KENYA · GUIDE 0008 · EDITION 4.2
Lettuce growing - Startup costs and working capital
Build a budget around the first deliverable
Choose a lettuce format that fits one restaurant's dishes, distinguishing whole heads for portioning from loose leaves intended for assembled salads during busy service.
This scope determines what you need before the first order. A national average or a supplier's bundle cannot establish your opening budget. The main cost drivers for this business are:
- seed
- water
- discarded outer leaves
Separate setup, operating cost and working cash
| Budget line | What to establish before spending |
|---|---|
| suitable seed | Specify the pilot quantity, purchase/hire option, delivered quote and payment date. |
| clean water | Specify the pilot quantity, purchase/hire option, delivered quote and payment date. |
| harvest knife | Specify the pilot quantity, purchase/hire option, delivered quote and payment date. |
| protective crates | Specify the pilot quantity, purchase/hire option, delivered quote and payment date. |
Equipment that remains useful after the pilot belongs in a separate setup schedule. Consumables used in accepted work belong in operating cost. Refundable deposits use cash but are not automatically an expense. Do not count the same equipment purchase in full both as setup spending and again as one period's operating expense.
Include costs that are easily missed
Cost outer-leaf removal, head damage during transport and the space occupied by protective crates, rather than treating every harvested head as a full-price sale.
Prepare the cash schedule in date order. Supplier payments can fall due before the customer pays; a positive paper margin does not fill that gap. Record transport, rejected inputs, corrections and your own working time against the actual trial rather than assuming them to be free.
Set a spending decision
Use this pilot as the smallest meaningful commitment: Ask two chefs to accept or reject sample heads before expanding planting.
Before buying, obtain comparable written quotations with the same item specification, quantity, delivery destination and relevant support terms. Keep uncertain lines marked unknown until you have evidence. If the cash requirement exceeds your available funds, reduce the trial scope, negotiate transparent payment stages or defer the purchase. Do not silently replace missing costs with zero.
A restaurant may reject attractive oversized heads when its portions leave excessive remnants, so head appearance alone does not establish the commercial product specification.
Use the pricing and cash-flow chapter to test whether accepted sales can cover recurring costs after setup. This page supplies a budgeting method, not a verified opening-cost estimate.