Radically Local.
A micro food hub on a half acre.
San Diego & Monterey County, CA
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.
EBT segment unlocked by Market Match. Local food shouldn't be exclusively for high-income households.
Two Californias. One playbook.
3.3M county pop. Dense suburbs. $89K median HHI. Moderate farm density. $2–5K/acre/yr lease. Expensive water.
Immediate launch. Existing network. Dense base.
440K population. Spread out. $78K HHI. "Salad Bowl of the World" farm density. $500–2K/acre/yr land. Better water.
Long-term play. Aligned with relocation.
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 CA food-aggregation licensing. Recruit 5–8 anchor vendors. Founding-member drive (30–50). Secure land. Build the store. LLC + permits.
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.
Scout vendors 6+ months ahead. Hand off, sell, or close the SD hub. Repeat A–B with the proven playbook. Operational in 3–4 months. $150K–$250K combined or single hub.
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 direct relationships with North County farms, the same growers a Farm Hub depends on. 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 is proven. The tools exist. The gap is real. Now validate it locally. Radically.