NUTREAT KITCHEN BUSINESS PLAN

Final Business Plan: Nutreat Kitchen

Lisa Marquand
DFM 353G
San Francisco State University
May 13, 2015

NUTREAT KITCHEN BUSINESS PLAN

Mission Statement
Nutreat Kitchen empowers youth with the tools to maintain a healthy lifestyle by
engaging them in activities to support health, nutrition and community, while reinforcing their
basic math, science, reading, and cooking skills.
Vision
A healthy child is a happy child. We want to see our children be successful in whatever
their dream may be. Living a healthy lifestyle is conducive to their success, starting with the food
they eat. Often times we see children reaching for a bag of funyuns or a snickers bar instead of
choosing the healthy alternative. But what influences these decisions?
The USDA has identified approximately 6,500 desert food tracts in the United States
based on the 2000 census and 2006 data from locations with food access, such as supermarkets
and grocery stores (Dutko, et. al., 2012). A food desert, as defined by the USDA, is an area
where people have limited access to a variety of healthy and affordable food (Dutko, et. al.,
2012). In some food deserts you will find a convenience store that offers highly processed foods,
such as the ones mentioned earlier, rather than a variety of fruits and vegetables.
Unsatisfactory eating habits start at a young age. The USDA Economic Research Service
conducted a dietary intake assessment from a 24-hour recall and found WIC children less likely
to consume three meals per day than higher income non-WIC participants, and less likely to eat
breakfast on a daily basis (Cole and Fox, 2004). Nutreat Kitchens vision is to provide children in
low-income communities with equal access to nutritious food. Although we are primarily
focused on low-income neighborhoods and food deserts, we welcome children and families from
all communities to come together as one whole community. We believe that working together as
a community will encourage growth for each individual through the support of their peers.

NUTREAT KITCHEN BUSINESS PLAN

Goals and Objectives

Goal 1: Select members for the Board of Directors to assist in searching for a location for our
community kitchen.
Objective 1: Five individuals who have relevant health and nutrition education experience will
be selected for the Board of Directors. These individuals will select a location in a low-income
community in Oakland, which can be classified as a food desert; the property within the selected
community will have space for a community garden.
Goal 2: Help children in the community be more productive in their academic studies and help
improve their test scores.
Objective 2: Create five lesson plans which focus on health and nutrition to enhance the
childrens productivity, while reinforcing their basic math, science, and reading skills; daily
quizzes and weekly tests will be given to measure the results of the childrens performance.
Business Classification/Type of foodservice
Nutreat Kitchen is a non-profit conventional foodservice facility that offers cook-serve
foods, prepared by the participants of the program. We run a community kitchen that offers
educational classes based around nutrition and cooking. We are open Monday through Saturday
during the hours of 3pm to 7pm, to provide children with a place to stay after school hours while
their parent(s), or guardian, is/are working.
The five individuals, who make up the Board of Directors, will run operations during and
after business hours. Each board member will possess at least one of the following credentials: a
registered dietitian, a chef or person with a strong culinary background, a teacher with a strong
background in child development, a business professional with extensive experience in finance,
and extensive experience and knowledge in agriculture.

NUTREAT KITCHEN BUSINESS PLAN

The community kitchen will rely heavily on volunteer workers who want to share their
passion for food, nutrition, and living a healthy lifestyle with the community. While there will be
employees to oversee operations during and after business hours, we still value the input of our
volunteers and support staff.
Target Population/# of customers
Low-income children and families living in food deserts are our target population. Our
goal is to provide the selected community with access to healthy, nutritious food as well as
educate the community about the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. We plan to serve at
least 100 children in the first year, with plans of expanding in the following years. Although we
welcome people of all ages in participating in our classes, our target age group will be children
between the ages of 9 and 17.
Location
The location of Nutreat Kitchen will be in the West Oakland community. We chose the
West Oakland community, to include zip codes 94607 and 94608, because it falls within the
criteria of a food desert according to the USDA food access research atlas (Ver Ploeg and
Brenemen, 2014). Our location will be in close proximity to The Peoples Grocery located on 7th
street and Mandela Parkway, near the West Oakland Bart station. This location has a few
surrounding schools in the area to include Cole Elementary School, PLACE school at Prescott,
and West Oakland Middle School. We hope to work with The Peoples Grocery as well as nearby
community gardens and afterschool programs to help create a strong community that supports
the health and nutritious foods movement in food deserts.
Sample Menu

