Starting a Youth Garden Business
Author: Sarah Pounders
Overview
A garden provides many opportunities for product development and sales. Starting a simple school business can be a rewarding challenge for youth of all ages.
Standards (Microsoft
Word Document)
Materials:
- Paper and writing implements
Background
Check out Growing a School Garden Business at: http://www.kidsgardening.org/themes/business1.asp
Laying the Groundwork
Ponder these questions with your students as you brainstorm about your new youth garden business:
- What products or services could we offer that people might want?
- Who are our potential customers?
- What steps must we take to bring our business to life?
- How will we price, produce, package, promot,e and sell our products?
You may want to share the following list of garden business ideas from schools around the country:
- Vegetable, herbs, and flowers
- Seedlings
- Canned goods (salsa, salad dressing, jam, pickles, soup)
- Herbs and herb crafts (potpourri, vinegar, pillows, catnip mice, soap)
- Dried flower or herb bouquets
or wreaths
- Greenhouse-grown ornamentals
- Pressed-flower cards and placemats
- Homemade paper note cards
- Floral arrangements
- Seeds saved from the garden
- Bagged worm compost
- Houseplant care services
- Cookbooks
Explain to the class that before launching a business, budding entrepreneurs generally write up a detailed plan for their operation. They often use this business plan to demonstrate their capacity to carry out a project when requesting funds or start-up loans. The following questions from NGA’s Growing Ventures: Starting a School Garden Business can prompt students' thinking as they contemplate a business blueprint. As a class, discuss each component and how it contributes to the plan. Then, working individually or in groups, have students choose a product and write a simple business plan. Select and adapt these questions to fit your unique project and students' developmental levels.
Business Name
- What is the name of your business?
Executive Summary
- How would you describe your proposed business?
- What are the most important features of your business?
- What led you to decide on this particular product or service?
- What makes you think this product or service will sell?
Organizational Structure
- Who will participate in your business?
- What are their qualifications?
- How will they be organized?
Marketing Plan
- How would you describe your target market (potential customers)?
- Who is your competition?
- Why will customers want to buy this product or service from you rather than from your competitor(s)?
- How will you determine the cost of your product or service?
- Where will you sell your product? Why did you choose this location?
- How will you get your customers' attention and convince them to buy your product or service?
Operating Plan
- How will employees carry out day-to-day business operations such as creating products, receiving and processing orders, and managing money?
Financial Plan
- What supplies do you need to launch your business?
- How much will it cost to get started?
- How will the business pay for these start-up costs?
- What are your ongoing operating costs?
- How will you cover these operating costs?
- What is your estimated profit?
Making Connections
Determine the strongest student plan and put it in action. Your class may want to survey potential customers before settling on a product. Make sure to obtain approval from school administrators first.
- Ask local entrepreneurs or small business owners
to speak to the class about their enterprises, including their inspiration and the work that was required to get started.
- Take a field trip to a local horticulture business, such as a farmer's market, greenhouse grower, or florist. Learn about the challenges and rewards of working in the “green” industry. If field trips aren’t an option, you can learn about careers in horticulture from the American Society for Horticultural Science.
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