Alyssa GormalyAmbar Mendoza

Business Plan: Mindful Farmer’s MarketEXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Mindful Farmer’s MarketMindful Farmer’s Market is a non-profit program created to alleviate obesity and educate high school students about how to become intelligent food consumers. The market relies on grant funds provided by the USDA Farmer’s Market Promotion Program. The program targets the adolescents of San Pablo, which is currently the one city in California with the highest rates of teenage obesity. We aim to inspire teens to make drastic lifestyle changes for themselves, impacting the surrounding culture which will affect their families, the community, and generations of teens to come.

Business Focus and OrganizationThe farmer’s market will be based in California’s top city for teen obesity, San Pablo, California at Vista High School. Alyssa Gormaly, the market director, and Ambar Mendoza, the assistant market director, will be the sole operators of the program. Dietitians and volunteer students from UC Berkeley will run nutrition/exercise education booths and vendors will run their respective booths, selling produce and other healthy choices at affordable prices for low-income students.Mission StatementMindful Farmer’s Market is here to provide accessible resources for low-income students of San Pablo who have been affected by teenage obesity. Our main goal is to inspire students to make positive lifestyle changes and to educate them about how to make feasible decisions that will lead them to a healthier life.Adolescence is the best time to educate students about consuming consciously because many of the students will leave home after high school and be unaffected by their parents’ health choices. The program will lead students to make healthy decisions about nutrition and exercise that will affect them directly.COMPANY SUMMARY

Company OwnershipMindful Farmer’s Market is a partnership, founded by Alyssa Gormaly and Ambar Mendoza. Alyssa and Ambar will also be involved in running exercise and nutrition booths, for which the wages will come from the grant provided by the USDA Farmer’s Market Promotion Program. Both partners will be located in San Pablo, California, running the market bi-weekly for its entire duration.BudgetDIRECT COSTSSalaries and Wages

Hours/week $/hour Weeks/year Total

Market Director: Registered Dietitian 6 50.00 52 15,600.00

Market Assistant Director: Registered Dietitian 6 47.50 52 14,820.00

Booth Educators: Registered Dietitians 4 25.00 52 5,200.00

TOTAL WAGES/year 35,620.00

Site Rental

$/3-month season

Vista High School Gym Site Rental 900.00

TOTAL RENTAL COSTS/year 3,600.00

Travel (mileage at $0.42/mile)

$/year

Drive to and from Vista High School 208 times (50 mi RT) 4,368.00

TOTAL DIRECT COSTS: 35,620.00

Company Location and FacilitiesThe market will occur twice a week: on Tuesday and Saturday from 3PM-5PM.  Both partners will travel to Vista High School bi-weekly and each partner will prepare and plan as needed from home before each market day.

COMPANY SUMMARYService description Our bi-weekly farmers market will provide the resources to low-income students with high risk of obesity to change their lifestyle and dietary decisions. Our market will come to their high school at a convenient time to provide them with information about health, interactive cooking tutorials, market tours, healthy foods brought in by local vendors.

Comparison description Below is a sample diagram of the market’s layout in Vista High School’s parking lot:

The Red X indicates where the Farmer’s Market will be located.

MARKET ANALYSIS SUMMARY

Market SegmentationIn many cities across America, adolescents are becoming more and more

overweight.Among these cities is San Pablo, California, with 52% of adolescents being categorized as overweight or obese. Our farmer’s market will target the students at a San Pablo high school, Vista High School. San Pablo had the highest rate of teen obesity in California in 2012 (Babey, et al.). Adolescents are the ideal target for piquing nutritional interest and transforming health habits because they are becoming more aware of their independence not only as individuals, but as consumers. Different types of kiosks will be present at the bi-weekly farmer’s market to provide interesting and accurate nutritional and lifestyle information to students. Such kiosks may include booths related to exercise, low-cost health, areas where students can participate in food preparation, as well as a variety of local vendors selling inexpensive, healthy produce. The farmer’s market will take place at Vista High on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 3PM-5PM because students get out of

school at 2:30PM. (http://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/publications/Documents/PDF/children2010fs-jun2012.PDF)

