Newbie. Seriously, newbie!

[Overmyhead]

This is my first year tapping, started with 20 taps and ended up boiling off and getting 5 gallons of syrup. I have the potential to tap 20 acres of good solid sugar maples. I guess I didn't realize I could get bitten by the maple bug, but I have. I had an a 33"x35" evaporator built and finish on a propane turkey fryer. My wife helps a lot too! Any suggestions on how to proceed with expansion without going bankrupt? I am kicking the idea around of getting licensed to sell but not sure how to even break into the market. Phew, that's enough for now! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[Rangdale]

Welcome fellow Mainer! Wow, 5 gallons on 20 taps is great, especially this year! Looks like your first step would be getting a bigger evaporator!

[Cedar Eater]

Welcome to the hobby. I briefly considered trying to turn it into a business and I rejected the idea. I made 3 gallons of syrup my first year and 8 gallons my second year. There are ways to build the business slowly. For example, you could start out selling sap to local processors who need it. That way you won't need a state licensed sugar house. In Michigan, that's a big expense. Selling sap wouldn't stop you from making your own syrup. When you have an idea of how much sap your sugarbush can produce, you can think about expanding into the bulk sales or retail sales markets. In my area of Michigan, both of those are problematic. The local markets are pitifully inadequate for minimizing my risk of building a legal sugar house. Check your state laws and visit local producers to see what the local requirements are. Also check for assistance from your county agricultural agency. See what programs they have that might benefit you.

[Overmyhead]

I appreciate the input! While this may be my first year and am feeling a bit ambitious, i have been planning this for awhile now and just need to fine tune my process a bit. In going through the various forums, I have gained a huge volume of knowledge already. (Wife is rolling eyes)

[western mainer]

Where in Maine are you?
Brian

[Overmyhead]

Castle Hill, right outside of Presque Isle

[IndianCreek]

Welcome to the hobby. I briefly considered trying to turn it into a business and I rejected the idea. I made 3 gallons of syrup my first year and 8 gallons my second year. There are ways to build the business slowly. For example, you could start out selling sap to local processors who need it. That way you won't need a state licensed sugar house. In Michigan, that's a big expense. Selling sap wouldn't stop you from making your own syrup. When you have an idea of how much sap your sugarbush can produce, you can think about expanding into the bulk sales or retail sales markets. In my area of Michigan, both of those are problematic. The local markets are pitifully inadequate for minimizing my risk of building a legal sugar house. Check your state laws and visit local producers to see what the local requirements are. Also check for assistance from your county agricultural agency. See what programs they have that might benefit you.

I really don't think becoming licensed is that big of an expense really. I have toured a licensed sugar house in michigan and I didn't see anything that would be a show stopper as far as expense goes other than the equipment required to handle 20 acres of trees. That will be your expensive investment. Once you have the equipment to tap 1k trees setting up the requirements to get your facility approved should be a piece of cake. I have read posts on here about the cost of the license itself and it is under $100.

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[Mini_Maple_Men]

In the state of Maine it is easy. I did it this year. Need to register your business with the town, if not incorporating. It was $20 in our town. After registered go on line and get a free sales tax id, syrup is non taxable in Maine, but still need state id. You also need a maple producers liscence, you can do that form online also. This one will break the bank! If you produce less than 15 gallons it is $2 a year, over 15 gallons is $25. After you apply for your liscence, an inspector will come out and look at your sugar shack and sign you off. In all honesty it took me just over 4 hours total, including going to the town, doing the online stuff and the inspection. Need any more info let me know. Lee

[Cedar Eater]

I really don't think becoming licensed is that big of an expense really. I have toured a licensed sugar house in michigan and I didn't see anything that would be a show stopper as far as expense goes other than the equipment required to handle 20 acres of trees. That will be your expensive investment. Once you have the equipment to tap 1k trees setting up the requirements to get your facility approved should be a piece of cake. I have read posts on here about the cost of the license itself and it is under $100.

The big expense is the cost of building an FDA compliant sugar house. Compare that cost to the cost of being able to boil outdoors and then finish in your home kitchen (which is what the OP has been doing). Even if you do most of the labor yourself, it will take a long time to recoup your investment, even with tapping 20 acres of sugar maples. Even if you already have a building that you can easily convert, you lose the use of that building for other purposes. I'm not saying there are any showstoppers, just that he can go very slow and build a pot of money from selling sap before sinking a lot of money into a sugar shack. I'm in my late fifties and have no desire to work hard building a low profit business when I have so many other priorities, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth it for the OP to take a stab at it.

[IndianCreek]

The big expense is the cost of building an FDA compliant sugar house. Compare that cost to the cost of being able to boil outdoors and then finish in your home kitchen (which is what the OP has been doing). Even if you do most of the labor yourself, it will take a long time to recoup your investment, even with tapping 20 acres of sugar maples. Even if you already have a building that you can easily convert, you lose the use of that building for other purposes. I'm not saying there are any showstoppers, just that he can go very slow and build a pot of money from selling sap before sinking a lot of money into a sugar shack. I'm in my late fifties and have no desire to work hard building a low profit business when I have so many other priorities, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth it for the OP to take a stab at it.

I am assuming that the original poster is planning a sugar house.

