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Hi all. I'm about to set my child care fees and I'm wanting a little advise, particularly if you have an organic daycare. I will be providing all organic or pesticide free, all natural/grass fed, homemade, etc food to the children in my daycare. I believe very strongly in this and am excited about being able to make an impact in the children lives with great food, but the cost as you know is a good amount higher than if I fed them other food. So here's the question: Do you think parents will pay more for this? Right now, in my area, the average daily fee is $45. If you do think they would pay more, how much more? Any help would be great!
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I'm curious about this too. I would like to know what extra cost of going organic is. Hopefully Nannyde will let us in on this...
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Lol. I was thinking the same thing. Nannyde, help us!Comment
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It just depends on how you do it.
I buy in season and store (freeze). If I bought it at the store as we used it weekly it would be a lot more money.
For me, the cost of the organic is in the labor of getting the meats, veggies, and fruit... and storing them. That's more than the actual money increase for the foods.
I buy whole pigs, a quarter of a beef, eigth of a bufallo, whole chickens, fifty pounds of veggies and fruit at one time, cook, and store. I get elk, venison, and fish donated. I spent yesterday morning defrosting one of the freezers. That took quite a few hours of work which I would NOT have if I wasn't buying in bulk for the organic, grass fed, free range etc.
I spend about five dollars a day on food for each kid. That's just the hard cost of the food. The labor for the organic would add about another two dollars per day per kid.Comment
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I buy bulk for a lot too, but it is still more expensive than if I fed them conventional food. So, I guess I'm still wondering if you think parents would pay more for having this in the daycare or not. I'm not sure if I can raise may rate a few dollars higher than the local competition and still get parents who want to use me.
Also, do you post your in season recipes anywhere? I'd love to have a bit of help with some good daycare approved recipes that follow my philosophy of eating.Comment
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That is such a nice thought going organic! I would love to do all organic but I simply can't afford it. I do what I can when I can though. Especially the veggies and fruits. There is no way I could charge more for going all organic. Mainly because I have most state paid clients (most don't care what kids eat), I get a set rate and that's it. But even when I do get a private payer that cares about nutrition they don't care about organic so I couldn't charge more. They would just go to the next provider in line here.
Around here the parents don't seem impressed at all when I mention I use a lot of organic fruits and veggies. Some don't even know what that means exactly so I have to explain it. Most of my clients don't care what the kids eat. They have shown up here with a bag of doritos and a pepsi for breakfast. Now I did have 1 DCM in the past that did care that her child eat right but she wasn't sure what organic meant either. When I handed out info with the newsletter a couple were nay sayers that said they just stamp it organic to get more money and make you think it's healthier. I told them they can't do that there is a process and I would gladly get more info for them. They didn't care. Healthy eating DCM said just as long as her child was getting fruits and veggies she doesn't care where they came from.
I thought of her just recently when I watched Dr Oz and the Arsenic in Your Apple Juice. Gerber was the highest with arsenic content and that's what she brought her child with every morn. I wondered if she saw that on TV.
Does anyone else have clients that just don't care about organic?
Everything seems to differ around the states so things may be different in your area. Good luck to you I hope you can have the organic program and for the price you are seeking!Comment
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I think it depends on your area. I don't know for sure though because I've only done it for about a year and a half.
I think some parents will like it but few will pay for it. I also think there is a risk that it is a turn off for families where the parents eat processed food and feed that to their kids.
I don't know of any child care in my area that are doing organic and having it be a draw to the child care where parents will pay the providers fees PLUS the extra for the specialty foods.
I don't really charge for it. I have the same kids I had when I started and I haven't raised rates. I do it because that's what I want to feed kids.
I can say that I have had a marked decrease in illness in the child care. Dramatic decrease. I don't know that this is related to the food change but it has happened at the same time I switched to organic. It may be luck or good weather related (we had a mild winter and with the exception of one month.. a mild summer).
