Business Plan of Mushrooms
Business Plan of Mushrooms
A Mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on
soil or on its food source. The standard for the name “Mushroom” is the cultivated white button
Mushroom. Mushroom designates the entire fungus when in culture or the thallus of species
forming the fruiting bodies called Mushrooms.
Mushroom production can play an important role in managing farm organic wastes when
agricultural and food processing by-products are used as growing media for edible fungi. The
spent substrate can then be composed and applied directly back to the soil. This publication
includes resources for entrepreneurs who wish to do further research. Many people are intrigued
by mushroom nutritional and medicinal properties, in addition to their culinary appeal.
Mushroom contains many essential amino acids. As a group, Mushroom also contains some
unsaturated fatty acids; provide several of the B vitamins, and vitamin D. Mushroom are
nutritious: They are a good source of B vitamins, especially niacin and riboflavin, and rank the
highest among vegetables for protein content.
This study will thoroughly show the steps of mushroom production, processing, marketing and
other activities done by a mushroom cultivation farm. And will also discuss the socio-economic
benefits, market risks and analyze the SWOT from an organization’s perspective.
Objectives of the study
The primary objectives of the study are as follows:
To make a business plan for mushroom farming
To asses the various aspects related with the mushroom business
Analyze the SWOT of the new business
To understand the study better and learn the inside details some secondary objectives were
necessary. These objectives will add value to this study.
To create awareness about the Mushroom among people
To know and explore the cultivation in Bangladesh
To make our economy strong by exporting Mushroom product
To learn some important aspects like Management aspects- a controlled management,
Marketing aspects- make profit with consumer satisfaction, financial aspects- arrange the
financial support, and Socio-economic aspects- make people aware about good or bad
products with reasonable price.
Mushrooms provide high protein and essential amino acids. Low in fat and high in fiber, they
also provide vitamins thus stimulating the immune system. Eating two to three types of
mushroom per day can provide the proper amount of essential amino acid required by the
body. It also supplies high levels of protein and vitamins. Normally, one adult can consume
about 200-800 gram per day. For elderly people and children, 200 and 500 grams are
sufficient.
To get a better idea about the possibilities of new business based on mushroom cultivation and
marketing, I have done a ‘PEST’ analysis. Which shows a good window of opportunity for new
business to establish and grow. The findings of ‘PEST’ analysis are as follows,
Political: The political scenario in Bangladesh is quite stable for years. Stable political atmosphere
is always good for business. The government is encouraging new entrepreneurs to establish new
business. Also, the banks are providing loans on easy terms for SME’s.
Economy: Economically Bangladesh is thriving. Recent data’s shows a healthy economic growth
is prevailing for years in Bangladesh. The purchasing power parity for the general mass has
improved. Bangladesh is now growing to be a ‘developing country’ very soon.
Social: Social scenario of Bangladesh has changed positively in recent years. The life status,
sanitation, food, health all aspects of social improvements are positive. People are growing more
conscious about their healthy diet and nutrition. Which opens an opportunity for new business
based on food production.
Technological: Technological advancements in Bangladesh has paved the way for new business.
More new technologies are available. People are easily getting their information from anywhere
in the world. This has helped to change the mindset of many here on ‘Mushrooms’. The
technologies are nature friendly and high productive which provides us better chance for business.
People in different classes are getting interested in mushroom. They are getting aware about the nutrition
and usage of mushroom. Retailers are interested in selling mushroom because of its high price. So current
position of mushroom business is in a good stage. And we will use this opportunity.
A description of my business
There is a huge prospect of mushroom cultivation in Bangladesh. It can play an important role in
eradicating malnutrition, one of the main problems of the people, and preventing diseases. By
mushroom cultivation, it is possible to alleviate poverty and providing employment for educated
unemployed, youths, adolescents and women.
For this study and better understanding of the organizational activities, planning, and processes I
have hypothetically formed “REDGREEN Bangla mushrooms”. The REDGREEN Bangla
mushrooms will be a partnership business organization founded by Mr. X, Mr. Y, Mr. Z.
The basic rules and regulation, duties and activities, an organogram of REDGREEN Bangla
mushrooms are as follows,
Name of director Extent of shareholding Position/Post
Mr. X 45% Managing director
Mr. Y 25% Marketing Manager
Mr. Z 30% Production Manager
Table: REDGREEN Bangla mushrooms organogram
Apart from this, some other posts will be created as per need. We aim to make one popular media
figure as our brand ambassador.
The important duties of the partners are,
Justice, Faithfulness: True accounts, Full Information: Partners are bound to carry on the
business of the firm to the greatest common advantages, to be just and faithful to each
other, and to render true accounts and full information of all things affecting the firm to
any partner or his legal representative.
Equality of losses: Subject to any contract to the country, partners are bound to pay the
losses of the firm equally.
No private benefit: A partner cannot use the partnership properties directly or indirectly
for his own benefit.
NO secret profit: If a partner carries on any competing business of the firm, s/he shall
account for and pay to the firm all profits made by him on the business.
Unlimited liability: Every partner is liable for the acts of the firm done while s/he is a
partner. The liability is joint and several.
Decision making for every possibility will be done by Mr. X, Managing Director of Fast
forward palm industry. But, every partner has some right to act on behalf of the firm. He
has express and implied authority.
Each partner has a chance to write down, the name of his authorized nominee (Wife,
children, or third party). If anyone become disabling or in case of death, the authorized
people will get the amount of the invested money. As well as this contract will be broken
down. The third party will not be treated as a partner.
If anyone become accuse of doing a bad situation, he must be punished based on the
intensity of the impact. If it is high, he should be expelled from the business and this
contract will be isolated.
Producing mushrooms is not like raising your usual garden vegetables. But then, mushrooms aren’t
vegetables. Mushrooms are fungi and do not contain chlorophyll, so while that means they don’t
need sunlight; it also means that they depend on an especially nutritious growing medium.
The first step in producing superior mushrooms such as those grown by Modern Mushroom Farms
is to create an ideal growing medium. White, cremini and portabella mushrooms all grow well on
the same medium. Pasteurized compost made from sources such as corn cobs, straw, hay, water
and nitrogen supplements fill the trays in which mushrooms grow. At the same time, under
laboratory conditions, mushroom spores are inoculated into sterile grain seeds to produce spawn
that is planted in the compost trays. Once the spawn has produced a white network of mycelium,
the mushroom’s equivalent of roots, the compost is covered with a thin layer of peat moss, or
casing, and temperature (about 60 degrees F) and humidity in the mushroom house are controlled
until tiny white rounds poke through the peat moss. This stage is called pinning and the farmer
knows that in 17 to 25 days (3 to 7 days longer for portabellas), the mushrooms will be ready to
harvest. The whole cycle takes from 9 to 12 weeks and since all the farming is done in dark,
climate-controlled buildings, we can have fresh-from-the-farm mushrooms all year round.
Oyster mushrooms need a little more humidity and fresh air than the white and cremini
mushrooms. The mixture of compost and oyster-mushroom spawn is placed in long, tubular plastic
bags punched with holes and hung up or set in racks so air will circulate around them. After about
14 days the mushrooms poke through the holes and can be harvested.
Shiitake mushrooms were traditionally grown on oak logs. These days they are produced by a
process similar to that used for oyster mushrooms except oak sawdust is used in place of compost.
Enoki mushrooms are grown in plastic bottles on a substrate of corn cobs, wheat bran and soy
bean meal. They are held at 45 degrees F and harvested after about 90 days.
Some other overhead costs like electricity, land leasing cost, transport, marketing, labor and
administrative expenses will be added with this.
After production processing method of mushrooms
BUYING
Cultivated fresh mushrooms are in good supply year-round. Look for firm, unblemished caps. The
mushroom’s surface should be free from moisture but not look dry. Avoid mushrooms with any
sign of mold.
STORING
Always refrigerate mushrooms. Loose mushrooms keep well in paper bags in the refrigerator.
Avoid airtight plastic bags because they will retain moisture and speed spoilage. Properly stored,
fresh mushrooms will keep for five days or longer.
CLEANING
Don’t clean mushrooms until you are ready to use them. To remove any bits of the peat moss in
which they were grown, rinse quickly with cold running water or wipe the mushrooms with a damp
cloth, paper towel or soft brush.
PREPARATION
Mushrooms may be cooked whole, sliced or chopped. The stems of shiitake mushrooms and the
root end of portabella stems are often tough and should be discarded or used to add flavor to sauces
and stocks, but all other mushroom stems can be trimmed and used along with the caps.
FREEZING
Uncooked fresh mushrooms don’t freeze very well, but once they have been cooked, they can be
frozen in small containers for a convenient, ready to use addition to soups, stews and sauces. Just
clean, trim and slice the mushrooms; sauté them in oil or butter and cool to room temperature.
Then, package in airtight 1/2-cup or 1-cup containers and freeze. They may be kept several months
and are best if thawed in the refrigerator before use.
Product Planning
The different kinds of products are given below:
Local product.
Export product.
Local product:
Local product is for our country consumption, we initially produce our local product as main
product at the starting year. So, this product is very important for our company as well as
serving the nation.
Based on our season pattern we produce three times mushroom in a year-
Summer Season—Straw Mushroom
Straw mushroom is only grown at summer season. It is very notorious for health & consume
little cost than bottom mushroom.
Straw Mushroom
Winter Season –Bottom Mushroom.
This mushroom is very popular in our country as well as abroad. Its production is quite
sensitive & costly. We can only produce this mushroom at winter season.
Bottom mushroom/Button Mushrooms
All Season – Oyster Mushroom.
Although it can produce whole year we emphasize a lot to here. Approximately our 60%
production is in sector. It is very much suitable for our climate as well people of our country
like it very much. Most of our business returns depend on this mushroom.
Export Product:
After establishing a local market, we are going to export our product in abroad. Our export
product includes our local type of product & some other product.
Such as;
Oyster Mushroom.
Bottom Mushroom.
Shiitake Mushroom.
Shiitake Mushroom.
This is a new type of mushroom we produce for only export. As our plan for going to export
at third year of our business.
We are going to produce a fresh product we sell it in two forms
Fresh From
Dried from
So as form Bangladesh perspective we want bring some new concept in our product variation
& bring number of others mushroom in future.
Marketing planning
A marketing plan is a business document outlining your marketing strategy and tactics.
To market our cultivated mushrooms, we have done several analyses on the current market
scenario.
Market characteristics defined the market attractiveness. There are some characteristics of market
that we to consider running our business:
Strength of competition
Operations ability required
Market growth rate
Social, political, regulatory and environmental factors
Capital requirements
Seasonal factors
Competitors
Market size
Vital industrial ability
Industry success and proceeds
Except these characteristics we found some new characteristics for mushroom specially—
Number of lower level customer is higher than Mid and high-level customer.
Traditional food lover customers
Customers are unconscious about their health.
Consumers are price sensitive.
Competition
People are purchasing Mushroom, from the local market since very short time. So basically, they
are our moderate competitor. People are getting mushroom and other necessary goods from these
local markets at a cheaper rate. But they can’t provide superior services to the customers. They
also cheat with people by giving them inaccurate quantity of the products. They are facilitated
with the whole seller and the producer of the goods and products
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is a technique commonly used in business circles to assist in identifying strategic
issues for a company or organization. If the analysis is to be applied to visualization products
some modifications to the technique will be required, however, potentially it will yield useful
information about the future viability of various systems.
The predictive capabilities of the technique come about from the consideration of each
system’s Strengths (S) and Weaknesses (W) in the context of the environment which is seen to
present Opportunities (O) and Threats (T). The intention is to determine how each system will fare
in the light of changes taking place around it.
2.Our reputation
Our opportunity: 1. Mushroom business is not recognized in Bangladesh. So, we don’t have
much local competitors.
Marketing strategy
We have classified our market according to their class, needs, behaviors. We will satisfy our all
customers by different service. There are three types of customers. They are general people,
middleman, industry market. We have to capture the whole market. For this we have done a
marketing research regarding mushroom among people. In that research something is found this
thing are given below:
Target Market:
We have focused on all the classes. Our first target will be the local market. We will serve the
whole seller, retailers, super stores, and food industry first. So that our product will be quickly
promoted. Now market position is getting competitive. So, we have to prove that we are the best.
We will maintain our High quality. We will sell our product at a reasonable price so that customers
of all classes can buy our product. We will serve them in minimum time.
Production:
Product Uniqueness and Features: Our business product is mushroom, Mushroom is nutritious
food. It has some unique features. They are.
Price:
Prices Strategy: Our cultivation cost will be 3300000 takas. And the overall cost will be 9000000
takas. Considering competitive price and amount of profit, we fixed 700 takas per kg. If we sell at
this rate, we can earn about 23% profit which is good for us. Other cultivators get between 600 to
800 per kg. So, we think that customers will get a quality product at a reasonable rate. This will be
effective for us.
Place:
Our products will be distributed by a well-planned distribution channel. Our channel is indirect
but small. So, sell as a consumer product we will use a distribution channel. And as an industry
product. We will use another distribution channel.
Promotion:
Promotion is the way to increase the cells of an organization. We will perform different
promotional activities. We can draw their attention to our product by promotion. We have some
idea to promote our product. They are:
Newspaper
Magazine
Television
Radio
Open advertisement
Transport advertisement
Leaflet
o Events sponsorship: We will keep good relation with public. For this we will be sponsor
of various cultural program or health conscious program. So that can we keep in touch with
public. We will gain publicity also.
o Personal Selling: We will do survey in market time to time. We will do different short-term
activities like free, sample, discounts etc. We also give more commission through our
whole seller or retailers from our other competitors.
Our main social responsibility is that we want to remove malnutrition from our country and for
this after expending our business we will take a plantation project to plant tree on road side. Since
this a new project so it will create employment opportunities, Mushroom removes malnutrition
mushroom particularly work in preventing discuses like cancer, AIDS, Kidney problems, diabetes,
hepatitis. help the poor student in their education and we will definitely concern about our social
responsibility. There is no negative side effect that may impact on environment. Mushroom is a
natural food & it can work in preventing discuses like cancer, kidney problems, hepatitis, AIDs,
diabetes. We do not use any kind of technology that may make environmental pollution. Our
business ethics would be maintaining good relationship with supplier by clearing payment timely
and providing them other facilities and maintain good relationship with customers by satisfying
and providing them timely a quality product at a lower cost, no compromise with product quality
maintain a friendly environment in the organization to work smoothly, always follow chain of
command in decision making and other activity.
Always give priority to the customer as our main concern is to serve our customers though we are
a manufacturing company. Not earn much profit as a part of doing social responsibility. And ensure
freedom of work to achieve our goal and new innovation. Our contribution towards economy is
employing such number of people that can make on effective contribution towards the action of
removing unemployment. And the people concerned with project will be more benefited
economically & at large it is contributing to the livestock portion of the total GDP of the country.
Mushroom cultivation offers several advantages
Mushrooms can be cultivated on a small and large scale to allow personal consumption or
the start of a commercial enterprise.
Collected mushrooms can be sold as a supplemental or major source of income, depending
on the size and number of mushroom houses.
People with physical disabilities are fully capable of accomplishing all necessary tasks in
mushroom cultivation, even if some modifications in constructions and equipment may be
needed. Specific tasks may need to be done differently because of certain disabilities.
Chronically ill or weak people can work in a cooler environment since mushrooms grow
under the shade. This reduces physical exertion associated with open cultivation as with
rice and small fruit.
For people interested in experimenting, the range in types of mushrooms and cultivation
techniques can prove challenging and gratifying.
Mushroom cultivation offers a wide range of activities most suitable for people with
various needs, diverse interests and specific capabilities.
Mushroom cultivation can be started at a very low cost. In the province of Ubon
Ratchathani a mushroom house capable of holding 1,000 mushroom bags can be built for
as little as 500 Baht (US$12) depending on the creativity of the constructor and its ability
to use readily available and appropriate materials.
Mushrooms can be produced and sold within 2 to 4 months.
Collected mushrooms can be sold fresh in the village, on the local market or directly from
the Farm.
Spawns or seeds and spawn bags can be bought by the entrepreneur at a reasonably low
cost allowing an acceptable profit margin. Thailand spawn is among the least expensive.
Spawn bags can be produced for self-use and can also be sold, thus increasing the profit
margin and generating more income.
Mushrooms can be processed into various types of food, which will give an added value.
(Mushrooms being highly perishable, they must be quickly sold or processed).
Conclusion
Edible mushrooms provide a good supplement to the diet in the form of proteins, carbohydrates,
valuable salts and vitamins. It is mainly the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) that
has introduced mushroom cultivation in Bangladesh in recent years. Cultivation of mushroom
has opened a new opportunity of earning extra income for a good number of small, marginal and
landless families. The greatest advantage for small, landless and marginal farmers is that
mushroom cultivation does not need any land. It can be grown at the homestead or inside a
house. Poor women can have extra income from cultivating mushrooms. Older and disabled
people can also cultivate mushrooms in their homesteads.
So, Bangladesh mushroom industry is consisting of above big to little firm. There is a huge
prospect of mushroom cultivation in Bangladesh. It can play an important role in eradicating
malnutrition, one of the main problems of the people, and preventing diseases. By mushroom
cultivation, it is possible to alleviate poverty and providing employment for educated unemployed,
youths, adolescents and women.