Run your microgreens business like a business
Does this sound like a bit of an obvious suggestion? To some it’s not and to kick off the new year in today’s blog post I want to teach you, or remind you, exactly what you need to be doing to run your microgreens operation with a business head on and not a hobbiest’s head on.
If you’ve decided that 2023’s the year you’ll start your microgreens business, or if you’re wanting to really ramp up your existing microgreens farm, then here are some key strategies to implement which will grow your business and move it forwards.
5 ways to grow your microgreens business this year
1. Be intentional with your buisness
This is a big one. Run your business like a business. By this I mean, always be looking at ways you can improve efficiencies and increase your sales and opportunities to earn an increasing amount of revenue and profit. Keep moving forwards. Have monthly revenue targets if that helps. Having a monetary goal each month will encourage you to go out and actively look for new customers. Make this achievable though. When I was first growing my business, my goals went up in £50 increments. I always had my eye on the next £50 jump, and when I achieved that each week, I celebrated it first (really important!) and then moved on to my next target. I found this to be much more achievable for me and therefore it was exciting when I reached my first £50/week, then £100, £150 and so on. And I just kept going like this until I reached my first £1000 week. Small, consistent steps will get you to big goals.
2. Increase your task efficiencies
Always be looking to increase your efficiencies in your farm. The faster you can complete your tasks, the more profit you’ll make as your labour cost will go down. Always be focussng on ways you can tweak your systems and streamline your tasks.
2 big ones of these include:
Grow room design - design your grow room so everything is to hand for each task and organised well so you don’t spend lots of time looking for equipment and moving around too much unnecessarily.
Time block all your tasks - write a timetable and stick to it. For instance, at my farm, I plant between 9am and 10am on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. I fill all my trays with compost for the week between 3pm and 4pm every Monday. All my deliveries happen one morning a week, I harvest twice a week, packaging labelling gets done in one go, admin happens at a set time each week. You get the picture. By doing this you will make sure every task will be getting done on the days you want to work and therefore won’t overrun into your free time. It also makes everything much less stressful when you have your weekly plan laid out for you and results in more focussed work and less faffy about.
3. Grow fast growing crops
This will make the best use of your grow space and you’ll be able to turn your crops around quickly as a result. Faster crop turnaround, more week on week sales profit. Quick growing crops include: Radish (8 days), Peashoots (12 days), Sunflower shoots (11 days), broccoli/rocket/cabbage (14 days). By all means grow the longer growing crops, such as coriander, leek, sorrel etc, but the bulk of your income should be coming from the fast growers.
4. Get more sales
Always keep pushing to get more customers onboard and ideally customers who will have the same recurring order from you every week, whether that’s home customers, restaurant customers or wholesale distributors. The larger the orders going to the same place, the better. Also, harvesting and packaging more punnets at the same time hugely increases your time efficiency. Doubling your orders will not double your time. Therefore the more you’re growing and selling from the same space, the more efficient the business will be and will result in more profit.
5. Sell more of the same product
Don’t be tempted to have a huge product list, especially if you’re just starting out. Aim to get the bulk of your sales from just one or two of your products. This will massively increase your efficiency when harvesting and packing too. For me, it’s my ‘Nell’s Microgreens Salad Mix’. As I’ve streamlined my business over the years, this one product is made up of 4 different (fast growing) microgreens varieties and amounts to 95% of all my current sales. The other 5% is made up of single microgreens punnets of the 4 crops that go in my mix, so I only grow 4 crops now. This is just an example from my farm, but aiming to have one or two key products as your majority earners will increase your profits.
I saw a comment online a while ago in a microgreens community group where someone asked the question, “How much money can you realistically make in a microgreens farm in the UK?” Someone replied, “I could definitely not replace my £30K/year salary with my microgreens business”. I asked them if that was their aim and they replied no, they just do it for a small side income, but mostly as a hobby.
This small insight gave me the idea for this blog post topic today.
If it’s not your intention to make a successful business of your microgreens operation, then you won’t make a success of it, whatever that success looks like to you.
Always keep your eye fixed on your goal, and take intentional, small, consistent steps towards it.
The beginning of a new year is a great time to set your intentions for your business. I hope some of these ideas help you along your way and you have a very prosporous and successful 2023!
If you’re keen to run a successful microgreens business this year, then my 14-page Mini UK Microgreens Business Guide is a great way to find out how to do it.
Download now to get it sent straight to your inbox!
In your guide, you’ll get:
5 great reasons for starting a microgreens business in the UK right now
A basic equipment list
A step-by-step guide to growing and harvesting radish shoots and pea shoots, including UK pricing suggestions and profit margins.
A how-to guide to selling your microgreens to chefs, restaurants and your local community.