The Herb Garden

Location: Rexburg, ID

Company Website:

For Sale Website:

Description:

The Herb Garden is a small family owned company that grows and sells potted herbs.  To be competitive, the small company grows herbs year round in their 9’x18’ greenhouse. The potted herbs are transported to a local farmers market via a refrigerated van once a week to be sold (for sales price see forecast).  The company is staffed by the owner who oversees everything (salary as shown in forecast).  

Farmer’s market fees and hours of operation vary based on growing period, size, and the demand from the community.  All farmers’ market information presented here is based off of the Rexburg, Idaho farmers market which sells every Friday starting in April and ending in October.  Fees for this particular market are $50 plus 6 percent of sales for a 10’x10’ booth.  

Cost per plant can vary depending on the kind of seeds needed.  Most of the seeds were sold by weight at a low price.  In addition to seeds, the cost per plant also includes cost for the pot and potting soil as well as equipment.  Since the cost was very minimal, we determined that the average cost per plant would roughly equal to 20 percent of the sales price.  

For financing, we looked at small business loan interest rates in Rexburg, Idaho which averaged at 10 percent.  For information on the tax rate and other costs, see the forecast under the column titled “Assumptions and Data” which gives a detailed list of all the rates used in our calculations.

After looking at the data, we have concluded that The Herb Garden would not be a profitable business on such a small scale.  It may be more profitable if the company were bigger, or decided to sell to grocery stores.