This city of San Pablo consists mostly of Hispanic/Latinos (57%) and Caucasians (32%). People under the age of 18 make up ~30% of the population, which is more than most cities in California. The abundance of youth here makes San Pablo an ideal target for our high school farmer’s market program. The median household income here is 26% of the median household income of the rest of California. This facet of socioeconomic status could impair healthy food choices because of money. The housing costs are about half of the average housing costs in the rest of California (US Census Bureau). (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0668294.html)

The rates of crime (property, rape, murder, personal, assault, robbery, larceny, and motor vehicle) are well above the national average in San Pablo. The second most prevalent age group in this city is about 10-19 years. Money expenditure in every category is below the national average (Onboard Informatics).

Business ParticipantsIn order to set up our farmer’s market, we will apply for non-profit status through

the California Department of Revenue, get market insurance, then apply for a Certified Farmer’s Market Certificate through the California Department of Food and Agriculture. (https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/is/i_&_c/cfm.html)

The market’s participants include the students of Vista High School and any interested community members. Students will be the paying participants if they choose to buy groceries. Vendors will be the participants doing business with the students and will therefore be payed.

Our healthy lifestyle education team will be a group of dietitians or others specializing in the realm of wellness and exercise, working or volunteering through their specific organizations. Each booth or vendor will decide whether or not their services/products will cost the students money and how much; however, we strongly encourage participants to provide services at reduced or no cost to be eligible as a vendor in this market. This will cater to the lower-income students who still deserve proper education and nutrition.

Distribution PatternsMindful Farmer’s Market will be held bi-weekly at the high school. Vendors will

be present bi-weekly. The market will also be open year round to any and all community members who wish to visit our very involved and health-focused market.

Our goal is to increase the amount of healthy practices in this community, particularly in high school students. Students and community members can learn accurate and exciting information through healthy lifestyle booths in the market; they will have the opportunity to apply their newfound nutritional knowledge to their diets by purchasing products from the market. On each Tuesday and Saturday, students will be able to participate in cooking classes; four different meals will be made each week by students with the help of an instructor. Our market will also include farmer’s market tours to help students learn to shop consciously, and hopefully make an impact in their own households.

Main Competitors

The idea of a farmer’s market is not a new concept and there are several farmer’s markets all over California. Our main competitors include the local farmer’s market held in San Pablo and farmer’s market in close radius. San Pablo hosts a local farmer's market which is held on Saturday’s 10AM-2PM. There are also two farmer’s markets in Richmond, California which is 15 minutes south of San Pablo. The first is Richmond Main Street Farmer’s Market held on Wednesdays 10AM-2PM. and the second is Richmond Certified Farmer’s market on Fridays 8AM-2PM.

Additional competitors also include local supermarkets. Farmer’s markets everywhere are always in competition with supermarkets. Supermarkets offer convenient hours, convenient locations from home and work, lots of available parking space, store promotions and deals, relatively low prices, and a consistent and dependable supply of produce. However, the major disadvantage of supermarkets are that the foods sold there may be transported hundreds of miles to warehouses and distribution centers and then to supermarkets. In order for these foods to stay in good condition and withstand long distance traveling, they must go through processing and then are packaged and preserved. Our farmer’s market has the advantage of offering fresh, local, great-tasting fruits and vegetables that do not have to undergo heavy processing. Other competitors that are similar to supermarkets include specialty stores like Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods and smaller grocery supplies like corner markets.  Home delivery operations like Schwan’s are also considered competition.

MANAGEMENT SUMMARY

Personnel PlanAlthough we will be running small farmer’s market at one location, there will be many people involved in the process. Our personnel plan includes Alyssa Gormaly as the Farmers Market director and Ambar Mendoza as the Farmers Market Director Assistant. Vista High school will work directly with the director and assistant. This includes any staff and students that will be involved in the farmers market. Local farmers will also work closely with the director and the assistant as they will be the main distributors of the farmers market. Community members may also work with the director and the assistant but will be a big part of advertisement strategies for community involvement.