NUTREAT KITCHEN BUSINESS PLAN

We offer a daily rotating menu that consists of fresh, local ingredients, with a particular
focus on eating seasonally. Most of our ingredients will be sourced from the food grown in our
community garden. Since this is an educational community kitchen, we will offer a variety of
food options, rather than one particular cuisine. Some examples of dishes on our rotating menu
will include a gluten-free dish, a vegetarian dish, a vegan dish, as well as dishes from
international cuisines. Each meal served will follow The Healthy Eating Plate guidelines created
by experts in the Harvard School of Public Health (Harvard, 2011).
Business Layout and Design
Nutreat Kitchen is a non-profit community kitchen, which provides children living in
low-income areas and food deserts with access to fresh, local food. Our mission is to empower
youth with the tools to maintain a healthy lifestyle by engaging them in activities to support
health, nutrition and community, while reinforcing their basic math, science, reading, and
cooking skills. The equipment choices for the community kitchen were kept to a minimum, as we
are a small educational classroom and do not anticipate a large volume of guests. The layout is a
simple, open room design, which follows the spacing guidelines provided during in-class lecture
(Smitt, 2015).
Our menu is a daily rotating menu that is based on the educational lesson of the day. Each
meal will be prepared from scratch as much as possible. The quantity of food prepared will be
enough to feed the participants of the program, with some leftovers to take home. When selecting
the kitchen equipment, the limited daily menu and the necessary equipment needed to
accommodate the daily menu items, as recommended in The Chef Manager, were considered
(Baskette, 2001). We used bigtray.com as our main source for equipment purchases, as

NUTREAT KITCHEN BUSINESS PLAN

recommended by Maryann Smitt (Smitt, 2015), because of the wide variety of equipment options
and pricing.
The flow of work starts in the receiving area, which is located in close proximity of the
garden and delivery entrance. The refrigerators and freezer will be located in the receiving area
for minimal transport to storage. This area will be located adjacent to the office for easy transport
of paperwork and invoices to be paid and filed. Since we have a small daily menu with the
majority of the food sourced from our garden and local farmers markets, we will only require a
2-door refrigerator for produce and dairy. There will be a single-door refrigerator for meat,
poultry, and seafood. We will also include a freezer to store frozen treats, such as house-made ice
cream, popsicles, and granitas. A 48 x 24 stainless steel flat top table will be used to
temporarily store food deliveries as they are checked and received. Food will be taken from
receiving/food storage area when needed for food preparation.
For food preparation, there will be 2- 72 x 30 standard worktables with stainless steel
flat tops for basic food preparation and production. A 60 x 24 wood top work table will be
used for making bread and pastries, along with a 30-qt all purpose mixer will be used for making
bread and pastry dough. There will be a 24 x 30 worktable used for the 10 deli slicer and the
10 robot coupe food processor. The deli slicer will be used to slice cheeses, and deli meat,
which will be roasted or cured in house. The food processor will be used for an assortment of
food preparation, such as chopping nuts and making pesto. There will also be a 122-lb
production, 80-lb bin ice machine to make ice for drinks and ice baths. Once the class is taught
and food is prepped, the food will be taken to the cooking area for preparation.
For food production, a gas range with 6 hot plates and a 26 oven will be used for making
stocks, sauting, and roasting. A combination 5-pan convection oven and 8-pan proofer will be

NUTREAT KITCHEN BUSINESS PLAN

used for making fresh breads and pastries, as well as roasted meats and vegetables. A mobile bun
pan rack will be placed alongside the convection/proofing oven for cooling the freshly baked
bread and pastries. The dishes used to plate prepared dishes will be located on the other side of a
small partition that separates the cooking area from the dish and dry food storage. There will also
be space for storage of pots and pans in this area. 2- 60 x 24 x 74 5/8 wire shelving units will
be used for these items; one for pots and pans, the other for dry food storage. All meals will be
consumed in the communal tables located in a separate, covered patio area located outside of the
building in front of the food preparation area.
After food preparation and meals, all soiled cooking equipment, utensils and dishes will
be placed on a 47 x 30 table designated for soiled dished. A 53 3/8 x 30 3 compartment sink
will be placed next to the soiled dish table to wash items that do not fit in the high temperature
dishwasher. The clean dishes will then be placed on a 47 x 30 clean dish table. We considered
a drying rack, but given the small volume of dishes that will be made, it seemed unnecessary to
use more space for a drying rack as the clean dish table should suffice.
Sustainability was also taken into account when planning the layout and design. We used
the book, Management in Dietetics, to gather ideas to promote sustainability by managing energy
and water resources, as well as reducing waste (Hudson, 2013). Energy Star equipment will be
purchased, when available, to conserve energy. Equipment not in use will be cycled off to
conserve additional energy. To promote water conservation, the hand wash sinks contain lowflow valves and long on/off hot and cold handles for easy water shut off during lather and
scrubbing, and a low-flow pre-rinse nozzle will be installed at the dishwashing station. Another
piece of equipment that conserves water that was selected is the dishwasher, which uses .8
gallons of water per dish cycle.

