Colby Farms | Application Preview
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General Information
Business Registration Number: 9000953966
Location: Papillion, NE, United States
Length of Operation: 1-5
Number of Employees: 1-10 Employees
Annual Gross Income: Less than $100k
Annual Gross Expense: $100k to $250k
Open to Loans: YES
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Funding Usage
The funding will be used to build a 50’ x 100’ pole barn that will house a farm store, commercial kitchen, classroom, refrigeration for produce, barn storage, and a produce washing station in the outside.
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Business Plan
We will sell produce grown on the farm and eggs from our chickens at local farmers markets, to local stores and retailers, restaurants, and in our farm store. We will drive traffic to the farm store with marketing and community events and by our storefront being on a busy road. The last phase of growth is a fruit orchard with at least 1,000 trees where we can have public U-Pick events and use fruit to create value added products in our kitchen. We have experience in organic farming and running a farm store. We increased revenue from $1,000 to $25,000+ per month in the store. We will be able to support other local business by selling their products in our store. Our farm is in a prime location within the community and there is already considerable traffic passing by from the Bellevue Berry Farm across the street. Most fruit and vegetable farms around here are in rural areas and only sell their produce at their farms far away or at the weekend farmers markets. Our farm is in the city (10 min from downtown Omaha) and will create access to fresh organic produce to the community 7 days a week.
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Self Identified Competition
Our competitors will be the other farms that sell at the farmers markets. While the competition will be stiff at the farmers markets, that is only on the weekends May-Oct. Our goal is to use our exposure at the markets to drive traffic to our store throughout the week which is 10-15 min away from the two large weekend markets in Omaha. Even some other farm stores in the Omaha area are still trucking in produce. We will be a true farm to store business where customers can walk the farm, see the produce growing in the field, and watch us harvest, wash, and bring it to the store. This season begins our second year of a three-year process transitioning to become a certified organic farm. The majority of the farms at the farmers market are not Organic Farms so that will give us a leg up for customers looking for organic produce. Instead of being a farm out on the perimeter of town, we will be in the heart of our community. We will be hosting community events, farm to table dinners, tours, and farming classes as well as volunteer opportunities for community members that want to be involved in getting their hands in the soil. With our own kitchen onsite, we will be creating value added food products from our own produce and selling them in the store instead of using and losing money with co-packers.
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Contact Applicant
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