Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Trying to find a niche at the farmers' market

Or, what happens when capitalism gives you the munchies

Grilled cheese is everybody's favorite, at some point in their lives.
Grilled cheese is everybody's favorite, at some point in their lives.

A certain La Jolla resident/presidential candidate made the wrong kind of headlines a couple years ago when he suggested not enough Americans have the entrepreneurial spirit required to borrow twenty grand from their parents to start a business. Now, I don't say so to trudge on anybody — rather to point out how much said spirit it takes to succeed in post-recession America for people without a blank check stapled to their birth certificate.

Even south of Nautilus, $20K isn't considered enough seed money to start a proper restaurant, but over the past several years young upstart chefs have found cheaper means of getting their businesses up and running — namely, food trucks. But even food carts can be cost prohibitive when you haven't the means to borrow the means to get started in an industry considered one of the world's riskiest investments.

Everything they need to know about running a small business came from a lemonade stand.

Probably the cheapest way to establish a food service brand may be found at your weekly farmer's market. For 35 bucks anyone with a shade structure, folding table and portable griddle gets a built-in clientele of foodies who've just gotten their salivary glands worked up sampling strawberries and filling their produce bags with kale. If not a recipe for success, it's at least a recipe for opportunity.

Sponsored
Sponsored

I found one of the lowest-cost businesses I've ever seen at the Saturday farmer's market in Golden Hill. Searching for something cheap and filling, I came across sign literally drawn in marker on strung-together paper plates: Mad Munch.

Mad Munch offers a singular specialty: grilled cheese sandwiches, which they inexplicably refer to as "Cheezers."

These cheezers build on the grilled cheese premise by coming up with wacky names and hearty toppings. So you get the breakfast Cock-a-Doodle-Dude which features eggs and bacon, or the Bat Out of Hell, topped by mashed potatoes and — have you guessed it yet? — meatloaf.

Yes, it's probably the sort of idea that springs up when a bunch of Obecians sitting on their couches around 4:30 start to think about what they're going to eat while deciding what to eat for dinner. And when it happens to be Wednesday, you'll also find them making cheezers at the OB farmer's market.

Now, nobody's handing out Michelin stars for farmer's market booths, and this isn't one of those stories where the diamond-in-the-rough foodstuff is going to change your life. It might alter the course of your afternoon, depending how your stomach responds to dairy. These are basically grilled cheeses with bells and whistles, and if anything the "Mad Munchers'" greatest innovation is the offer to slice your cheezer into dippable slices when you order a side of tomato soup.

I opted for the Bat Out of hell, if only to see how well mashed potatoes succeeded in sandwich format. Honestly, it just tasted like filler, and reminded me I haven't made it to the gym in far too long.

But I have to admire the effort and the intent. Mitt might never hold up this sort of outfit as a relatable role model for young people looking to make their mark in an increasingly tough marketplace, but I, for one, would love to see the man turn up one day to find out what being a go-getter in America means for those born with plastic spoons in their mouths.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The greatest symphonist of them all

Havergal Brian wrote over 30 of them
Grilled cheese is everybody's favorite, at some point in their lives.
Grilled cheese is everybody's favorite, at some point in their lives.

A certain La Jolla resident/presidential candidate made the wrong kind of headlines a couple years ago when he suggested not enough Americans have the entrepreneurial spirit required to borrow twenty grand from their parents to start a business. Now, I don't say so to trudge on anybody — rather to point out how much said spirit it takes to succeed in post-recession America for people without a blank check stapled to their birth certificate.

Even south of Nautilus, $20K isn't considered enough seed money to start a proper restaurant, but over the past several years young upstart chefs have found cheaper means of getting their businesses up and running — namely, food trucks. But even food carts can be cost prohibitive when you haven't the means to borrow the means to get started in an industry considered one of the world's riskiest investments.

Everything they need to know about running a small business came from a lemonade stand.

Probably the cheapest way to establish a food service brand may be found at your weekly farmer's market. For 35 bucks anyone with a shade structure, folding table and portable griddle gets a built-in clientele of foodies who've just gotten their salivary glands worked up sampling strawberries and filling their produce bags with kale. If not a recipe for success, it's at least a recipe for opportunity.

Sponsored
Sponsored

I found one of the lowest-cost businesses I've ever seen at the Saturday farmer's market in Golden Hill. Searching for something cheap and filling, I came across sign literally drawn in marker on strung-together paper plates: Mad Munch.

Mad Munch offers a singular specialty: grilled cheese sandwiches, which they inexplicably refer to as "Cheezers."

These cheezers build on the grilled cheese premise by coming up with wacky names and hearty toppings. So you get the breakfast Cock-a-Doodle-Dude which features eggs and bacon, or the Bat Out of Hell, topped by mashed potatoes and — have you guessed it yet? — meatloaf.

Yes, it's probably the sort of idea that springs up when a bunch of Obecians sitting on their couches around 4:30 start to think about what they're going to eat while deciding what to eat for dinner. And when it happens to be Wednesday, you'll also find them making cheezers at the OB farmer's market.

Now, nobody's handing out Michelin stars for farmer's market booths, and this isn't one of those stories where the diamond-in-the-rough foodstuff is going to change your life. It might alter the course of your afternoon, depending how your stomach responds to dairy. These are basically grilled cheeses with bells and whistles, and if anything the "Mad Munchers'" greatest innovation is the offer to slice your cheezer into dippable slices when you order a side of tomato soup.

I opted for the Bat Out of hell, if only to see how well mashed potatoes succeeded in sandwich format. Honestly, it just tasted like filler, and reminded me I haven't made it to the gym in far too long.

But I have to admire the effort and the intent. Mitt might never hold up this sort of outfit as a relatable role model for young people looking to make their mark in an increasingly tough marketplace, but I, for one, would love to see the man turn up one day to find out what being a go-getter in America means for those born with plastic spoons in their mouths.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

A history of the house on the hill at Ivanhoe Ranch

From Apolinaria Lorenzana to Jane Goodall
Next Article

Born & Raised offers a less decadent Holiday Punch

Cognac serves to lighten the mood
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader