The Branson Centre is propelling small businesses into the big time...

Entrepreneur: Robyn Fox

Mount Edge Guest House, Food Basket and EITS Café
 
Meet the maker:
During childhood walks around her father’s farm in Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, Robyn Fox remembers watching seedlings grow into flowers. You could say that Robyn’s business has grown in much the same way.

Robyn studied hospitality and tourism in Canada and Jamaica and worked in Kingston’s only boutique hotel. The experience of working with her father on his farm and small guest house (Mount Edge Guest House), since January 2011 has helped Robyn expand her business. She now also runs a successful farm café and food home delivery service.
 
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Robyn Fox
The golden opportunity:
Robyn knew that the salads and herbs grown in her corner of the Blue Mountains were something special. Yet she felt that no-one was really showing off the best that the area had to offer.

It’s why she launched Food Basket, which delivers fresh, pesticide-free farm produce directly to people’s doors. In March 2011 she also launched the Europe in the Summer (EITS) Café on the farm. The café allows guests, many of whom are tourists, to experience the farm’s fresh Jamaican produce in European-influenced dishes.
The business in a nutshell:
Robyn’s business is three-fold.

The EITS Café serves up fresh produce from Robyn’s father’s farm to a busy mix of local customers and overseas visitors.

Thanks to Robyn’s involvement expanding the business, Mount Edge Guest House now plays host to intrepid backpackers all year long, offering tours of this beautiful area of Jamaica, as< well as accommodation.

And, through a weekly e-newsletter, the Food Basket’s customers can pick and choose fresh farm produce, including everything from spaghetti squash to black mint, which they can get delivered to their home or shop.

Ambitions are endless but my focus right now is to make the best of this opportunity.
  - Robyn Fox  

How it's helping the community:
The Food Basket regularly offers fruit and vegetables from other farms, helping local farmers boost their income.

Robyn is also keen to share her experience of working with pesticide-free, environmentallyfriendly farming methods. Her business provides local farmers with extensive training in these techniques. The work has helped her farm and other farms to grow, providing local people with job opportunities on the fields, as well as in the café and delivery business.

The future looks bright:
Robyn wants to add four higher-end cottages to the guest house, allowing guests to appreciate life on a working farm without sacrificing comfort.

The café is proving so popular that Robyn knows she’ll have to expand the kitchen and extend the opening hours to cater for demand. As the farm continues to grow, she expects production of the food baskets to increase. Buying a refrigerated vehicle should allow her to deliver the farm produce to a much wider area.
Fast Facts:
  • Current number of employees: 11 (Mount Edge Guest House: 2, Food Basket Farm: 4, EITS Café: 5)
  • Location of headquarters: Newcastle, Jamaica
  • Expected number of employees in three years’ time: 24 (Mount Edge Guest House: 6, Food Basket Farm: 10, EITS Café: 8)
  • Current annual turnover: Mount Edge Guest House – $5,160,000 (Jamaican) Food Basket Farm –$1,800,000 (Jamaican) EITS Café – $3,600,000 (Jamaican)
  • Expected annual turnover in three years’ time: Mount Edge Guest House – $9,600,000 (Jamaican) Food Basket Farm – $3,500,000 (Jamaican) EITS Café – $13,000,000 (Jamaican)
  • Investment to date: Family and cash flow
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