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 Morgan 1 Business Plan
Having had the opportunity to work in a Farmer’s Market myself I have noticed a
few things about consumers. Overhearing conversations between consumers talk about
the seasonal offerings of the farmer’s market there are two statements that have stuck
with me over the last few years: first, is that it is cheaper to buy at the grocery store, and
secondly that some of the produce is strange and they don’t know how to use the seasonal
produce. This made me think about how I could use seasonal fruits and vegetables in my
own home and I enrolled into a community supported agriculture (CSA) group that
allowed me to have local, fresh, and seasonal produce delivered to my home. I had
enrolled in the summer, which was the easy part of cooking with the produce that was
arriving in my weekly basket, but when winter rolled around it was a different story.
Some of this produce I had never seen let alone know how to cook with. I suggested to
the CSA director that maybe the CSA or the farmers could provide recipe cards with the
produce, and sure enough it was a hit. My winter and fall cooking now comes easy and
has inspired this business. My business will give Olympia Farmer’s Market patrons the
chance to taste different varieties of food as the seasons change and encourage them to
cook year round with local produce.
Executive Summary
My business plan will explain how the Olympia Farmers Market is in need of a
small café within the market building that will have menu items based off of the seasonal
offerings of the market and its vendors. The café would have a menu that is on seasonal
Morgan 2 rotation from the produce and meats provided by the market. I would rely strongly on the
business interactions between my café and the vendors to help keep food costs down
while still being able to offer a high quality product. In return for lower pricing, I would
market the products and vendors that I used and encourage my customers to purchase
from them. The menu would only consist of a few items, but since the menu would
constantly be changing it will have customers coming back to see what new items the
market brings each season. I believe strongly that a farmer’s market is a community that
acts as a hub for people with like-minded interest to socialize and trade goods. This
business would provide the community with healthy, locally sourced and sustainable food
items that will then help local farmers and ranchers bring more business to their stands.
Business Description and Vision
A Farmer's market is defined as "an open place or a covered building where
buyers and sellers convene for the sale of goods; a marketplace: a farmers' market."
(Dictionary.com) With this definition in mind, I would like the opportunity to present the
idea of Market Fresh Cafe'. A cafe' designed to produce menu items based on the
seasonal offerings of the famers market. By doing so consumers will have a better idea of
how to cook with seasonal produce that is from local sources and will ultimately benefit
their health.
Market Fresh Cafe's mission statement will serve with a commitment to the
greater Olympia area to build a healthier and wealthier community by serving food
forged by the community that will support our local farmers and ranchers. This means
that at Market Fresh Cafe' we will do everything possible to serve only products sourced
Morgan 3 locally from Olympia's farmer’s market. By doing so we will ultimately be benefiting the
community with healthy meals as well as helping other vendors in sales of their items.
Our meats will be from local ranchers that are also year around vendors at the market, in
which we will work with on wholesale pricing in return for marketing their products to
consumers.
Definition of the Market
Olympia, Washington is located on the bay of the South Puget Sound and serves
as the state’s capital. Besides the ever-growing suburbs of Olympia, Olympia has a
booming downtown that has gone under major revamping in recent years and has one of
the only all-organic restaurants. At the south end of downtown is the boardwalk that lines
the waterfront. At the center of the waterfront is the Olympia Farmer’s Market.
Olympia’s indoor year-round farmer’s market offers vendors from bordering counties of
“Thurston, Lewis, Mason, and Grays Harbor East of the Wynoochee River,”
(Olympiafarmersmarket.com) all vendors must live and produce their products within
these counties. Besides serving consumers at the famers market, Olympia Farmer’s
Market is centrally located around many businesses and just a short distance from
Washington’s capital buildings.
Based on the 2010 census, Olympia supports a positive market of growth and a
promising consumer market. The population of Thurston County in 2010 was 254,095
with an average income of $42,370 and married families occupy more then 51% of
households. Out of the 95,000 plus jobs in 2010, 35,000 of them were government jobs.
Considering more then 27% of the overall job market is in government jobs, the job
Morgan 4 market is stable in Olympia and will remain stable as long as Olympia remains the state’s
capital. Based on the 2010 census, Washington State followed the national
unemployment rate of 9.6% while the Thurston County’s unemployment was lower at
8.2%. (Trpc.org)
There are currently seven other food stands ranging from Indian food to American
serving in the Olympia Farmers Market. However, there aren’t any stands that rely on the
seasonal produce and use local ranchers to source their menus. None of the other food
stands have websites or menus online, which I would offer.
