$130K/Year Selling Lettuce (Zero Farmer's Markets, Zero Packaging Costs)

The revenue.

Where does that $130,000 come from? Let's start there.

Chef Mikey sells almost entirely to restaurants.

Eight core clients with a few backup accounts that he can call if he has extra product.

He doesn't sell at farmer's markets anymore.

He went to five last year, and that was only because his biggest restaurant client changed chefs and dropped from 80 pounds down to 10 overnight, and he had to fill the income gap.

His main product is salad greens.

That's the business.

Lettuce and arugula, $13 a pound.

He moves 100 to 300 pounds a week, depending on the season.

Here's where the revenue gets interesting.

Keep in mind, there's no farmer's market income in that number.

Almost every dollar comes from restaurant accounts that he's built through social media and word of mouth.

His single biggest client is one hour away, but that client is a whale buying up to $2,500 of produce some weeks.

He doesn't just go where the closest restaurants are.

He goes where the money is.

Here's the thing.

Most growers will look at a map and pick the markets closest to home.

They'll pick the restaurants closest to home.

Chef Mikey, he don't do that.

He drives an hour to his best clients because they spend more in a week than some farmers make in a month.

Geography matters less than the quality of the customer.

Farmer Darby Simpson, who I did a whole podcast with on Grasshead Life, used to preach this all the time.

If you have to drive an hour, two hours to an amazing farmer's market and you can do a lot of sales there, That drive is worth it.

It's going to pay compared to doing some small little local market where you can't make much money.