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market-farming - Re: Value added

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Subject: Market Farming

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  • From: "Kevin Ancell" <kancell AT getonthe.net>
  • To: "market farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Value added
  • Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 09:23:54 -0600


> Bill:
>
> Nope - jams and jellies are *not* regulated by the CFR. You can
> download the doc. and see for yourself. There are no FDA regs. for
> these products. There was no reason the folks from Michigan had to take
> those classes - we even spoke to our local FDA rep. about this.

That is totally correct. When I set up our commercial kitchen I researched
the rules, county, state and federal and Robert is 100% correct about jams
and jellies not regulated by the CFR.

Adding to this thread I can not emphasize enough to you how profitable
making value added products from your fruits and vegetables are. We have
gone from about $40,000 per year just selling traditional fruits and
vegetables on our 26 acre farm to about $167,000 last year by making jams,
jellies, BBQ sauce, salsa, dried fruits, spices and mixes, baking breads and
pastries.

Most importantly we NEVER sell canning or #2 tomatoes at a discount anymore
we process everything and make more money than if we sell them fresh #1's.
We still do the traditional farm market but have included regional and web
marketing to our sales model. This has allowed us to expand and we are now
starting our second operation in New Mexico which has wonderful markets for
organic and non-organically produced products.

Here's a list of what we have purchased in addition to the traditional
kitchen wares (stove, hood, stainless steel tables etc...) over the last
couple of years for our Commercial Kitchen and the uses of each. We have 3
phase power so some of these items might not be right for your operation.

1. VCM (Vertical Chopper Mixer) We use this to process salsas and make bread
dough. An envaluable tool.
2. Walk-in Cooler and Walk-in Freezers: Storage short and long term
3. Ice Machine: We use this for everything!! but mostly for rapid cooling
before we store in walk-in cooler. Invaluable for hired hands during the
summer.
4. Shrink Wrapper: We use this for all our breads, pre-packaged sweet corn,
tomatoes, green beans and everything else that you can think of.
5. Boiler System: We installed a Bausch hot water boiler that replaces
traditional hotwater heaters. This system allows us to have constant hot
water which aides in clean-up and processing as we never run out of hot
water. This item was alittle expensive ($490) but what we've gained in
productivity and energy savings (they are the most efficient hot water
heaters on the market for the "green" consumers out there) we've paid for it
the first year it was installed.
6. Vacuum Sealer: A MUST HAVE. We process and IQF blueberries for later
sales. It has increased our per acre revenue by extending our season!! We
also process our dried fruits and package for individual sale with the
vacuum sealer. It is advisable to purchase a professional model as the ones
for home use will not stand up to constant usage.

Purchasing and installing professional kitchen equipment is NOT expensive if
you are patient. Don't buy brand new equipment if you can help it! We
purchased everything we have at auction. For example we purchase a complete
kitchen from Little Ceasars Pizza when they closed over 500 company owned
stores a couple of years ago. We paid about $3,000 for EVERYTHING. What we
didn't need we sold and what we resold we recouped all our expenses
including the fuel it took to transport the equipment!

If you are wanting to build a commercial kitchen I can't think of a better
year to do it. Most importantly the economy is forcing many restaurants to
go out of business. Higher fuel prices have eaten into the disposable income
of people and they are not eating out as much and costs are rising for
supplies which is causing many restaurant owners to evaluate their
businesses. I think we will be seeing alot of restaurant auctions in the
coming months. Also, interest rates are much lower and probably will go
lower if you are have to borrow to start your kitchen it won't cost you as
much to service the debt.

Hope this helps,

Kevin Ancell
Good Earth Gardens L.L.C.






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