Description of the Products and Service
List of menu items to be included will depend on the season. Some items would
include veggie wraps, local greens stir-fry, Puget Sound fish tacos, and salads made to
order. I have attached a sample menu as a reference. However, some menu items will stay
constant. I will offer house made granola with Greek yogurt and seasonal fruit, as well as
humus that will be made fresh with flatbread and selected vegetables. For beverages
Market Fresh Café will offer coffee from a local coffee roaster and ice tea.
Budget Justification
At this point, I hope you should have noticed that the main goal of my café is
based around the community. As the mission statement expresses, the goal of Market
Fresh Café is to serve with a commitment to the greater Olympia area to build a healthier
and wealthier community by serving food forged by the community that will support our
local farmers and ranchers. The concentration of my café is not to make a lot of money,
Morgan 5 or to overcharge my community to make a huge profit but to give the costumer a better
understanding of meals that can be prepared with seasonal products. In return I hope to
give the farmers and ranchers more business, and help family farmers stay in business.
As you will see in the budget worksheet the market has seasonal hours, and
therefore my hours of operation will operate around those hours. The market operates
April through October from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and winter hours are November and
December also from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.. (Olympiafarmersmarket.com)
I tried to research the attendance of the Olympia farmers market and make an
estimate of customers based on that number; however, there was no data of attendance.
Based on my own experience of attending the market I feel that it is appropriate to
estimate that the April through October customers would be around 40 customers on
Thursday and Friday and 60 guests on Saturday and Sunday. For the winter months I
have approximated my customers to be 40 guests during the Saturday and Sunday
market. Market Fresh Café serves food to be ordered and served at the counter, and the
market provides picnic tables for customers to sit with their food.
As part of my duty to the community and the farmers that represent the
community I plan to keep the menu prices fair. By researching the other vendors at the
market I have estimated the average check at $8.99 (Olympiafarmersmarket.com). The
menu will be a rotating seasonal menu, and will work around the produce that is available
from the farmers. Daily menu entrée items will always be $6.99, with options to add a
seasonal green or fruit salads for an additional $2.00. By working with the farmers and
ranchers I will network with them to keep my costs low and in return keep the cost of my
menu items low as well. I will offer locally roasted coffee and tea, and although it doesn’t
Morgan 6 cost much to brew coffee and tea, the cups they are served in do cost a bit more. Coffee
and tea are $1.50 and if the customer brings their own mug I will give them a .50-cent
discount.
Food and beverage will all be sourced from vendors within the farmers market.
As I researched on the Olympia Farmer’s Market website, all the vendors I would need
are available within the market. The market has an outstanding list of various produce
farmers, ranchers, sausage makers, preservative vendors, and bakers.
(Olympiafarmersmarket.com) Downtown Olympia has a few great coffee roasters and tea
makers as well. I plan to market all the products of the seasonal menu for the vendors
they came from. That way when my guests are finished they can head over and purchase
the items to make it themselves. I have estimated the cost of food to be 25% of food sales
and beverages at 15%. My estimated food cost of 25% may seem a bit low, however,
once again I only want to work with farmers that want to work with me. If anything there
are more then enough options at the market. For example there are three different egg
vendors. I plan to buy in bulk for the weekend, and at the end of the market on Sunday I
will try to make some deals with the vendors to sell their items at a reduced cost. These
items, like berries and veggies. can then be used for products that keep longer. Beverage
will be pretty low, since the only items we will offer are coffee and tea. Coffee and tea
are fairly cheap, and there are plenty of local roasters and tea makers breaking into the
market on a weekly basis. If there is one thing the Northwest knows how to do very well,
and we look for the next best thing, its coffee!
For payroll cost I have estimated at 25% of total sales. The only person working
will be myself. As a small market operation I don’t think this is too farfetched. I will use
Morgan 7 my time accordingly and prepare the daily items before the market opens so that I can
serve people quickly. I will not give myself an exact paycheck but a percentage of sales. I
will pay myself based on how well the business is doing. The rest of the profit will go
into the business fund and will be used to pay all other obligations and save for repairs
and other needs.
From the markets website is a detailed description of the cost for vendors. The
market Café would be considered a food vendor and therefore pay 9% of the daily profits
if greater then $7 on Thursdays and Fridays and $15 on Saturdays and Sundays. For the
budget worksheet I have used the 9% and calculated rent costs to the market at $7,053.62.
For startup cost I will take out a one time $25,000 business loan for equipment and
signage. The business loan will have an APR of 15% and loan payment costs annually
with interest will be $3,750 a year with a payment of $312.50 a month.