Orientation Procedure-Training PlanBefore farmer’s market in Vista High school commences, all participants must go through an orientation in order to have the farmer’s market run smoothly. We will meet with all prospective participants and discuss the rules of farmers market that will be written in a handbook. The group of participants will be divided into groups providing similar services. Vendors selling produce will receive a particular orientation specific to them while those providing health education services will attend a different orientation. The duration of the orientation will be one day from 7AM-12PM.

New vendor orientation!Ø  7:00a.m. to 8:00a.m.: Welcoming new vendor to Mindful Farmers Market, introductions and discuss mission statement and vision.Ø  8:00a.m. to 10:00a.m.: Introduction to policies and procedures from handbook. Examples include:

·      All vendors must abide by established market policies and procedures·      Review SNAP and WIC regulations·      Discuss possibility of indoor farmers market due to weather conditions

Ø  10:00a.m. to 10:20a.m. : Small break.Ø  10:20a.m.to 11:30a.m. : Provide a walk through of both parking lot and gymnasium to familiarize new vendor of facilities and space they will be working with.Ø  11:30 to 12:00p.m. : Closing statements and allow time for any questions or to go over particular procedures they may need to review, followed by lunch.

Training Session for One New EmployeeTraining for a single employee will be similar to group orientation; it will contain information about rules, regulations, and information about the farmer’s market as a whole, as well as orientation specific to their services.

3 Policies with related procedures Policy: If weather does not allow for an outdoor market, the market will be

held in the gymnasium.o Procedure:

Vendors will receive notification via phone and email Vendors will have until 3 hours before the scheduled

market time to notify the director if they plan to be absent from the market in order to be reimbursed a weekly vending fee

Kiosk arrangement booth will be emailed to participants and posted inside the gymnasium 1 hour before the scheduled market time

The back doors of the gymnasium, nearest the fire lane, will be opened for loading and unloading of merchandise

All merchants will be responsible for all debris within 10 feet of their kiosks and a community clean-up will follow

Policy: SNAP and Credit tokens must be accepted

o Procedure: All vendors are required to accept SNAP and Credit tokens

from customers. Vendors will be reimbursed the value of the tokens in their

entirety; no fees apply to the vendors Policy: All vendors must abide by established market policies and

procedures:o Procedure for policy/procedure violations:

Violation 1: Verbal warning by any management team (will be recorded)

Violation 2: Written warning by Director or Director Assistant

Violation 3: Day-long suspension without refund Violation 4: Year-long suspension without refund - must

re-submit application the following year

Financial PlanAlyssa Gormaly and Ambar Mendoza will spend the first 2 months advertising to potential vendors in the community, handing out flyers, putting pamphlets in local WIC centers, promoting ourselves via Instagram and Facebook, and recruiting vendors from local farmer’s markets to participate in the Mindful Farmer’s Market. After the first 2 months, the percentage of our income that goes into advertising will be slightly decreased, under the expectation that major advertising at the beginning will be substantial. Money for advertisement will come from the grant provided by the USDA Farmer’s Market Promotion Program.       Vendors will pay seasonal or monthly vending fees, which will supply the finances for renting the parking lot space of Vista High School and paying private companies for their dietitians’ time at the health education booths. Unlike many businesses, our profits will not be for the market as a whole, but for individual vendors. We also plan to accept volunteers from UC Berkeley’s Didactic Program in Dietetics.SERVICES

Service DescriptionOur nonprofit program will provide accessible produce and quality nutrition education primarily to the students of Vista High school. The community of San Pablo will also be able to enjoy our services.  Initially there will only be 6 vendors to start that will be providing produce, however we hope that with time more vendors will join Mindful Farmer's Market as it becomes more popular. There will also be two education booths where Registered Dietitians will be delivering accurate and up-to-date nutrition education. Registered Dietitians will also be performing cooking demonstrations and creating pamphlets/handouts/flyers that can be passed out during the farmers market. These handouts can contain recipes for the cookings, any helpful nutrition tips, and easy to understand information about nutrition. Registered Dietitians may include a fitness portion to any of their lessons since fitness does pertain to maintaining health but in general the information that is broadcasted will pertain to nutrition. In the future we plan

to revamp the education booths and have computers available in order to add a technology aspect. Besides our produce vendors and educational booths we also plan to provide entertainment via high school band or other clubs that are interested in having a booth or any outside entertainment that is interested.