Unfortunately you can't really advertise the wellness aspect of it because it would place an expectation that the incoming child would be nearly illness free while in your care. I don't want to take the risk of parents having expectations like that so I just mention it but don't promise it.
The other thing I can say for sure is that the kids LOVE the food. They are the eatenest eaters around. The ALL eat ALL the food every day. They really love the taste of real food. It makes mealtime wonderful here.
Cooking with it is a learning curve. There's always something different to try but I stay really basic and make most stews and purees. My kids love themselves a big hearty bowl of meat, potatoes, veg or beans and rice. They REALLY love pureed fruits for desert and fresh baked whole grain fruit bread.
We keep it really plain and simple. It works for us. My son gets tired of it though. He would rather have Taco Bell
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Thank Nannyde! I will give this a lot of thought too.Comment
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I think it really does depend on area. I tried to appeal to an organic crowd but the demand just isn't there in my area.
I did find that the push for whole foods is strong in this area, so although I don't serve strictly organics, I do serve homemade, whole foods and have found many families who want that instead of junk (nuggets, store-bought muffins, spaghettios, fish sticks, fries, ect). Nobody wanted to pay more for organic though and I got no phone calls from that ad.
We also buy our beef by the half, our chickens/turkey/duck/pheasant whole, and pork/lamb in bulk. I wish I had more space and time.Comment
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Oh yes.. lamb and phesant too.
I wish I had more space too. I don't think I'll have the space for a lamb this year. Having two full freezers is a good thing though.
I just found some yellow peas today. Mmmmm can't wait to try some home made lamb stew with yellow peas. YummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmyComment
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I've also got a few dozen quail growing out in the backyard too. It's a good lesson for my older children. We hatch, raise, and butcher them for the freezer. That's only a few meals worth but it's definitely fulfilling to eat what we raised!
They are definitely organic!Comment
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I was told by a few mothers in my area (Sacramento, Ca) that there is only one other organic daycare here and she always has a long waiting list because of the food she prepares. I think here there is probably more awareness here than in other states about the importance of organic/free range etc. Only I can't get her on the phone to ask her about her daycare/fees etc.
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There are several organic dayhomes in my area but there was a gap in the vegetarian market that I saw. I was already serving whole, unprocessed food bought locally as much as possible so it wasn't hard to alter my menu. The response through word of mouth has been overwhelming. I was a little surprised. I don't charge more but I do have higher end rates for my area so perhaps they offset each other.
I also buy in bulk and freeze whenever possible. Actually last night I talked my DH into going to my aunt's in two weeks for an afternoon. She has an apple orchard and said we could pick what we could carry. He decided it was a good idea when I said if we take an afternoon we could pick enough apples to last until spring for free and just keep them in the garage. Yummy, pesticide free apples.....mmmmmmm. I hope he realizes I want him to pick 50 or 60lb. ::
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I don't do everything organic, but all meats/milk are hormone and antibiotic free. All meals are made from scratch-no processed box meals here! I advertised once as being a clean eating, eco-friendly, cloth diaper friendly daycare. It got zero calls. Advertising in my town just doesn't return anything for anyone.
In our small town, it's easy to find hormone/antibiotic free meat and eggs from local farmers. Our local HyVee also has a decent selection of organic produce, and I grow plenty in my garden.
As far as parents go, every parent I have couldn't care less. Everyone eats processed junk for every meal at home. When I have problems with the kids eating here, I sometimes ask parents if they eat that at home. They say "oh, they like hot dogs, kraft mac n cheese, frozen pizza, hamburger helper..."
I continue to do it. It doesn't cost me a ton more than conventional food because I meal plan and stockpile foods that are on sale.Comment
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Wow! I'm in the Sacto area as well and am working on starting my organic/humanely raised foods daycare too. I'd love to chat more if you're interested, my email is kristin.brightbeginnings@gmail.com. Good luck!!Comment
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