The Cornucopia - delectable edibles delivered
Dear friends, friends of friends, and friends-to-be,
Hello there, and a warm welcome to The Cornucopia crowdfunding campaign! My name’s Emily and, as the intrepid entrepreneur inspiring you to part with some cash, I would like to thank you for popping by!
Before I launch into the details of my dastardly plan, I’ll provide a quick summary for those of you who are unfamiliar with my longstanding dream to open a little vintage café. Otherwise, feel free to skip straight down to the long list of start-up expenses that have necessitated this crowdfunding caper!
The Cornucopia Carriage: Delectable edibles, elegantly delivered
For the last few years, I’ve been considering how to realise my ultimate vision for The Cornucopia – a cosy, lounge-like venue with abundant ephemera where everyone can assemble to eat delectable edibles, drink lavish libations (from vintage crockery of course), and enjoy the occasional evening event.
But, as you can imagine, it will be a long perambulation to this permanent space, and I am strangely thankful that I was not prepared for take-off prior to the pandemic pandemonium! As such, my business plan is still afloat, but now bobbing down an alternative stream – a tributary towards the torrent that I hope to sail down one day.
This means that for now, in lieu of The Cornucopia café, I am launching a local delivery service through which I will tout homemade treats and afternoon teas from a revamped vintage cargo bike that I have humbly named “The Cornucopia Carriage”. Oh look, here it is at various stages of refurbishment (in which I learned all about primer)…
1. On the day of purchase
2. Stripped down and ready for primer
3. Waiting for primer to dry before it rains
4. Painting the cargo box in The Cornucopia's very own racing green...
5. Aha...To be continued...
Now you may well ask how one woman on three wheels can service all of South London. The truth is, she can’t. I’ll be starting off pedalling my wares within a limited postcode range that I hope to expand. This includes SW2, SW4, SW9, SW12, SE5, SE15, and SE24. And if you look at these on a map, the SEs form a croissant!
Alrighty then, what’s on the menu?!
THE DELECTABLE EDIBLES
As I write this, I’m still devouring the deluge of tasty treats (if I do say so myself) leftover from making every item on The Cornucopia menu for my nearest and dearest to taste test. I know… woe is us! So here I must thank those friends, from the bottom of my bottom, for enduring the sugar rush and providing resoundingly positive feedback. Your support and encouragement are as invaluable to me as the donations that will fund the long start-up shopping list!
So, The Cornucopia Carriage will begin by delivering treat boxes containing 4, 8 or 12 slices of the following cakes:
Rocky Road to Rio (a carnival of chocolate, Brazil nuts, biscuits, glacé cherries, and marshmallows)
Gold Rush Bars (bite size gold bullions of chocolate, peanuts and honeycomb)
The Cornucopia Flapjack (with peanut butter, mixed fruits, seeds and citrus zest!) - vegan
Joan Mary’s Cocoanoat Squares (a family recipe from a friend of my Granny’s in South Africa) - vegan
Pain d’Epice (a French sticky spiced tea bread with mixed peel… my flatmate’s favourite!) - vegan
These treat boxes can be either made up entirely of one type of cake, or a selection box (“The Cornucopia Collection”), which contains two or four slices each of rocky road, flapjack and coconoat squares (so 6 or 12 slices in total).
I will also be offering up glamourous gift boxes of 18, 36 or 72 squares of dazzlingly decorated dark chocolate fudge*…
• Orange and almond (pictured)
• Coffee and hazelnut
• Cranberry and coconut
• Pistachio
*All fudge is available in a vegan version on request, but please note that it may not be suitable to those with a strong allergy to dairy. This is because the dark chocolate used, despite being made with cocoa butter and no milk products, is labelled with a cautionary “may contain milk, nuts, soya”, which I suspect is due to manufacturing conditions. All other vegan items are dairy-free by default.
AFTERNOON TEAS
In addition to those tempting treat boxes, The Cornucopia will also be delivering afternoon teas by special request, with an option to rent out a full set of vintage crockery, from cups and saucers (pictured) to cake stands, that I will collect after your event. Due to baking times, these will be for a minimum of four and up to a maximum of twelve people, but customers are welcome to get in touch to find out if there is availability for “Tea for Two” (for example, if I am already making enough for four, another two can be easily added on!).