If he is thinking of tapping 20 acres that is probably in the neighborhood of 1k taps so I am assuming he is investing in a sugar house and equipment to handle that sort of a workload. If you are committed to building or converting an existing facility to work in.... making it fda compliant is pretty simple in my opinion. I would think the cost of the equipment to process a 1k taps or more would be far more than the building itself. The place I toured this yr used it's permeate from the reverse osmosis for the water supply and he produced far more water than he could ever use on a cleanup. For hot water he collected the steam from his steamaway into a small tank.

Looking at the costs of an arch,pan, pre heater, hood, reverse osmosis, filter press,water canner, storage tanks, vac pump, tubing etc.... I would guess would be double the price of a sugar shack large enough to fit the equipment and have room for storage.

You would have to do the business plan and weigh out the investment and see how many trees you need to tap to make it happen. There are people out there doing it successfully......some even get grants for starting new business in an area.



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[Mini_Maple_Men]

In Maine, as long as all you are doing is making syrup you don't need fda stuff. As soon as you start to refine it into sugar, candy, taffy, etc then fad and commercial kitchen comes into play.

[Cedar Eater]

In Maine, as long as all you are doing is making syrup you don't need fda stuff. As soon as you start to refine it into sugar, candy, taffy, etc then fad and commercial kitchen comes into play.

So you could boil outdoors, finish in your kitchen, and sell it? And people aren't all dying from eating the syrup? We have too much government in Michigan. :lol:

[Cedar Eater]

I am assuming that the original poster is planning a sugar house.

If he is thinking of tapping 20 acres that is probably in the neighborhood of 1k taps so I am assuming he is investing in a sugar house and equipment to handle that sort of a workload. If you are committed to building or converting an existing facility to work in.... making it fda compliant is pretty simple in my opinion. I would think the cost of the equipment to process a 1k taps or more would be far more than the building itself. The place I toured this yr used it's permeate from the reverse osmosis for the water supply and he produced far more water than he could ever use on a cleanup. For hot water he collected the steam from his steamaway into a small tank.

Looking at the costs of an arch,pan, pre heater, hood, reverse osmosis, filter press,water canner, storage tanks, vac pump, tubing etc.... I would guess would be double the price of a sugar shack large enough to fit the equipment and have room for storage.

You would have to do the business plan and weigh out the investment and see how many trees you need to tap to make it happen. There are people out there doing it successfully......some even get grants for starting new business in an area.

I was assuming that he wanted to avoid bankruptcy. One way to do that is to not buy everything you will eventually need before you need it for the next phase of expansion. Not having to go into debt and pay interest is one way to reduce the risk and the stress of turning a hobby into a business. Having a phased approach can be key to reducing risk, reducing stress, and reducing debt. But jumping right into making and selling syrup in Michigan means that you have to start with an FDA compliant sugar house. So right out of the gate, before you've even bought an evaporator that is adequate for Phase 1, you have to size and equip a building for the evaporator and equipment that you will eventually need when you finish ramping up to full production over 5-10 years. That can be a show stopper if your risk tolerance is low. There is no opportunity to sell syrup for a few years to build enough reserve to fund a sugar house. So I advised selling sap as a way to do that. It develops the sugarbush with a lower infrastructure investment.

[IndianCreek]

In Maine, as long as all you are doing is making syrup you don't need fda stuff. As soon as you start to refine it into sugar, candy, taffy, etc then fad and commercial kitchen comes into play.
In michigan it is the opposite. You can make candy all day long in your kitchen with no issue.....as long as your yearly sales are under 20k.

For syrup it is a real grey area. You can make syrup without any licensing if your sales are under 15k. The issue we have is our cottage industry law states produced in a home kitchen....the fda says that syrup and honey cannot be made in a "home" kitchen because of the nature of the process. So our state law changed to say you must follow our basic state food law principles in your unlicensed business. Our food law says fda kitchen. So your kitchen doesn't have to be licensed or approved.....but you are supposed to use a facility that meets code.

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[Overmyhead]

Well thank you for all the replies! I know I'm not set up to tap close to 1k trees, I would devise a plan to integrate that many over the course of a few years. As for a sugar house, I've been looking at many designs and may plan to visit several different sites to get a feel for how to set one up. I've also looked into getting licensed. Here in Maine that's not really a hard thing to do thankfully! I'm just not sure how to break into the market. This may make me sound very naïve, but will I have a hard time selling my maple syrup?

[IndianCreek]

Well thank you for all the replies! I know I'm not set up to tap close to 1k trees, I would devise a plan to integrate that many over the course of a few years. As for a sugar house, I've been looking at many designs and may plan to visit several different sites to get a feel for how to set one up. I've also looked into getting licensed. Here in Maine that's not really a hard thing to do thankfully! I'm just not sure how to break into the market. This may make me sound very naïve, but will I have a hard time selling my maple syrup?
I am a newbie myself but many have pointed me towards our state maple syrup producers association. I would have to believe you have one. Check out their website and look for when they have offseason conferences. Should be plenty of people and companies there to point you in the right direction and answer your questions. Maybe even try emailing some of the members.



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[Mini_Maple_Men]

It is the Maine maple producers association. They are having a 3 day event in Portland in June. I became a member this year and it has been money well spent. Lee