Do any of you gardeners sell your produce?

[RC K9]

Do any of you guys/gals sell your produce locally to either restaurants, grocery stores, at farmer's markets, or directly to consumers that come to your property?

 

If selling to restaurants, what kind? Mom n Pop restaurants? High end? Hipster (for lack of a better way to describe what I am thinking of).

 

What items do you sell the most of? What items seem to be the highest margin?

 

On the flip side, do any of you own restaurants that buy fresh local produce, or at least make the decision to do so if you aren't the owner, but are a chef/manager?

 

Don't want to come across as a d*ck, but I am looking for sound info based on actual sales/purchases, not "ideas" of how it could be done unless those ideas are back by experience.

[mrs.cos]

I started reading about this last yaer, and have this book marked, not sure if it will help you in TX, but at least might get you some information to go on..

https://ohioaglaw.wordpress.com/category/food/

[RC K9]

^Thanks. Some good info.

 

In TX it seems I don't need a license to sell unless I am acting as a 3rd party selling products that don't typically grow in TX like bananas and kiwi. Outside of that I should be good.

 

I am looking at ways to do indoor aqua/aeroponics to grow fresh food year round, for my personal benefit, and finding ways to sell excess. Initial start up is expensive though to do anything significant since legal crops have a much lower profit margin.

 

Building a room in a barn/shed isn't the expensive part. Insultation is like $100, and mylar reflective sheeting would be like another $100. Adequate lighting and accessories is where things get expensive. I have looked at Metal Halide/HPS and LED. Not all LED lights are created equal. The best ones out there that yield the best results are like $1800, (and I would need like 5 to do 100sqft). MH/HPS is cheaper, but requires a lot more equipment like cool tubes with fans and ducting, (they get hot), replacing bulbs every 6mo, (good bulbs are like $70/pop), ballasts, and use more electricity. I spent all weekend doing the math...it was pretty exhausting. My main drive though is picking the nutritious varieties I want that you cant find in store, and having them year round. Decisions Decisions.

 

This setup would be a little over $5k...but man, is it neat.

 

[RC K9]

So, I decided to pull the trigger and buid a grow room. Got a killer deal on some LED grow lights, installed insulation, plywood panels, 2 electrical circuits, a/c, painted and then mylar on the walls and ceiling for maximum light reflection. I have seedlings now after about a week. Lettuces, Chard, Basil, etc. Started those under a t5 light and heat mat. Another week and they should be good to put in the grow tower I built. In the mean time, I thought, let's go buy a late season little tomato plant, take it out of the soil it's in, put it in my aeroponic bucket, and lets see how it does.

 

Well, the roots are doing PHENOMENAL! Look at all this pristine white root growth.

 

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG19051_zpsjxemn78y.jpg

 

This was just to try to prove the concept to myself. Get a feel for mixing nutrients and see if I killed the plant or not, which after a little over a week, seems I have not done yet. The goal here being to try to produce fresh, nutritious produce year round of the varieties i want, which you aren't going to find in most stores.

[Geeto67]

if you want to just get rid of excess - hold dinner parties, give the produce away to friends, send some to your relatives.

 

the moment you want to start taking money for them it becomes a business and then you need to do a cost analysis as to whether it is worth your time. Even if you are selling at the farmer's market you should be doing it through an LLC as you can still be sued if your food becomes contaminated and makes people sick. Without the corp structure you can be sued personally for your assets, with it you can't. It's not complicated, and other than keeping accounting and filing a tax return on what you report sold it's not complicated or expensive for the piece of mind. your company doesn't even have to make money and you can be paid in produce. Even if you sell to restaurants they can sue you for tainted food as you are their supplier. It's the CYA move.

[RC K9]

if you want to just get rid of excess - hold dinner parties, give the produce away to friends, send some to your relatives.

 

the moment you want to start taking money for them it becomes a business and then you need to do a cost analysis as to whether it is worth your time. Even if you are selling at the farmer's market you should be doing it through an LLC as you can still be sued if your food becomes contaminated and makes people sick. Without the corp structure you can be sued personally for your assets, with it you can't. It's not complicated, and other than keeping accounting and filing a tax return on what you report sold it's not complicated or expensive for the piece of mind. your company doesn't even have to make money and you can be paid in produce. Even if you sell to restaurants they can sue you for tainted food as you are their supplier. It's the CYA move.

 

I am well aware of the benefits of owning a business. I currently have an LLC.

 

I am not sending produce outside of TX. That wouldn't be cost effective, and the product would lose it's nutritional value. I am growing for my wife and kids, my parents, brother's, and sisters who are all local. I have some friends down here interested too. As for the cost effectiveness, that's irrelevant at this point in time because I am going to grow regardless of whether I sell it or not. The only time cost analysis is going to come into play is if I actually wanted to expand for the main purpose of selling. That will or will not come down the road. So right now, it's just grow as much as I can, and see what I end up with. I mean, on an efficient setup, with vertical gardening, you can grow like 90 plants in a few square feet if you know what you are doing. Kind of like what i did with the dog's back in OH. I literally had a few hundred bucks into a little bit of equipment, started an LLC and got some insurance in case I got sued, and that was it. Trained dogs on the side. Made some extra cash, pretty much using the stuff I had anyway for my own dogs. I don't go balls deep into something in regards to capital investment until I prove it to myself on a smaller scale. Worse comes to worst and I can't produce enough excess to sell, I still have enough produce for my family so we will eat well, and save money on the back end at the grocery store.