MENU
Savouries:
• Nibbles (corn snacks, olives and sun-dried tomatoes)
• Peanut butter houmous
• Beetroot houmous (pictured)
• Carrot crudites
• Smoked mackerel pate on oatcakes
• Cheddar and rosemary sourdough scones, served with butter and… more cheddar
• Classic cucumber sandwiches
Sweet treats to share:
• Rocky Road
• The Cornucopia Flapjack
• Joan Mary’s Cocoanoat Squares
• Pain d'Epice
• A trio of chocolate fudge
To drink:
• Yorkshire tea (milk not included)
VEGAN MENU
Savouries:
• Nibbles (corn snacks, olives and sun-dried tomatoes)
• Peanut butter houmous
• Beetroot houmous
• Carrot crudites
• Sun-dried tomato polenta wedges (pictured)
• French bean salad
• Classic cucumber sandwiches
Sweet treats to share:
• The Cornucopia Flapjack (one each, in lieu of Rocky Road!)
• Joan Mary’s Cocoanoat Squares
• Pain d'Epice
• A trio of chocolate fudge
To drink:
• Yorkshire tea (milk not included)
And depending how things go with time and fridge space (!), I may one day add one or two savoury snacks to the treat box range so you could, for example, order a couple of cheese scones with a couple of slices of cake. A tiny tea for two!
Right, I could waffle on forever about food, so let’s move on to the crux of the matter… moolah!
Crowdfunding The Cornucopia
Yes... as it turns out, this whole start up malarkey is quite costly. Who knew?! I don’t know how other entrepreneurs do it, but I’ve decided it’s time to call upon my unruly network of friends, family, acquaintances and any other anonymous donors to ballast The Cornucopia coffers through this new fandangled crowdfunding! Again, thank you for popping by. You’re looking very beautiful today.
Whatever you can or want to donate will go towards the following bare necessities, all of which will bring The Cornucopia closer to blast off:
• Cooking equipment, crockery, etc
• Delivery boxes and labels
• The initial stock of ingredients
• Storage boxes for all of the above
• Cargo bike maintenance
• Accounting fees
• Website and marketing
• Council fees and insurance
So, what’s the damage?
As you can see, my target is a rather gutsy £4000, which I know sounds like a blooming lot for a bike delivery business! But I’ve done the maths, and this is what it will take to get this show on the (rocky) road, including the fees for using GoFundMe (25p per donation plus 2.9% of the total raised). I’ve even done further maths that suggests donations of £20 and above will keep these fees cheaper than Kickstarter, hurrah!
And if you lovely donors help me smash this target? Well, I’m pretty sure there are some hidden costs I’ve not considered… like paying my forgiving flatmate for the extra energy I use baking and washing up all the time.
THE COST BREAKDOWN
Yes, let’s get down to the nitty gritty! I’ve divided this bit into sections so you can get an idea of how much is needed for each area of the business. Some are costs I have already started to pay (website, banking, accounting, etc), while others are quotes from online (Lambeth Council website, price comparison websites, Amazon and Dunelm Mills for kitchen things, DrinkStuff for glasses, Sainbury’s for food, etc), but much of the crockery costs are estimates based on extensive experience in charity shops. I have included my food safety training costs and various business fees to Lambeth council. Please ask if you want full details!
OK here goes…
Kitchen Kit (Total = £425)
Baking trays x 8______________________£20
Baking tins x 6_____________________ £9
Loaf tins x 3__________________________£21
Round cake tins x 2__________________£20
Muffin tins x 2_______________________ £12
Cake mixer________________________ £15
Food processor______________________£100
Wooden spoons x 2_________________ £4
Spatulas___________________________ £10
Serving tongs x 3____________________£10
Utensils for food prep_______________£50
Food hygiene boards________________£5
Weighing scales_____________________£10
Measuring cups_____________________ £10
Measuring spoons___________________£5
Measuring jug_____________________ £3
Silicone whisk_______________________ £7
Mixing bowls________________________ £30
Reusable baking paper______________£6
Sieve_________________________________ £5
Colander_____________________________ £15
Big plastic boxes for food storage___ £10
Large 2L Tupperware x 6____________ £20
Medium 1L Tupperware x 6_________ £18
Food date labels_____________________ £10
The Cornucopia crockery (Total = £869)
Prices below are for enough vintage crockery to furnish four afternoon teas for six people. I have also included the cost of my first set of glassware, in preparation and anticipation!
