School Tours?

[Lazarus]

I was recently contacted by someone locally who organizes field trips for home schooled children. They were interested in getting a tour for 35 (!) kids. This is our first year opening to visitors, and we haven't exactly started yet as we're still getting equipment up and running. It will be logistically challenging for such a big group, but my questions are more about costs.

This feels a little different to me than an open house where parents bring their kids and can buy syrup and candies on everyone's behalf. This is a school field trip with chaperons, not parents. I would like to provide some sort of goodie bag with a small bottle of syrup (maybe 100 ml) and some candies, possibly a lollipop too. But I would want to charge a small per child fee for the tour and to cover our costs.

Does anyone have any experience with this and can guide on what would be reasonable? Or is this a bad idea altogether? We do not have children, and we have no other family to ask. I have absolutely no frame of reference whatsoever when it comes to this sort of thing.

Any assistance much appreciated!

[Ski Bum]

We had a school group of about 35 plus chaperons and parents. We supplied hot cocoa,sliced apples with maple sugar and mini donuts sprinkled with maple sugar. They came prepared to purchase our products as they had inquired before they came. A group of this size can't all safely fit in a small sugarhouse. We divided the group into 3 sections, one was getting warm with snacks, one was visiting the buckets and tasting sap and the third group was in the operating sugarhouse. It was a wonderful experience for us all. You might, depending on age, consider " Welcome To Our Sugarhouse" a nice coloring book. Leader sells them, nice gift. Best of luck, Ski Bum.

[maple flats]

Since these are home schooled children, it is very likely each child will have a parent there. But, calculate your costs and price it out. The only thing close I've done is to host a large group (about 40) of cub scouts. I did supply free samples (in little sample cups) but that is the only thing I gave away. There were enough parents there with their kids that I sold almost $200 worth of syrup to the parents, mostly qts, I think 1 half gal.

[Moser's Maple]

hate to go all business side of things on this, but first thing you should do is check your liability insurance and make sure that your carrier covers tours under your insurance. I personally would recommend a 2 million dollar general liability policy to keep yourself covered in case a worst case scenerio occurred. I would also make sure you have product liability if you don't have it already if giving out samples. I'm a huge fan of tours, but just wanted to make sure you've dotted all your I's before anything happens

[eagle lake sugar]

We've had school groups come and it has always been a great experience. We provide taffy on the snow for free. As others have stated, it's best to divide the group to show different parts of the operation. The schools are usually insured for anything that might happen on the tour. The principal of one school last year actually bought each kid a 50ml leaf bottle of syrup, from his own pocket! We sold it to him at wholesale. We received a nice photo album from the school which we have displayed in the store.

[red maples]

I am doing 127 kids this year from K-3rd grade. all separate groups of course stretched out over several days. First of all book them when the season is almost done after your open house if have one. Even if you boil water as long as there is steam thats all they really care about. the season is usually winding down at that point. I do refreshments, syrup tasting, maple coloring book, crayon pack(so they can play with it on the way back to school) 1 piece of maple candy, and a 3.4 oz bottle of syrup. Maybe a $1 coupon or something like that gets the parents coming back!!! $5 it basically covers everything and you make about a $1 on it.

I try to keep the kids outside and they can pass through the sugarhouse with several chaperones and me in the sugarhouse. I keep the Evap at a low simmer and start the fire during the tour this way the evap is hot enough to make steam but the outside is a little cooler and less risk of burns. and just stress the dangers of hot evap. just don;t put your hand on the top of the pan where its cooler the wise guys will point out that you can touch it!!!

[Lazarus]

Thanks for the ideas! I like the coloring book idea. Didn't know they had those. Sounds like $5 is ok to charge per kid? At what age do kids stop using coloring books?

[red maples]

you can look on Bascom's site but its more of an activity book and even if they don't use coloring books they can read through it and learn from it as well. So probably 3rd grade is about the upper limit for coloring books.

[Lazarus]

One last question on this thread ... I've got the activity books and crayons and candies for a goodie bag but I'm suddenly stuck on the sample bottle of syrup. I love the little gingerbread nip glass (50ml) bottles. But is it ok to give kids a glass bottle in their bag? I know nip glass is pretty tough, but am I asking for trouble? Should I go instead with a 100 ml plastic jug?

[maple flats]

If concerned about glass, get some 3.4oz jugs.

[Clarkfield Farms]

Not to bring Debbie Downer to the discussion, but here she is anyhow... the very same Town that is the very sore subject of another thread regarding the Town and its Codes Enforcer (still no resolution, I'm still being denied the right to build a sugar house, and the State is still dragging their heels in the lawsuit against said Town...), has told me that in the event the Town loses and is forced to allow me to build, they will come down hard on me IF I ever have any dealings open to the public or allow anyone other than immediate family to be in the proposed sugar house UNLESS I build it according to NY State codes for processing and retail establishments. In other words, NO Maple Weekends. NO tours. NO publicity events, NO anything.

That may just be that Town. Your mileage may vary.

And the liability issue is one that CANNOT be overlooked, or the importance stressed enough - I'd ask your agent first; even if you have liability insurance, this sort of thing may not be covered unless clearly specified.

[eagle lake sugar]

We had a school group tour with 75 kids today, they just left. Everyone had a good time. Some kids are attentive and some just jump and play in the snow but everyone had fun. Most kids had money and instructions what to buy from mom and dad. Now to prep for the group tomorrow with 65 kids.

[TheMapleMoose]

We had a school group tour with 75 kids today, they just left. Everyone had a good time. Some kids are attentive and some just jump and play in the snow but everyone had fun. Most kids had money and instructions what to buy from mom and dad. Now to prep for the group tomorrow with 65 kids.

That's a lot of "sugar hounds" at once! Good luck!

[Sue @ Battel's Sugar Bush]

We are in our 8th year of hosting a field trip for homeschoolers. The first year we had 200+ attendees over two sessions (repeated morning and afternoon). Now we average 100 and I'm going down to one session. Most of the local homeschooling families have been here a number of times. We don't charge a thing and they buy scads of syrup. Classroom groups don't buy much, but homeschoolers are very well behaved, ask good questions, come with their parents and are the kind of people who appreciate pure maple syrup. In general they like dark syrup in large quantities. This and a public open house have virtually eliminated our need to sell anything off site. I set up stations throughout the woods and recruit family to teach them, repeating the presentation every 10 minutes for an hour. Stations have varied, but generally are: maple life cycle and why the tree makes sap, tapping and tubing, boiling, filtering and canning, taste testing and nutrition, and a different station each year such as maple tree ID.


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