NUTREAT KITCHEN BUSINESS PLAN

Our organic garden is another sustainable aspect of our organization. Organic waste will
be composted on site, which will be used to enhance the soil for our garden and to reduce waste.
A rainwater system will be used to harvest rainwater during rainy season to water the garden.
Any produce needed for food preparation that cannot be found in our garden will be purchased
locally from farmers markets.
There is always room for improvement in any business. Any future improvements will be
carefully considered based on the knowledge we have acquired during this process. The current
layout and design of Nutreat Kitchen (shown in Appendix A) is simple, with the minimum pieces
of equipment needed to accomplish our mission. We are confident that the equipment selection
and the planning of our layout and design will contribute to the success of our future and the
future of the participants of our program.
Budget and Justification
Our budget was created in consideration of our mission. In order to empower children in
low-income communities with access to fresh, local food, we carefully selected purveyors of
local meat and seasonal produce. The estimated food and beverage costs reflect the cost of
purchasing our meat and produce from these local sources. A portion of our food cost is allocated
for the cultivation and maintenance of our garden. We believe our team holds the greatest value
in carrying out our mission. Compensation for their time includes a fair living wage, including
benefits. In addition to food and beverage costs and payroll expenses, supplies for the classroom
kitchen and garden are included in our operating budget. We will be working with a grant
amount of $330,019.80, which is based on our financial need.
We estimated our annual food cost, including plants for the garden, at $10 per student,
which equals $72,900 per year. We have selected Veritable Vegetable as our main purveyor of

NUTREAT KITCHEN BUSINESS PLAN

bulk produce. This includes the price of local, organic and non-organic, fruits, vegetables, herbs,
and some grains. Basic spices, such as salt and pepper, will be purchased from Costco. All of our
meats will come from Marin Sun Farms. There will also be a weekly trip to the Oakland Farmers
Market on Saturdays.
Our board members will play an important role in our family. Each member contributes
his or her expertise to the daily operations of our organization. Three of the five board members
are teachers in our kitchen and garden; all three have experience in child development and
agriculture. We have a registered dietitian who works with the chef/teacher to creates the meal
plans and classroom curriculum, and a member who takes care of all the finances. The board
members annual salary was calculated at $25 per hour. Each members salary varies depending
on the hours worked per week; 32 hours for the three teachers, 20 hours per week for the
registered dietitian, and 12 hours per week for the finance member, totaling $166,400 for our
fixed payroll expenses. Our variable payroll expenses include 3 part-time kitchen and garden
workers who are paid $15 per hour for 18 hours per week, totaling $39, 690. Our employee
benefits are estimated at 20% of total payroll expenses, as provided in lecture (Smitt, 2015).
Other controllable expenses are estimated at 6% of food, beverage and supply costs, totaling
$4,681.80.
Other expenses, including occupancy costs, interest and depreciation were calculated
according to standard rates provided in lecture (Smitt, 2015). Occupancy costs were calculated at
20% of income before occupancy, interest and depreciation were deducted, totaling $15,606. Our
interest rate is 5% of our income, totaling $3,901.50, and our depreciation is 2% of our income,
totaling $1,560.60.

NUTREAT KITCHEN BUSINESS PLAN

10

Our grant of $330,019.80 was based on our total financial need, which includes food,
beverages, supplies for the kitchen classroom and garden, and total payroll expenses. After
calculating our operating budget for the year, we predict an annual profit of $56,961.90. Please
see Appendix B for a breakdown of the budget worksheet.
Since we are a non-profit organization, any profits will be used for new classroom tools
for the kitchen and garden. Donations will also be made to other non-profits in the area with
similar values as Nutreat Kitchen, in support of the empowerment of children living in
surrounding low-income communities.

NUTREAT KITCHEN BUSINESS PLAN

11

References
1.

Baskette, Michael (2001). The Chef Manager. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

2.

Cole, N. and Fox, M. K. (2004). Nutrition and health characteristics of

Low-income populations: Vol. II, WIC participants and nonparticipants. USDA
Economic Research Service Report. E-FAN-04-014-2.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/872553/efan04014-2_002.pdf

3.

Dutko, Ver Ploeg, and Farrigan (2012). Characteristics and influential factors of food
Deserts. USDA Economic Research Report No. 140, x.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/883903/err140.pdf

4.

Harvard University (2011). Healthy Eating Plate & Healthy Eating Pyramid.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-eating-plate/

5.

Hudson, N. (2013). Management Practice in Dietetics. San Diego, CA: Cognella

Academic publishing.

6.

Smitt, Maryann (2015). Power point presentation: The budgeting process. San Francisco
State University

6.

Smitt, Maryann (2015). Power point presentation: Equipment. San Francisco State
University.

7.

Smitt, Maryann (2015). Power point presentation: Financial management. San Francisco
State University.

8.

Smitt, Maryann (2015). Power point presentation: Layout. San Francisco State
University.

9.

Ver Ploeg, M. and Brenemen, V. (2014). Food Access Research Atlas. USDA
Economic Research Service. http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-accessresearch-atlas/go-to-the-atlas.aspx