Competition Comparison

Company Name

Services Strengths Weaknesses Uniqueness

Local Farmers Market

Provides fresh, local produce.

Allows customers to buy fresh produce.Community involvement.

Nearest farmers market is 15 miles from San Pablo.

Llocally grown foods that are fresh.

Supermarkets/ Specialty Stores

Provides wide range of foods.

Convenient and relatively cheap. Can offer discounts on foods.

Not fresh and not local.

Available everyday.

Home Delivery Meals

Deliver foods directly to homes.

Very convenient Time saver.

Food may or may not be very fresh.Delivery can be lost.

Do not have to leave home to get groceries.

Mindful Farmers Market

Provides affordable produce and nutrition education.

Fresh, local produce.Farmers selling at slightly lowered priceConveniently located on HS campus

Only open twice a week.

Education booths provide nutrition education and cooking demonstrations.

Produce is affordable for low income target.

Important AssumptionsDIRECT COSTSA. Salaries and Wages

1. Responsibilities

a. Market Consultant: Alyssa Gormaly: Responsibilities include supervising registered dietitian for health education booths (run by other RDs); meeting with vendors and reviewing applications; developing market layout chart; developing recipes made at nutrition booths; orienting all new vendors. Paid $50/hour.b. Market Consultant Assistant: Ambar Mendoza: Responsibilities include assisting market director; advertising within the student and outside communities; reviewing vendor applications; developing weekly themes for health education booths; orienting all new RDs. Paid $47.50/hour.c. Vendors will have the opportunity to sell their specific product/service bi-weekly or seasonally for 2 hours twice a week. Each site rental will cost $1000 per three-month season. Vendors will be asked to sell produce at slightly lowered cost.d. Registered Dietitians and UC Berkeley DPD volunteers will have the opportunity to run health education booths for 2 hours twice a week.

RDs (2): Paid $25/hr ($100/week) for their services, which include: providing nutrition information at booths, doing interactive cooking demonstrations, motivating/educating students about healthy habits and exercise

UC Berkeley Students (variable number): Paid $0/week for their voluntary services, which include: answering questions students may have about nutrition, helping students in interactive meal demonstrations, providing nutrition/exercise advice and counseling

C. Our total profit as a market will include the seasonal fees paid by vendors ($1000/3-month season) as well as the grant received from USDA Farmer’s Market Promotion Program. Total Wages and Salaries:$2,968.33/month

Pro Forma Productivity RatiosPro Forma Productivity RatiosIn order to host a bi-weekly farmer’s market, the market will be open for 2 hours per day, 2 days a week. Our market’s productivity ratios will be:

2 hours (120 minutes) per market day2 market days (24 hours each) per week

                                       Based on Wage information in Year 1’s Budget:

$95.75 per market day

$35,620 per year to establish a bi-weekly high school market!

Billing System

Financial exchange will occur between vendors and customers (students), between vendors and the director, and between the director and private companies supplying dietitians.

Vendors will receive money on-site from customers in the forms of cash, SNAP tokens, and credit tokens. The director will receive seasonal/weekly fees from the vendors via checks or online bill-pay. Private companies will receive compensation from the director for their dietitians’ time via monthly checks calculated by hours worked per dietitian.

Because we are a non-profit, we did not make a balance sheet.

Breakeven Analysis

Breakeven points=    fixed cost(1- variable cost)

               sales

Fixed cost= rental space ($3,600) and wages ($35.620)Variable cost= advertising ($690) and travel ($4,368)Sales= Vendor rental ($24,000)Breakeven point= $30,645Breakeven analysis shows that we will break even after 8 months!Total Grant per year: $20,000Projected total costs per year: $44,278Projected total revenue per year: $24,000

Projected Cash Flow

Jan Feb Mar

Expected Actual Expectd Actual Expectd Actual

RECEIPTS.

