under lights: 6
Days to harvest: 9
Typical Yields: 12 - 24 oz.
Germinating Process:
1. Soak them overnight
2. Drain and let sit for 3 hours. (The seeds can sit in the container
they were soaking in).
3. Spread them onto tray
4. Stack trays onto each other (7 trays max)
5. Each day (until day 3), unstack all trays and water with a mist
setting for 3 seconds.
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Growing Process:
1. On 4th day, Place under lights
2. Days 4-8, Water daily shower setting for 2-3 sec
3. Day 9, Harvest
Micro Radish
Additional Crops
Now, youve realized what I mean, when I say that Microgreens are a
gateway crop! Youve gotten good at growing your 3 staple crops and
want to grow even more! More Microgreens and more crops!
Once youve gotten the hang growing the basic 3 (radish, sunflower, and pea), youll be ready to start growing different crops. Other
Microgreens, salad greens, tomatoes, and more will start enticing you
to grow them.
I recommend that you start making some Microgreen mixes next.
These will attract even more chefs to you.
Microgreen Mixes
Below are a few mixes that have worked well for me, but do your
clients a favor and come up with your own that are custom suited to
their menu.
Specialty Microgreens
Once you have more relationships with more chefs, start talking to
them about what they like and what they dont. There are some specialty crops that, like a fine scotch, absolutely cannot be mixed!
I recommend adding the following to your fresh sheet and telling your
chefs that you can grow these special to order.
Cress
Shiso (for Japanese restaurants)
Micro basil
Chervil
Celery
Cilantro
Kale
And many more
Field Crops
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Luckily for us, this is easily remedied by using low energy T8 fluorescent grow lights.
Were going to grow our first batch of greens with the intent of harvesting them on Tuesday.
To determine when to start growing we simply look at the Days to
Maturity (DTM) of the crops were growing.
DTMs
Sunflower - 9 days
Pea - 9 days
Radish - 9 days
This makes things easy for us. Most of the other Microgreens have
longer DTMs which would have to be factored in accordingly.
Next, well have a look at what a typical growing schedule would look
like if we wanted to harvest on any specific day. Well use Tuesday,
March 10 as an example.
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Saturday, March 7
Sunflower: Water
Pea: Water
Radish: Water
Sunday, March 8
Sunflower: Water
Pea: Water
Radish: Water
Monday, March 9
Sunflower: Water AM
Pea: Water AM
Radish: Water AM
Tuesday, March 10
Sunflower: Harvest
Pea: Harvest
Radish: Harvest
B. HARVESTING
Youve done such a great job growing your crops! Now its time to
brutally massacre them. They dont call Microgreens the veal of vegetables for nothing! Just kidding, it will be humane. Worry not.
1. Harvesting Materials
Not a lot of materials required here. Just a knife. The key is to get a
knife that is incredibly sharp and will stay that way for a long time to
come. Also, it should have a long blade (around 6-9) so you can
harvest more with one swipe. The sharper the knife and cleaner the
cut, the longer your products will last for your clients. Your greens,
if stored dry and in an airtight container should last at least 1 week
without a problem.
You may be tempted to purchase scissors for harvest. Dont do it.
Scissors pinch the stem causing more damage and ultimately reduce
the shelf life. Use a sharp knife. Your customers will thank you in the
form of repeat business.
Stainless Steel Harvesting Knife - $7.64 (Amazon.com)
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2. How to Harvest
Again, the important thing to strive for here is to make a nice clean cut
near the base of the stem. While its a good idea to cut as close to
the soil as you can to increase your harvest, make sure not to cut too
closely to the soil or itll end up on your blade and will dirty your crop.
To remedy this, I keep a folded paper towel nearby so that I can wipe
my blade on if I get soil on it.
Steps:
1. With one hand (your non-knife hand), take
the greens in a loose pinch
2. Bend the greens lightly, giving them a bit of tension
3. Take the knife and slice near the base in one smooth motion (not a back and forth sawing movement)
4. Place the cut greens in a container (I use a simple Tupperware) where they will either be mixed or packaged directly
5. Repeat for the rest of the tray
3. How to Wash
Ideally you would grow your Microgreens in such a clean way that you
dont need to wash them after harvesting. However, this is not always
possible. If there is any trace of dirt you absolutely must wash your
greens. Heres how:
1. Submerge the harvested greens in a bowl full of cold water skimming off any seeds or dirt.
2. Remove the wet greens from the water. Then place them in a spinning machine (manual or electric) which will dry them initially 80%
of the way.