Plates x 24__________________________£48
Bowls x 24__________________________£48
Cup + saucers x 24_________________ £96
Sugar bowls x 4___________________£16
Milk jugs x 4________________________ £16
Cornucopia cutlery set x 24_____ £108
Serving dishes x 4__________________£20
Butter dishes x 4_________________£20
Cake stands x 4__________________ £40
Teapots x 4_______________________ £40
Cafetières x 4____________________ £144
Vintage glass tumblers x 24_____ £45
Vintage glass goblets x 24_______£78
Vintage stemmed glasses x 24__ £70
Vintage balloon glasses x 24____ £80
Packaging and pots (Total = £823.38)
Small logo stickers x 480_______£12.78
Large logo stickers x 200_____£12.78
The following are all made by Vegware - plant-based, compostable packaging
Small deep boxes x 450________£77.47
Med deep boxes x 300_________£67.25
Med window boxes x 300_____ £92.92
Large shallow boxes x 280____ £59.48
Large deep boxes x 180______ £56.51
Afternoon tea box sets x 50__£163.55
Greaseproof paper x 500_____ £20.45
Small pots + lids x 2000_______£109.25
Medium pots + lids x 500_____£66.62
Large pots + lids x 500________£84.32
Waterproof and rodentproof outdoor storage units = £480
Accounting, marketing, council fees and insurance for one year (Total = £1095.50)
Banking fees ___________________ £72
Accounting software_________£144
Website domain________________£12.5
Website plan___________________ £200
Email address __________________ £60
Food safety training ___________ £150
Lambeth council fees___________£207
Insurance (public liability, etc)__£250
Stocking up The Cornucopia cupboard (Total = £177)
Ingredients for sweet treats ___£125
Ingredients for savoury snacks___£52
Total so far = 3869.88
+ 2.9% fees = £3982.1
+ lots of 25p transaction fees (let’s say about 72 donations (£18) worth), which takes that nicely up to…
LE GRAND TOTAL = £4000!
Wow, goodness me! You made it! Thank you so much for reading this far (or for scrolling down this far at least!)… I can only hope that my own efforts in writing this plea have not been in vain. Now all I can ask is for you to dig deep into the dustiest corners of your digital pockets, furtle around under your cyber sofas, and donate!
Here are some suggested donation amounts and what your money will buy (if not my love)…
• £10 = measuring cups, weighing scales, or… Tupperware!
• £20 = two teapots, lots of baking trays, or 500 sheets of greaseproof paper (!)
• £30 = mixing bowls, one set of golden cutlery, or a selection of kitchen kit
• £40 = four teapots, four cake stands, or a golden cafetière
• £50 = 24 vintage plates, all food prep utensils, or ingredients for savoury snacks
• £60 = a year of email, a crate of delivery boxes, or two golden cutlery sets
• £75 = a year of business banking, or 24 vintage glass goblets
• £100 = six months of website, a crate of delivery boxes, or 24 vintage plates AND bowls
• £500 = the outside storage units, or the entire kitchen kit
• £1,000 = the ENTIRE crockery collection and then some!
• £50,000 = a premises for The Cornucopia
Etc, etc!
IMPORTANT STUFF
If I reach my target, I will be preparing to launch The Cornucopia Carriage at the pleasingly palindromic incidence of 12.02pm on 11th of the 11th 2021 (this will undoubtedly involve polishing my vintage Babysham glasses).
That’s it for now, but please feel free to get in touch with any questions, suggestions, tips, tricks or amusing anecdotes!
And once again… THANK YOU!
Yours most appreciatively,
Emily
