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Hendry’s Natural Market

Hendry’s is a new grocery store coming to Cle Elum! It’s the store we’ve all been wanting and needing for DECADES.

Local Suppliers
Hendry’s will provide Cle Elum with as fresh, local, and organic products as possible, at affordable prices.
We plan to support our neighbors, whether they grow produce or meat, make dips, breads, soaps, wines or beers.
We wont be an overpriced boutique, however.  Hendry’s will provide affordable options for all shoppers.

Think Trader Joe’s, but local!

Bulk Section
It’s pretty simple.  Waste is wasteful! We’ll have a bulk section to help reduce our impact, and give our shoppers fewer trips to the transfer station.
(Don’t worry, there will be package options in case your forget your jars!)

Community
We believe we will have a huge positive impact on UKC.  Not only providing the town with more options, but also more employment opportunities.  Sure, we’ll hire grocers for our store.  But we’ll also be improving the revenues of our local farms, ranches, bakers, brewers, etc!  In turn, there will be more farming jobs, more baking jobs.  More money staying in our community, rather than going into the pockets of big corporations.

It takes a village, and this store cannot happen without our UKC village.  We want to support our neighbors, and hope that they can support us as well.

What We Need & What You Get

Locking in a location is no easy task.  What it really comes down to is cash.  If we, the community, can work together on this, we can make this a locally owned store, rather than inviting another big corporation to swoop in!

Here’s the startup cost breakdown:
-$20k Rent on a building will cost anywhere from 5-10k/month.  That’s upwards of 20k just to secure our location!
-$30-50k We’ll need refrigerators, shelving, updated lighting, signage, grocery carts, and permits.
-$5-7k Next, we’ll need computers, and a POS software.
-$20-30k Don’t forget staffing!  We estimate 6-10 employees.
-$60k Finally, we’ll need to stock the shelves.  We imagine we’ll need at least 60k worth of inventory on the shelves on opening day!

20,000 Rent
40,000 Refrigerators, Shelving, Equipment
7,000 Computers & Software
30,000 One month Payroll
60,000 Inventory
$157,000 Startup Cost

$157,000 to get Hendry’s open.  That’s a good chunk of change!  That means we need community assistance.  We know that the community wants this as badly as we do, so we hope we can raise enough funds to make this a reality!

$40 is all it takes

There are about 4,000 people in UKC.  If we each pitch in just $40, we’ll hit that $157,000 goal!

You may be thinking… Is it worth my $40 contribution

Maybe… Here is something that is worth thinking about-

How joyful, or efficient is it to stand in the Safeway line on a Friday-Sunday?

What does it cost in gas to go 50+ miles round trip to Ellensburg every week year after year?

Is it worth it to make a one time contribution if that contribution brings in another store in town?  Is it worth it to have a shorter drive, smaller lines, and better options?  How about to have a locally owned store, offering your teen their first job, shelves stocked with your neighbors eggs, and to know EXACTLY where your steaks were raised?

We think so.

Obviously getting a contribution from every individual in UKC is…. ambitious.  So, if you can contribute more, please do!  We are grateful for any and all contributions.  It all gets us closer to the end goal.

We’re asking everyone to pitch in what they can, and we have some fun perks to offer along the way, so give them a look under “Perks”!
 

What if we don’t reach the goal?

We don’t give up easily!

Throughout town, it seems it’s pretty unanimous.  We need another store.  If crowd funding doesn’t get us to the startup goal, we will move onward to grant applications.  While grants may seem promising, the reality is “there’s no such thing as a grant for For-Profit entities.”

Luckily, we don’t really take “no” for an answer!

The HFFI (Healthy Food Financing Initiative) was granted $40,336,270 to improve access to fresh, healthy, affordable food.  The program will require a partnership between Hendry’s Market and the City of Cle Elum.  This is not guaranteed, but it is a possible avenue to consider.

If we’ve exhausted all options, and still don’t have the funds, we will issue complete refunds to our backers.