You can find a manual restaurant grade salad spinner at Amazon.com.
Another spinning option is to use a converted washing machine that
only does spin cycle. If you go this route youll also want to use mesh
bags to hold the greens while in the spinner. To go the washing machine route, youll need a bit of self-motivation. You can Google how
to do this by using the terms Washing Machine -> Salad Greens
dryer.
A. Next, spread the nearly dry greens out on mesh (or a paper towel)
and blow a fan over them until they are completely dry. This will typically take about 20 minutes to dry completely. Once your greens are
completely dry, they are ready to be packaged.
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4. Composting
After a few rounds of Microgreens, youll end up with quite a pile of
used soil. This soil certainly still has a lot of value even if you cant directly use it again for Microgreens because the roots are so entwined
with it.
Your best option is to compost this soil. There are a million and one
resources for this online, but if you really want to do it right, Google
flow-through vermicomposting systems.
This can be an incredible cost saving for you!
If you dont have space to compost your old soil, put the word out
to local gardeners or farmers and youll undoubtedly be able to find
someone to pick it up from you weekly.
C. PACKAGING
Microgreens are a specialty crop, especially in the eyes of chefs. We
want to display it as such. In this section, well explore how to help
you get setup with packaging for restaurants and packaging for the
farmers market.
1. Packaging Materials
Scale: $35.99
This scale has been with me since my very first restaurant order. Its
performed excellently, starts up within a few seconds and is always
accurate (as far as I can tell). I wish it came with a 12 Volt DC charger to be able to plug it into the wall and not use batteries (but you
have to buy it separately). Regardless, I highly recommend the Bakers
Math Kitchen Scale as an entry level scale:
Find on Amazon.com
Restaurants
Compostable clamshell containers
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Compostable clamshells
I use compostable packaging clamshell containers for delivery to
restaurants. They accept a labeling sticker and keep the presentation
of the greens well. They run about $85.00 for a case of 300 from my
local supplier. Youll want to set up a business account with a local
supplier for these. Often, theyll even deliver straight to your door.
EcoProducts EP-RC16
Farmers Markets
2. How to Package
There are 4 principles to always keep in mind when packaging. Adhere to these and your crops will be properly packaged.
1. Keep it dry. Include a Paper towel to absorb any moisture
2. Display it neatly. Align the Microgreens whenever possible
3. Keep it fresh. Make the packaging airtight
4. Cool it down. Place in the refrigerator immediately after packaging
Below are the processes I use to harvest for restaurants and Farmers
Markets. They are very, very similar. The two differences are as follows:
1. Plastic bags for Farmer Market. Compostable
clamshells for restaurants
2. No labels on bags for Farmers Markets
Packaging Process:
Example - 15 ounces of Spicy Radish Mix for Restaurants on day of
delivery
1.
2.
3.
4.
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Packaging process:
Example - 30 packages of Spicy Radish Mix for Farmers Market
1.
2.
3.
4.
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II. SELLING
Now that youve got a grasp of growing your product, its time to
learn how to sell it effectively. This section is all about helping you get
restaurant clients and helping you sell at the farmers market.
A brief outline of the section is as follows:
A. MARKETING
1. Presentation
2. Fresh Sheet
3. Labels
4. Business Cards
B. RESTAURANTS
1. Overview
2. Materials
3. Restaurant Course
C. FARMERS MARKETS
1. Applying to Farmers Market
2. Farmers Market Basics
3. Farmers Market Course
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A. MARKETING
Let every action you make define your business!
How you present yourself and your products will determine how people perceive you. Pretty simple. In this section, well show you how
to present yourself and your products in a way that will get people to
understand your values and commitment to excellence.
1. Presentation
How you display your crops speaks volumes about your entire operation. If the presentation of packaging appears disheveled and scattered, that is exactly what your clients will think your business looks
like (and theyre probably right). Conversely, when you deliver your
greens in clean packaging with a well-designed label, your clients will
know they can depend on you to provide them with the quality they
are looking for.
Microgreens are a premium crop, and must be displayed as such. This
is especially true for restaurants because they use them as a garnish
that is meant to add plate appeal as much as it is to add complementary flavor. Do everything in your power to showcase the beauty of this
veal of vegetables in your presentation of the greens in packaging.
Presentation techniques:
Always make sure the greens are adequately dry before packaging
Apply simple, beautiful labels (see example):
Never allow greens to be smashed between the lid of the clamshells
Orient the greens inline when packaging, whenever possible.
