Radically Local.
A micro food hub on a half acre.
Banks–McMinnville corridor, Oregon
Drew Keske · May 2026 · Feasibility Study
One cart. Every farm. Front door.
Market Garden · Aggregation · Membership · Delivery
A brutal math problem.
A half-acre market garden, run with extraordinary skill, might gross $40K–$80K a year — and after inputs, land, and the farmer's own labor, there's often nothing left.
$0 typical take-home. The unlock: stop trying to grow your way to a living. Aggregate.
A gap on three sides.
Customers want local without the Saturday-morning tax — markets inconvenient, CSAs inflexible, grocery industrial.
Small farms grow well and sell poorly — they need a channel they don't have to build.
Hub-specific platforms now exist — Rooted Farmers, Shopify + apps — affordable, purpose-built, ready.
Five revenue layers. One operator.
Own Production
High-value quick-turn crops, 100% retained margin.
Vendor Aggregation
Resell 10–20+ local farms through one store. 20–35% margin.
Farm Credit Membership
Prepay $400, get $450. Upfront cash. Locked-in loyalty.
Home Delivery
Weekly route, 15–25 mile radius. The convenience engine.
On-Farm Pickup
Lower cost, higher margin, community touchpoint.
What it is. What it isn't.
- A farm-based aggregation business.
- A single online storefront — one cart, one checkout, one delivery.
- A weekly delivery service — order by Tuesday midnight, Friday at the door.
- A credit-based membership — CSA mechanics, full choice.
- A co-op (no member ownership).
- A CSA box (no pre-packed surprises).
- A grocery store (no retail, no industrial supply chain).
- A tech company (the platform is a tool, the business is relationships).
A typical $85 order.
Blended margin: 44%. Own production 80–90%, vendor 25–35%. The mix is the moat.
| Line | Customer | Retained |
|---|---|---|
| Own production (salad mix, herbs, microgreens) | $15.00 | $12.80 |
| Vendor — eggs, sourdough | $16.00 | $5.00 |
| Vendor — beef, fruit | $16.00 | $4.50 |
| Vendor — honey, kombucha | $17.00 | $5.50 |
| Coffee | $14.00 | $4.50 |
| Subtotal | $78.00 | $32.30 |
| Delivery fee | $7.00 | $5.50 |
| Order total | $85.00 | $37.80 |
At 35 orders/week × $75 → ~$57,500 retained annually (the Year 2 midpoint).
The hub's most valuable asset.
More valuable than the garden or the platform. If vendors stop supplying, the hub dies in weeks.
- Pay vendors weekly (Net-7).
- Inspect every product on receipt.
- Recruit 2–3 vendors per category for redundancy.
- 10–20+ partner farms. 25% average margin.
- Meat & poultry — 20–30%
- Eggs & dairy — 20–35%
- Bread & baked goods — 25–35%
- Pantry & preserves — 30–40%
- Coffee, ferments, flowers — 25–40%
CSA mechanics. Full choice.
Members prepay $400, get $450 in credit (12.5% bonus). Interest-free startup financing from your customers.
40 founding members × $400 = $16,000 upfront
SSR Hubs consistently raise $14–15K+ in their first launch — even in markets under 20,000 people. Covers platform, vendor purchases, and 3–6 months of marketing.
Order Sunday. Cutoff Tuesday. Drop Friday.
- SunStore opens. Products listed. Newsletter sent.
- MonOrders build. Vendor confirmations.
- TueCutoff at midnight. Harvest planning.
- WedHarvest. Receive vendor products. Begin packing.
- ThuFinish packing. Vendor payments. Route confirmed.
- FriThe drop. Routes run. On-farm pickup. Text on arrival.
- SatReset. Vendor comms, inventory, P&L, crop plan, newsletter draft.
Who orders the box.
Households within 25 miles who'd rather not wake up at 7 AM Saturday.
Dual-income, 30–55. High income, low time. Currently on Instacart. Want trust and convenience.
Voting with dollars. Premium-willing. Seasonal and specialty seekers.
Online SNAP / EBT is a future access goal, subject to retailer authorization and a compliant payment system.
One corridor. Two connected roles.
Establish a small production site and recruit nearby farms and artisans. Land, water, customer density, and route economics still require corridor research.
Validate locally before securing land.
Connect weekly supply to Groundworks, Harvest Provisions, Full Yield Kitchen, and direct household orders where those channels fit.
One system, with separate operating roles.
The SSR playbook, executed precisely.
Primary — Sunday email: 4-step weekly newsletter (personal note, 3–5 featured products, Tuesday-midnight reminder, one rotating CTA).
Free / hyperlocal — local Facebook groups & Marketplace ("Hey neighbors, here's what's available this week"). Among SSR's most effective channels.
Compounding — referral: $15 to refer, $10 off to join. Converts higher than any ad, below any other channel's CAC.
Year 1 marketing budget: $800–$3,350. Intentionally low. The model is proven — 21 Farm Hubs, $75K–$200K+ revenue, 30% margin, two-person teams, no grants, no employees.
From part-time launch to full-time livelihood.
| Stream | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Own production | $15–30K | $25–45K | $35–55K |
| Vendor pass-through (gross) | $35–70K | $70–120K | $100–160K |
| Delivery fees | $5–12K | $10–18K | $12–22K |
| Farm Credit Memberships | $12–20K | $15–30K | $20–40K |
| Gross revenue | $67–132K | $120–213K | $167–277K |
| Owner comp (pre-tax, midpoint) | $18K | $40K | $57K |
Low capital by design.
Total startup $9K–$30K. No commercial kitchen, no retail buildout, no refrigerated truck, no employees.
Four phases. Three years.
Map Oregon food-aggregation requirements. Recruit 5–8 interested vendors. Test member demand. Secure land only after water, access, and permits are verified.
4–6 weeks at a tight radius, 5–8 vendors. Test packing, cold chain, rhythm. Newsletter and referral program live.
Expand to 20–25 mi. 15–20+ vendors. Second delivery day at 40+ orders/week. Walk-in cooler upgrade. LFPP/VAPG application.
Deepen grower relationships, refine delivery territory, and connect surplus and wholesale flows to the other Rootstock ventures. All dates and targets remain planning estimates.
The honest gaps.
- Regulatory complexity (High) — map county requirements before spending; health-dept call is Step 1.
- Cold chain failure (High) — ServSafe; daily logs; insurance backstop.
- Vendor supply reliability (High) — 2–3 vendors per category; Net-7; pay fast and fair.
- Founder time constraints (Medium) — cap at 15–20 hrs/week Y1; priority hierarchy: teaching → Rad Roots.
- Customer acquisition cost (Medium) — membership generates upfront customers; referral; local FB groups.
- Platform risk (Low) — platform is a tool, not the business; defer the Rooted-vs-Shopify decision until after the demo.
Operator-founder.
Drew Keske. Impact operator with hands-on training through the Ecology Center market garden and a Food Shed Cooperative apprenticeship — which built food-hub operating experience that informs this model. Corridor grower relationships must be built locally. Adjunct instructor. Background in cooperative food systems, community-centered work, and operations.
Building Rad Roots inside a portfolio career — alongside teaching and other ventures — designed deliberately for sustainability rather than scale.
The model has useful precedents. The corridor fit is still a hypothesis. Validate it locally before launch.