[Geeto67]

makes sense and if you already have the LLC - just use that. I can't speak to as to whether you need to carry insurance in TX but if you do decide to sell make sure the equipment belongs to the company so as to keep you clear of piercing the corp veil.

[RC K9]

Yeah, I would probably need to "buy" the equipment from myself, or something along those lines.

[Jewtoys]

Pretty cool, don't bother ever thinking you will make money though. Just avoid that venture altogether...

[Rustlestiltskin]

So, I decided to pull the trigger and buid a grow room. Got a killer deal on some LED grow lights, installed insulation, plywood panels, 2 electrical circuits, a/c, painted and then mylar on the walls and ceiling for maximum light reflection. I have seedlings now after about a week. Lettuces, Chard, Basil, etc. Started those under a t5 light and heat mat. Another week and they should be good to put in the grow tower I built. In the mean time, I thought, let's go buy a late season little tomato plant, take it out of the soil it's in, put it in my aeroponic bucket, and lets see how it does.

 

Well, the roots are doing PHENOMENAL! Look at all this pristine white root growth.

 

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG19051_zpsjxemn78y.jpg

 

This was just to try to prove the concept to myself. Get a feel for mixing nutrients and see if I killed the plant or not, which after a little over a week, seems I have not done yet. The goal here being to try to produce fresh, nutritious produce year round of the varieties i want, which you aren't going to find in most stores.

 

You're going to grow WEED aren't ya

[KillJoy]

Sell the surplus at a Farmer's Market?

 

KillJoy

[Not Brian]

http://36.media.tumblr.com/11f39b906b54bb45492bad4e8ac4ebd6/tumblr_inline_nt0du6Wu4Y1svka38_500.jpg

[RC K9]

You're going to grow WEED aren't ya

 

No. Did you look at the pic? If I lived in CO or Washington though...that would definitely be getting grown.

 

Sell the surplus at a Farmer's Market?

 

KillJoy

 

The farmers market closest to me is tough to get into and it's once a week. I have spoken to some restaurants though that are always looking for the freshest local produce they can find.

[RC K9]

Pretty cool, don't bother ever thinking you will make money though. Just avoid that venture altogether...

 

Tough, yes. But can it be done? Yes. There is a dude making some decent money in WI selling locally what he grows in his small back yard harbor freight greenhouse. That was years ago. He has since expanded his operation. Most people won't be able to replicate that, it it is possible.

[KillJoy]

Ever see this?

 

 

KillJoy

[Lauren]

Make sure if you start selling you use your LLC properly and not anything personal through it. Otherwise if you sell food that is contaminated and they sue you they can pierce your LLC if it has been used on personal stuff.

[RC K9]

Ever see this?

 

 

KillJoy

 

I don't think that was the video of them I saw, it they really do a great job. The problem is, a lot of people you see like that are in CA due to the climate. Whereas here in tx, it's hard to grow a lot of stuff. A lot of produce just burns in the heat.

[LJ]

Researched it. Direct wholesaling to restaurants is where any money is. Otherwise it is a waste of time

[RC K9]

Yeah, if it ever got to the point where I have enough to sell, I'd rather not deal with 8 million individuals who want a single head of lettuce or 3 tomatoes.

[Radio Flyer1647545514]

Look at gastropubs and the like that use fresh food. Here in Columbus the gastropubs are growing their food on the restraint property outside. Out of season they look elsewhere to get their food and they'll buy quality products from locals.

 

It can be done if you network to those people.

 

Even if you aren't making profit, breaking even and growing your own food is a win.

[RC K9]

Look at gastropubs and the like that use fresh food. Here in Columbus the gastropubs are growing their food on the restraint property outside. Out of season they look elsewhere to get their food and they'll buy quality products from locals.

 

It can be done if you network to those people.

 

Even if you aren't making profit, breaking even and growing your own food is a win.

 

That's where I am going with this. It's not a business venture per se; its for our own consumption first and foremost, and they if I actually consistently produce more than we consume, sell whatever is extra.

 

The thing is, in this setup, if I can get everything right, I should be having fresh heads of lettuce, tomatoes, cukes, herbs, etc lets say in Nov, Feb, year round. None of this nutritionally deficient, 3wk old, trucked in from somewhere else, force ripened, triple chlorine washed garbage you get in the grocery store.

[RC K9]

Over the weekend, I transplanted another rough looking tomato plant from HD into the aeroponics system.

 

Here is new root formation on Monday evening.

 

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG19071_zpslcmikhnp.jpg

 

And here is that same plant 24hrs later.

 

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG19151_zpssl7yvely.jpg

[RC K9]

Took 2 small cuttings a week ago just to see if I could clone them without rooting hormones or gel or anything.

 

It would seem it is not that difficult.

 

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG19441_zpslju6lv3u.jpg

 

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a461/RyanCorlew/Indoor%20Gardening/IMAG19431_zpso999sdeg.jpg

[Radio Flyer1647545514]

Nice work getting your clones to root. That's one of the more difficult parts when beginning. Excited to see how your project turns out.

[RC K9]

Nice work getting your clones to root. That's one of the more difficult parts when beginning. Excited to see how your project turns out.

 

I'm going to try cloning other plants too. Literally just stuck these things in some cloning collars, put them in a 5gal bucket with a sprinkler that sprays 30min on/30min off, and a week later, roots.