selling out

[georgelineman]

Did not know what section to put this in but here goes. Has anyone ever rather than putting their equipment up for sale, Raffle the whole operation ! Everything but the trees! Limited number of tickets at a small price say maybe $5 or $10 a chance? This way someone could get into sugaring for $10 rather than what it costs for all you need to get started. This would include everything bottler, evaporator, pan, warmer, tanks, buckets, hydrometers and so on Any comments or thoughts?
george

[DrTimPerkins]

First step would be to see if private raffles are legal in your state.

[maple flats]

I don't believe they are legal in NY except if run by a non profit. (no, just because you don't make a profit it does not qualify you as a non profit.)

[georgelineman]

Thanks for your reply's . Your funny Dave! But you hit that nail right on the head! Although most seasons we came pretty close to breaking even. And really the fun factor and seeing people enjoy stopping by to see how its done is what keeps us going. We are across the road from the Storm King Art Center which is a BIG attraction for NYC folks. Its fun to see the reaction when they see the whole little process in action. But I did have one nice lady ask me if we had Sugar Free Syrup after spending 30 minutes explaining the process. Maybe I didn't clearly tell the story.
Thanks again, lots of thinking to do and right now a lot of time to do it.... Stay Healthy and Safe

[maple flats]

Actually that reply wasn't meant to be funny, just factual. Small producers rarely make a profit. You need the economy of scale and need to be efficient at the same time. Then it helps if you can retail and wholesale all or most of your crop, selling bulk gets harder to make a profit, but many of the largest ones do make a profit even selling bulk.