Help Vargo Bro Ferments move to commercial kitchen

Hi! Vargo Brother Ferments is a dream started during the pandemic in a small, two bedroom apartment in Avondale, Chicago. We were both furloughed from our restaurant jobs, we finally had the time and freedom to explore our passions and dreams. Sebastian has always dreamt of owning a pickle shop, a place where he could ferment freely and share his delicious creations with his community. He knew if there was ever a time to pursue that dream, it was now.

If you're reading this you probably already have a pretty good idea of what Vargo Brother Ferments is about, and if you want to know more you can check out this article in the Chicago reader : https://m.chicagoreader.com/chicago/sebastian-vargo-ferments/Content?oid=88986642

We are looking to take our next step in growing our business, which is to move into a commercial kitchen.Our goal is to move into our commercial kitchen by August/ September. From there we will be able to quadruple our production. Producing more means a lot of great things for us and for you. Our products then will be able to be sold in local grocers throughout Chicago. This means you will be able to go to you favorite markets any day of the week and buy our products. We will be able to wholesale our products to some local Chicago restaurants, this means you can try out pickles, sauces, beverages and krauts all over the city with your favorite burger, hot dogs, pupusas, sandwiches and much more.

Moving to a commercial kitchen means a lot for us on a personal level as well. For one it will help us grow our business, so that we can continue to do this work full time. We would love this business to be able to sustain us. It will also help us create healthy boundaries with our time. Being able to produce our ferments in a space that is not in our own home will not only make the products better but it will make us better.

This brings us to the money, moving to a commercial kitchen  will cost us a lots of money upfront. We are asking for $10,000 from our community. Here is where that money will go.

Monthly usage and storage at a commercial kitchen is estimated at $2000 a month. We will need to ramp up production and build relationships with our wholesale partners. These things take time and we would love to alleviate some of the growing pains we will be feeling. For a total of $6000

We will be switching over from glass mason jars to smooth sided jars. We have to buy this new glassware in bulk which is a large investment upfront. We will be ordering:

300-32oz jars

600-16oz jars

300-8oz jars

The estimated cost of this order is $2500

Lastly, we will need kitchen supplies, Cambros, Lexans, Pots, Utensils, & a large cart to transport our ferments. We are estimating this will cost us $1500.

We at Vargo Brother Ferments believe in community and mutual aid. We believe that through mutual aid we can help our neighbors thrive and grow. We hope you all feel the same. We thank you all so much for your continued support and love, and we can't wait to see what the future holds for us all.