2. Fresh Sheet
A fresh sheet is a page describing who you are, what youre selling,
and how much you sell it for. Youll primarily use these for restaurants,
but you can also give them to interested customers at the farmers
market.
A note on the quality of your fresh sheet:
Microgreens are a premium crop, a beautiful fresh sheet will show the
restaurants that you treat them as such. Give it a nice design, print it
on a bit thicker paper, and youll convey your values of quality when
you hand them to prospective clients for the first time.
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3. Labels
These labels will accompany each package that you deliver to restaurants. Dont worry about putting them on bags to farmers market customers. Because of the volume of packages going out there, it isnt a
good use of time and labels. With that said, it doesnt hurt.
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4. Business Cards
If youre anything like the quintessential starry-eyed entrepreneur,
youve been dreaming up business cards as soon as you had the idea
to start your own business. Theres no need for me to tell you what
your creation should look like. Let your creative mind go wild, and just
make sure to include the following:
Business Name
Your name
Your position (optional) - Do me a favor and refrain
from putting CEO anywhere on your card. Best
to wait until you have an employee for that.
Phone number
Email
Address
Website
B. RESTAURANTS
Restaurants can make a sizable chunk of your income selling Microgreens. There is a strategy to acquiring and keeping restaurant clients
that will save you a lot of time and money. Outlined below is a good
starting point.
1. Overview
Things to be aware of:
There must be restaurants in your area that want
Microgreens! Dont overlook this and blindly assume that
any restaurant will want to use these small green things.
Restaurant orders are often low $25-75 per week.
This means youll have to manage a lot of clients.
Restaurants are not always consistent. Because their
own business fluctuates, they have a difficult time always
wanting the same amount of produce each week.
Restaurants shut down in the blink of an eye. It is a notoriously
risky business venture to run a restaurant. This means that
your best customer could be gone tomorrow! That said, be
sure to have them pay their accounts in a timely manner!
Positives of Selling to Restaurants:
You can sell your Microgreens for a higher
price than in the farmers market.
You can make $25-75 per restaurant per week. How
many eligible restaurants are in your locale?
Supplying to restaurants is great publicity
Other income possibilities once you have a good network of chefs.
You can sell to them year round
Principles necessary for successful restaurant models:
Persistence - I cant tell you the number of times I have met a chef
once, never heard anything from him, assumed he didnt like the
greens, then stopped in to say hi, and he ended up placing an order. It
has been a great lesson in being persistent and going after what you
want in life.
Thick skin - The restaurant industry breeds some large egos in chefs.
Dont be put off when youre berated in front of his crew for any small
thing. Also, dont be afraid to tell the chef you dont accept that and
will not do business with them. Youll be glad you did.
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Good relationship building skills - This is one of the pillars of success selling to restaurants. In order to make significant income, youll
need to know all the chefs in town and be known to them as the best
Microgreens in town.
Itd sure be nice if I told you exactly which restaurants will buy your Microgreens wouldnt it? Tough luck kiddo. There will be no such handout. While I could probably tell you that steakhouses use 2# of micro
radish mix weekly and tropical cuisines consume 4# of pea shoots
and sunflower shoots bi-monthly, Id be doing you a great disservice.
The fact is, every single restaurant in your area is a potential client of
yours. The only way to know if a chef is or is not going to order from
you is to meet with him (or her) face to face to talk to them.
So, get out there and start building relationships with all of the chefs
in town. Who knows, you may just make some new friends.
2. Materials
What you must give to the chef:
The fresh sheet
A sample of your product
Business card
A couple good questions:
Do you currently use Microgreens?
What taste profiles are you looking for?
What samples would you like me to bring you?
Let me know if you want anything thats not on this list and Ill
grow it for you.
What you want to leave with:
The chefs phone number and email address
A follow up time to bring another sample or deliver an order.
A chef excited with the possibility of having fresh local,
high quality Microgreens to experiment with
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Tuesday, March 10
11:00 a.m.
Call the restaurant and make sure Chef John is available today between 2-4p. Dont ask to speak to him now, just tell the hostess to
relay the message that youll be coming in today to drop off some
samples of Microgreens.
2:00 p.m.
Arrive at the restaurant and ask the hostess if Chef John is available.
Greet Chef John
Ask if he uses Microgreens
Heres a sample for you (open the package
and encourage them to taste it)
(As hes tasting it) I grow and sell Microgreens here in
Portland and deliver to restaurants Tuesdays and Fridays. Are
you interested in any of these? (Hand him the fresh sheet)
Continue dialogue and ask above questions
after chef expresses interest
2:20 p.m.