Grant revenue/year $20,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Site rental fee (from vendors)/year (6 farmers)

$24,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

(A) Total Receipts/year $44,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

LESS PAYMENTS/month

Dietitian Wages (2) $800 $0 $800 $0 $800 $0

Director/Assistant Director Wages (2) $2,340 $0 $2,340 $0 $2,340 $0

Location Services $300 $0 $300 $0 $300 $0

Travel $42 $0 $42 $0 $42 $0

Advertisement $95 $0 $95 $0 $50 $0

(B) Total cash payments. $42,474 $3,577 $0 $3,577 $0 $3,532 $0

(C)  NET CASH FLOW (A-B)/year $1,526 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

(D) Opening bank balance $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Closing bank balance (D+C)/year $1,526 $0 $ $0 $ $0

Prepare a Billing System for Services by Developing an Invoice

STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION SUMMARY

Marketing StrategyOur primary market for this farmers market is the Vista High School students who have been affected by obesity, however we will also be providing fresh produce and nutrition education to the community as well. Depending on how well the farmer's market runs after one year of service, we will decide whether we want to implement more farmers markets in high schools where there are similar rates of obesity. We believe that providing these services to the community will help implement healthier lifestyles and better food choices, therefore having well-run farmers markets where there is a need is vital for promoting wellness. Our goal is to spread all over California in High Schools that need our services the most. National City, San Diego (50%), Brewley, Imperial (50%), El Monte, Los Angeles (50.2%) are communities that have over half of it’s students that are obese and are in dire need of quality nutrition education.Pricing StrategyMindful Farmer’s Market is a non-profit organization. As Farmers Market Director, Alyssa will be in charge of apply for the grant and reapplying every year. Also, any other sponsorships or donations will also be sought out for. The pricing of the produce will depend on the individual vendors. We will be charging the vendors extra to cover the cost of the rental space and the wages for the registered dietitians that will be in charge of running education booths.  

Promotion StrategyAs part of our promotion strategy, we will include several different methods. We will begin by sending flyers with students to take home. We believe that distributing flyers will be successful because that will allow the parents of Vista High School students to be aware of the new farmers market. Although our primary target is the students of Richmond to lower the obesity rates, we will also be send flyer to other elementary, Jr. High and high schools nearby to spread the word of our farmers market. Because our farmers market will be accepting SNAP and WIC coupons, we will also be sending out flyers to the Contra Costa County WIC and Employee & Human Services facilities. It is also important to explore social media outlets in our promotion strategy. Social media are computer-mediated tools that allows people to share or exchange information and if used correctly can be very powerful. Having a Facebook and Instagram page can be a fun and creative way to get the community involved while positively promoting the farmers market.

Above is an example of a flyer that will be distributed to Vista High School Students.

Sales StrategyIn order to bring in more vendors, we will have to show local farmers the importance of selling at our farmer's market. Before selling a vendor space to a farmers, they must be aware that they will be selling at a slightly reduced price than they normally would at any other farmers market.  These reduced prices do not have to be drastic or cause them to lose profits for themselves however they should provide produce at affordable prices so that the lower income population of San Pablo will be more engaged to buy produce at Mindful Farmers Market.

Sales forecast

For our first year of business, we will only forecast for 6 vendors. As more vendors join Mindful Farmers Market then we will being to account for that extra income. Eventually we hope to branch out to other areas that are in need of lowering adolescent obesity rates, so any extra income will be recycled back into the program.

Citations

1. http://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/publications/Documents/PDF/children2010fs-jun2012.PDF

2. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06/0668294.html

3. https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/is/i_&_c/cfm.html4. https://www.google.com/maps/place/

Vista+High+School/@33.2225431,-117.2431317,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x80dc769beedd1881:0x5c5a0a4977e770d8

5. http://sfp.ucdavis.edu/files/144668.pdf