After completing my budget worksheet the Market Fresh Café estimates a profit
of $29,602.82. As a business that has an outstanding interest to give back to the
community and keep the business of being a farmer as an occupation on the census form,
I would like to give some of the profits back to the community. By giving donations to
organizations that support farming and the youth’s involvement with gardening I think
this will help the thought process of food. Communities like Olympia, now more then
ever, need school gardens and education programs like those we have here in the Bay
Area. Ideally, I would like to support a local school’s garden as Alice Water’s Chez
Panisse does in Berkeley, California. Furthermore, scholarship programs and
endorsements to the Future Farmers of America (FFA) and 4H will instill the sense of
neighborly duties that small towns turned into a metro hub are losing everyday.
Morgan 8 Layout and Design
Designing Market Fresh Café came to me after seeing the convenience of having
a mobile unit. After looking through many different options of mobile concessions I
found a great online site that has food concession trailers that would fit my business
model perfectly. By using a concessions trailer the Market Fresh Café will no longer be
limited to the Olympia Farmers Market and therefore, can better serve the community. As
our mission statements expresses “Market Fresh Café will serve with a commitment to
the greater Olympia area to build a healthier and wealthier community by serving food
forged by the community that will support our local farmers and ranchers.” With the new
possibilities of the mobile unit, also came obstacles of finding equipment that will fit in
the area while also serving my needs as a café. Using Bigtray.com I was able to research
smaller industrial size equipment to fit the space. However, I don’t foresee myself using
all the equipment for each seasonal menu selection, I have included the standard items
needed to prepare just about anything.
As I have previously outlined in my business plan for Market Fresh Café to be a
small café stand within the confines of the market. However, after doing more research I
have found that all the food vendors are outside and most are in some type of mobile unit
or trailer. I found a great trailer that can be specifically designed to fit each individual
needs at www.concessiontrailerswarehouse.com. The trailer that I chose is the
professional grade series that measures 8’ feet by 18’ feet. The company also includes
options of having your trailer wrapped with logos, which would make it stand out and
allow potential customers to spot me from down the street. Additionally I will need a
Morgan 9 vehicle with a trailer hitch that would be able to pull a large trailer.
For my equipment choices I had to further research exact dimensions as the trailer
website gave very few details on the dimensions on the standard equipment. Although
they have a standard equipment list, I had to use www.bigtray.com to find out the exact
measurements. For example, the 18” griddle depicted on their website has a width of 18”
inches and depth of 19” inches. The only measurements that were directly given on the
trailer warehouse website was that of the actual trailer, the worktables and the windows
(concessiontrailerwarehouse.com). The website indicates a 22 cubic feet refrigerator and
freezer, however, I went with 23 cubic feet freezer and refrigerator, because I found it
difficult to find the 22 cubic feet. I made up for the space by reducing the size of the 3compartment sink. I have included a sheet with all the dimensions, and all are different
from the standard size sheet. Lastly, I decided not to use the 2, 40-pound deep fryers, as I
will not be using that in my cooking. Since I took the deep fryers out, I made the oven
slightly bigger then the size suggested on the trailers website, and a larger char broiler as
my menu will host many grilled options.
The layout and flow of a food trailer is imperative. Although it may be small, with
more then one person working I needed to make sure there was adequate space between
all the stations. Another obstacle was the fact that the two tables that run along the
windows will double as preparation tables and to take and hand out orders later in the
day. There is only one entrance and exit, which will face the backside of the market and
the windows facing outward to the public. I will be putting my orders into the local
vendors who will be supplying the ingredients for my menu and they will deliver to the
back door. I will then quickly put all the food away in their appropriate areas. Dried
Morgan 10 goods will be stored on the shelves under the worktables while cold items will be put in
the refrigerator or freezer. On the trailer warehouse website there is a large cutting board
that fits perfectly over the 3-compartment sink, which will then be stored on a shelf over
the dishwashing area.
On the outside of the trailer I will have a small easel chalkboard with the days
menu choices. Customers can line up and proceed to the order window where they will be
given a number. Once their number is called the customer can pick-up their food from the
other side window.
