Why change Brungot Farms to Urban Farm & Market? It’s simple, survival

Beautiful Christmas trees & giving back to the local community aren’t changing while we expand to an urban farm & market. Actually we're going to the next level!

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Anyone that has ever been in business knows that balancing the cash inflow with the cash outflow is a non-stop challenge. Most of the time, the money needs to go out before it comes back in. Brungot Farms is no different; the money that has to go out for Christmas trees, trucking, stands, maple syrup and everything else is scary! I remember when paying the rent each month was the biggest check I had to write. I won’t lie, when I have to write the $40,000 check at the beginning of the season…well let’s just say I usually need to remind myself to breath!

Have you read the previous blogs on the Urban Farm & Market? If not go check them out then come back and continue on here. …Read From the beginning here

This brings me back to the question I have been asking myself for 3 years, “How in the world are we going to fund a Choose and Cut Christmas Tree experience?” Have you priced out how much a few acres would cost you around Austin, Texas? Buying land even 30 minutes outside of town is a million dollar investment. Let’s call this financial issue a roadblock and a BIG one!

Every year, as soon as the holidays are over, I take time to think about what happened last year and how we are going to do things differently this year. Last year, before Christmas season started, there was a plan:

1. Get the business financially stable.
2. Get a nest egg in the bank to begin building the year-round location.

Well, Brungot Farms is stable but how in the world am I going to buy land and keep up with a $2,500 - $3,000 mortgage payment? The Short math says that nest egg would need to be about $250,000 in order to survive while growing Christmas trees. They require at least a 5 year grow, all the while waiting on income return; paying out that kind of money without inflow would be a death sentence for Brungot Farms.

What if we reverse engineered Brungot Farms future model? “If you build it they will come” as in the Field of Dreams movie doesn’t really work, (yes, let’s be honest with ourselves). In all seriousness though, we could build the farm store now, and that would pave the way for the Choose and Cut operation and stability going forward.

The reception of what we plan to do with the Farm store has been overwhelming, even with one of the restrictions that we have to only have shelf stable products. We are having daily conversations with Farms and Crafters from around the country. Just this week someone from Alabama reached out, wanting to participate in the project. If you don’t believe me on the coverage traction, check out this made of where visitors to the website & Blog have come from!