Challenges

We foresee three major challenges for the store: Managing inventory, staffing, and profit margins 

Inventory

There will definitely be a learning curve when it comes to the flow of stock. Even Safeway struggles to keep food on the shelves on the weekends during the summer months!  That being said, we believe that most passerbys hit Safeway, Starbucks, and now Wendy’s, and then continue on their way. Hendry’s won’t attract as many shoppers as Safeway, so we should have a much more manageable inventory flow.

We’ll be stocking from multiple local farms, so we hope to have continually stocked shelves. However, there may be lulls, due to changing seasons, effecting available foods. (Eggs in winter for example)  We have two wholesalers to fill in the gaps.

Staffing

Staffing is a challenge for every business these days.  We have been successful with our other businesses due to our golden rule: Take care of your employees, and they’ll take care of you!  We will always follow our mission of providing quality of life to our staff and community. Our staff will be paid a good, liveable wage and benefits, and we will provide them with a happy workplace that encourages growth, individual success, and quality free time.

Profit margins

Grocery store profit margins are notoriously slim.  An average of 2.7% with a high of 5% for organic foods.  Luckily, profits are not why we are doing this!  The community needs this store.  We are in a food desert, and it’s time we fix that!  We want this store so that we have a place to shop.  We want this store so we have access to better food for our family.  We want this store because we know that SO many people want this in our community!

Why not a co-op?

It’s worth noting that, due to the minimal profit margins, we will not be forming a co-op.  It sounds romantic on paper, but 2.7% divided across hundreds of owners adds up to… Chump change.  We’d rather hold on to that small amount and use it to stabilize the business.  This store needs to remain in place for decades to come.  By reinvesting the profits, we can ensure the store’s success, and provide for the community 10x what a few pennies in kick backs could.

Who Are We

Hendry’s Market is owned by Stefani Porter (Hendry), Brendon Porter, and their two children.   We are full time UKC residents since 2009.  Although we weren’t born here, we moved here as young adults, and this has been our home ever since!

You may have met Stefani at the ski swap, or snowboard film premiers!  She is the founder and president of Kittitas County Ski & Snowboard Club, and owner of Porter & Associates Bookkeeping.  She is a homeschool mom, snowboarder, and hunter, addicted to pushing beyond her fears.  When she is not adventuring with the kids, stuffing her nose in another non-fiction book, or sauntering aimlessly through the woods, she’s dreaming big dreams- like how to save the world… or at least UKC 😉

Most of you probably know Brendon Porter.  He’s the most popular mechanic in town!  Brendon is the owner and operator of RalleyTuned in Cle Elum.  An honest, calm, dependable father, who can often be found smoking meats, or braaping around with his kids.  He is a snowboarder, dirt biker, traveler, and mechanical genius!

Our household is devoted to clean, organic foods and no waste.  In fact, after researching waste in America, we set a goal to be a zero-waste by 2025.  We’re not quite there yet (options are so limited!) but we’re on our way!

Why “Hendry’s”?

“Hendry” is Stef’s maiden name, and tribute to her family lineage.  While we are the Porter household, the kitchen is Hendry.  In true Hendry fashion, our dinner table is a noisy, and passionate one, filled with laughter, deep conversations, and yes, disagreements.  Our plates are covered with fresh, organic, home cooked meals, using recipes that go back generations.  Most proudly, Stef’s great great grandmother’s Swedish buns!

We hope to bring not only fresh, clean food into your kitchen, but joy, laughter and family tradition.

Other Ways You Can Help

If you can’t contribute, that doesn’t mean you can’t help.  Here are other ways you can make Hendry’s happen:

• Help us get word out and make some noise- use the Indiegogo share tools!
• Volunteer to help with the remodel, and stocking shelves
• Apply for employment when we begin accepting applicants!
• This is for the community, so we need community input.  PLEASE send us your wants, needs, suggestions, and ideas!