Market Fresh Cafés design and layout will be able to serve its customers while also being able to work with fresh local ingredients. The flow is simple but will allow the local vendors and farmers to work directly with me and have a real relationship with the path their food will take. The equipment in the space has been specially selected to aid in cooking and highlighting the flavors of the food provided by the market. By utilizing a food concession trailer, Market Fresh Café will be able to better serve the community and represent the Olympia Farmer’s Market. Morgan 11 MARKET FRESH CAFÉ
-BreakfastCoffee/ Hot Teas $1.99
Seasonal Fresh Fruit Cup $2.99/ Bowl $3.99
Hot Oatmeal- topped with Honey and Walnuts $2.99
Greek Yogurt and Granola- Homemade granola with almonds and
local honey $3.99
Quiche- Heirloom tomatoes and spinach baked with eggs in a fluffy
crust $5.99
Muffins- Lemon Poppy Seed or blueberry muffins topped with
crunchy oats $1.49 each
-Market FoodSparking Water/ Ice Tea/ Coffee
Seasonal Salad- baby greens and seasonal vegetables topped with
pine nuts $3.99
Market Salad- Arugula greens, strawberries, red bell peppers, red
onion and feta $4.99
Hummus Platter- Hummus served along with flatbread and assorted
fruit $4.99
Chicken Tortilla Soup- Shredded chicken breast and whole slices of
avocado topped with tortilla strips $6.99
Quinoa Wrap- Whole-wheat wrap filled with quinoa and asparagus
spears and served on a bed of baby greens $6.99
Hummus Open Face Sandwich- Hummus served on whole grain
flatbread with sprouts, heirloom tomatoes and avocado $6.99
Morgan 12 Equipment Specifications Storage 1. Single swing door, 23 cubic feet freezer, 26.75” x 32.75” (Bigtray.com) 2. Single swing door, 23 cubic feet refrigerator, 27”x 31.125” (Bigtray.com) Dishwashing 3. 3 compartment sink, 60”x 21” (Bigtray.com) Personal Hygiene 4. Hand sink, 12” x 16” (Bigtray.com) Service Area 5. 48” x 24” (Concessiontrailerswarehouse.com) 6. 24” x 24” (Concessiontrailerswarehouse.com) Preparation Area 7. Sandwich preparation table, 28” x 24”, with 6.2 cubic feet refrigerator (Concessiontrailerswarehouse.com) 8. Work, preparation table, 36” x 24” Cooking 9. 18” griddle, 18” x 19” (Bigtray.com) 10. 36” char broiler, 36.125” x 33” (Bigtray.com) 11. Gas range with four burners, 24” x 34” (Bigtray.com) Doors/ Windows • Order window, 64” x 40” with fluorescent light marquees (Concessiontrailerswarehouse.com) • Pick-­‐up window, 64” x 40” with fluorescent light marquees (Concessiontrailerswarehouse.com) • Enter/ Exit door, 36” x 40” door swing (Concessiontrailerswarehouse.com) Morgan 13 Bibliography www.bigtray.com. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 20th, 2012 from http://www.bigtray.com/arctic-­‐air-­‐reach-­‐in-­‐freezer-­‐af23-­‐sku-­‐artaf23-­‐c-­‐10080.html www.bigtray.com. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 20th, 2012 from http://www.bigtray.com/true-­‐refrigeration-­‐reach-­‐in-­‐refrigerator-­‐ts-­‐23-­‐sku-­‐
truts23-­‐c-­‐10040.html www.bigtray.com. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 20th, 2012 from http://www.bigtray.com/advance-­‐tabco-­‐three-­‐compartment-­‐sink-­‐k7-­‐cs-­‐21-­‐x-­‐sku-­‐
advk7cs21x-­‐c-­‐11980.html www.bigtray.com. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 20th, 2012 from http://www.bigtray.com/advance-­‐tabco-­‐hand-­‐sink-­‐7-­‐ps-­‐23-­‐sku-­‐adv7ps23-­‐c-­‐
11990.html www.bigtray.com. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 20th, 2012 from http://www.bigtray.com/apw-­‐wyott-­‐griddle-­‐ggm-­‐18h-­‐sku-­‐apwggm18h-­‐c-­‐
10833.html www.bigtray.com. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 20th, 2012 from http://www.bigtray.com/wolf-­‐range-­‐achiever-­‐charbroiler-­‐acb36-­‐sku-­‐wolacb36-­‐c-­‐
10750.html www.bigtray.com. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 20th, 2012 from http://www.bigtray.com/southbend-­‐24-­‐1-­‐2-­‐wide-­‐s-­‐series-­‐range-­‐s24e-­‐sku-­‐
sbds24e-­‐c-­‐28830.html www.concessiontrailerswarehouse.com. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 20th, 2012 from http://www.concessiontrailerswarehouse.com/trailers.php?tskey=5 Definition: Farmers market. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 24th, 2012 from
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/farmers market
www.olympiafarmersmarket.com. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 24th, 2012 from
http://www.olympiafarmersmarket.com/home.php
www.trpc.org. (n.d.). Retrieved on April 24th, 2012 from
http://trpc.org/data/Documents/Profile 2011/stats_glance_2011.pdf
Morgan 14