Proceed to next restaurant.
4:00 p.m.
Complete all sample delivering to chefs by now. After 4p, dinner prep
is too busy.
Wednesday, March 11
Repeat same process as Tuesday.
C. FARMERS MARKETS
You should absolutely sell your Microgreens at the local farmers
market. By selling sunflower, peas, and a radish mix, you can make
$200-$300 per market per week. This is an excellent way to provide
you with consistent income while meeting local community members.
Soon, youll come to love the farmers market because of the connections you make there.
The Space:
Your Display:
The goal with this is to attract people into your stand. Focus on creating a visually appealing stand that would pique your interest while
walking through a farmers market.
Pile it high and watch it fly
This simple rule is the most important thing to remember when making an attractive display. Pile your products high. It creates the look and feel of abundance. It is far better than
having one or two products in an empty basket. This little change can make the difference
in you earning $75 in a day and $300. Trust me on this one.
Handling Cash:
The farmers market deals in cash. This means you must be prepared.
Set aside $100 broken into smaller bills (primarily 1s, 5s, and 10s) to
have on hand before each market. There is no exact layout of bills, but
when in doubt, the smaller the better.
Also, do yourself a favor and price things in whole dollar amounts.
Theres nothing that slows a vendor down more than counting out 37
cents of change each transaction. Leave fractions for the mathemagicians.
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Finally, if you have a smartphone and want to accept credit card, head
on over to Stripe.com and have them send you a free card reader that
plugs into your phones headphone jack. Very few customers at the
market try to use credit cards, but it never hurts to be prepared.
Your goal:
1. Attract Potential Customers to your Stand
2. Convert them to first time buyers
3. Convert first time buyers to repeat buyers
4. Convert Repeat Buyers to friends!
There you have it. Youll get better at the farmers market with practice
but these principles will get you off to a good start in the meantime.
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III. ADMINISTRATION
Ive seen many new ambitious entrepreneurs go cross-eyed when the
subject of business administration comes up. Fear not, this subject is
quite easy, once we break it down into 5 manageable parts.
They are as follows:
A. REGISTER YOUR BUSINESS
B. BANK ACCOUNT
C. LIABILITY INSURANCE
D. TAXES
E. ACCOUNTING OPTIONS
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Get an EIN
Additional Resources
Here are some links that you should read to help you determine what
the right option is for you:
Choose between Sole Proprietor and LLC
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/sole-proprietorships-vs-llcs.
html
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B. BANK ACCOUNT
Keep Business, Business!
Regardless of which entity you formed (sole proprietor, LLC, etc.) your
business needs a dedicated business account. You need a debit card
and check book to make all your purchases with. This will make your
accounting life so much easier. Trust me on this one.
Choose a Credit Union:
There are a few reasons why you should choose to do all of your
banking with a local credit union and they are as follows:
Its local
Low to no minimum balance requirements - This is huge
Lower fees on banking products
Lower interest rates
Make an Initial Deposit:
When you open your account youll need to make an initial deposit.
Often times it can be as low as $100. My advice is to put more in
there. The idea is to put enough money in the account to cover your
expenses for the first 3 months into it. For the case with Microgreens,
youll start with $3,000 and that should more than cover it. This will
make your accounting life much, much easier. Trust me on this one.
C. LIABILITY INSURANCE
Insurance. Yup. People (esp. Americans) love to sue. Insurance is a
leech industry that provides very little positive impact on society and
something that I would like to see disappear but is a reality and must
be dealt with accordingly.
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You will probably pay somewhere between $25 - 75 per month for
liability insurance.
Compare:
Follow up with each of them, give them the rest of the information
they require and build a simple spreadsheet comparing rates. Now,
choose one, pay them, file their information in case you ever need it
and move on to more important things.
Compare insurance Prices using NetQuote.com
D. TAXES
Pay them quarterly, Uncle Sam will be glad you did!
Oooph! I know lots and lots of entrepreneurs who have been burned
by taxes at one point or another in their business. Taxes can be detrimental to your cash flow if you wait to pay them in one annual lump
sum. Dont go down the path of so many others. Learn from their
mistakes and pay your taxes quarterly!
You can Google How to Pay Quarterly Taxes to learn more.
E. ACCOUNTING OPTIONS
This is often the most neglected area of a new business, and plenty
have failed because of it. Do yourself a favor and spend some time
becoming fluent with accounting methods. Once you have learned
your system of choice, create your own habit of diligently entering the
data and keeping up with the books. The more you watch the numbers, the more profitable your business will become. I guarantee it.
Quickbooks (recommended):
This is the most versatile, advanced system. I didnt start with Quickbooks but wish I had. Now I use it religiously.
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IV. FINANCES
The numbers. Consider this the entire reason for doing business.
Young entrepreneurs will argue this point til the cows come home,
but will be converted within a year or two. Without a firm grasp of how
your business consumes and creates money, you cant know for sure
where the work needs to be done.
In this section well cover the basics of the most important aspect of
your business. The finances.
A. MEASURE EVERYTHING
B. TRACKING INCOME
C. EXPENSES
D. PROFIT
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A. MEASURE EVERYTHING
The profitability of your business is dictated entirely by your diligence
in tracking every number in and out of your business.
I cannot stress the importance of this enough.
Learn from Luke:
When I first started out, I was growing and selling Bulls Blood (a type of Beet) to restaurants. After a few months, I decided to determine how much seed each tray uses, how much
it costs, how much I sell the finished product for, etc. I found some incredibly alarming
information I was actually losing money selling Bulls Blood! I was literally losing money with each tray I planted. I couldnt believe it! It was at this point that I realized just how
important it is to track every number in your business (and in your life) to determine whats
working and what isnt!
Learn from me on this. Measure everything! (And dont sell Bulls Blood.) There are alternatives
B. TRACKING INCOME
Weve included template spreadsheets to help you get started tracking everything. You will invariably want to customize them to your own
needs, and feel free to do so. These will just give you a push in the
right direction.
Below are the figures that you must track:
Farmers Market:
Date
Cash on Hand Beginning
Cash on Hand End
Credit Card purchases (if you allow that)
Revenue
Inventory - Beginning (for each crop)
Inventory - End (for each crop)
Restaurants:
Date
Restaurant
Amount
Crops
Price per oz.
Amount (in oz.)
This is one aspect that was initially difficult for me. In fact, for a while
I never tracked who paid what. Needless to say, it created a huge
headache when I decided to find out who hadnt been paying their
bills! Take a lesson from me and get started on the right foot with a
system that youll use every time.
Heres my process with restaurants:
Deliver greens
Send invoice through accounting software (via email)
Receive check in mail (weekly)
Mark specific invoice as Paid in accounting software
Simple right? It is, but the last, most crucial step can get missed if you
have a pile of checks that need to be cashed and youre tired of doing
the desk work. Be disciplined and always mark who paid.
C. EXPENSES
Just like your subtle latt habit, small purchases can add up to make a
significant drain in your income. It is of utmost importance to identify
each expense going out down to the smallest minutia, then categorize
it and analyze it!
Once you can see where the bulk of your money is going, you will instantly start problem solving and coming up with solutions to help you
save money on expenses and put more money in your pocket.
Again, the Steps to Tracking your Expenses:
1. Identify all expenses - I like to put all expenses on my Nightlight
Farms debit card. Then Quickbooks identifies each purchase.
2. Categorize all expenses - Sophisticated accounting software
like Quickbooks will learn which expenses belong in each category (after you manually tell it a few times).
3. Analyze your largest expenses - Again, this is something that took
me some time to intentionally sit down and look at. Once I did,
I could see exactly where the big expenses were and creatively
come up with solutions to cut them down.
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D. PROFIT
Out of the red and into the black!
It takes time to start making a profit with your business. Be patient.
When I first started, I hit the ground running. I made it my goal to get
to 20 new restaurants each week. It wasnt long before I had 5 clients with recurring weekly orders. It was actually a pretty hectic time
because I didnt have time to figure it out for myself (with the help of a
few good friends) how it all worked. Within 8 weeks I had recouped
my initial investment and started turning a profit and that was just in
restaurant sales. If I had been selling in a farmers markets (or 4!) I
could have turned in a profit within the month!
Regardless of how long it takes you, dont worry, take your time and
do things well. Its far more important to under-promise and over-deliver than to get in over your head and not be able to do what you say
you will.
Well, there you have it. The quick start Microgreens business. I can
almost guarantee that after successfully running your own Microgreen
business, youll want to start growing other crops. In fact, youll start
seeing money making opportunities everywhere you look. Youll realize that you are surrounded by opportunity and all you need to do is
open yourself to the good things that come.
Enjoy the process of building this business. Dont stress too much.
Youll look back on this achievement and be incredibly proud of yourself.
Also, keep the community here at Local Business Plans posted on
your progress. Were all rooting for you!
-Luke
[email protected]
http://www.LocalBusinessPlans.com/
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