OXFORD — “Entrepreneur” or pickle magnate may seem like a lofty statement for a fourth grader to put at the top of their resume, but a handful of Oxford Elementary School students have earned that right –at least when it comes time in the distant future to write theirs.

From its inception, pickle inc. has been led by Kaiden Kaklegian. With the vision to earn money at school, he recruited several friends to partner with him to launch a lunchtime retail pickle enterprise.

To date the budding corporation has raised almost $180 to help fund new playground equipment for OES.

Kaklegian approached his teacher, Kimberly Tucker, about starting an in-school business. With his plans calling for inter-class commerce, she referred him to Dean of Students/Assistant Principal Caitlin Dailey to coordinate the logistics.

“This was all student-led,” explains OES Principal Jamey Martin. Tucker and Dailey both saw it as “a great idea, but they needed to pull together some market research.”

“Kaiden told me he thought we should sell pickles,” Tucker added. “He and his friends zipped right down to the office to talk with Ms. Dailey, who told them they needed a business plan.”

As soon as Kaklegian got home from school that day he started working on it, emailing Tucker throughout the evening to brainstorm ideas and offer her a job working on his board of directors. “I accepted, and then he developed a slide show that he presented to the class.”

He wrote the following as the company mission: “At pickle inc. we make sure that you get the best pickles at school.”

Included in Kaklegian’s research was assessing price elasticity of demand and how to build inventory of dill pickles.

Joining Kaklegian and Tucker on pickle inc.’s board were Lucas Marston, Hunter Norton, Liam Preo, Broox Bonney, Kael Chesawich, Thoren Iaderola, with Acadia Broyer becoming involved as well.

Parents were solicited for pickle donations to seed the business, and students were surveyed on what they would be willing to pay for individual pickles.

Just how much are students willing to pay for a pickle?

“A lot!” Dailey laughed. “A small pickle was priced at a dollar, Jumbo pickles are two dollars each, and those are the most popular right now.”

And how did Kaklegian settle on the specter of pickles as his business product?

“He’s a fourth grader,” Tucker deadpanned. “It seemed perfectly reasonable to the board, and they just went with it. They are a very creative crew and didn’t need much motivation. He was super passionate, and his buddies jumped on board.”

The executives of pickle inc. created their own sales fliers to promote the venture and opened for business earlier this spring on Fridays, during the lunch period that Tucker’s class shares with second and fifth grade.

By popular demand, Wednesdays were added as a pickle sales day. Product offerings have expanded to include bread & butter, a homemade dill, and sour flavors.

“They eat lunch first, and then two board members help me bring the pickles to the cafeteria,” Dailey explained. “I handle the money. They serve pickles, wearing gloves. The selling period is during the last five to 10 minutes of lunch.”

Managers and customers alike are getting real life exposure to operating a business through pickle inc.

Other students have explored different ventures, including vending fresh-squeezed lemonade and making bracelets to help fund the school garden.

“They’re learning about handling food,” Martin said. “And safety – no touching food and money.”

“They also learned about putting in money to start a business,” Tucker said. “And taking money out to buy additional product.”

“They had to figure out price per pickle, how many pickles per jar,” Dailey said. “At first, they were like ‘I don’t want to take $30 from our profits.’ But then they figured out how much more money they can make with that $30.”

They also were keen to keep their profits. But Dailey explained that in-school enterprises do not work that way, so they agreed to invest their proceeds in OES’ new playground fund, starting with replacing the swings. “Every pickle helps,” she told the Advertiser Democrat.

Tucker keeps a symbolic jar of pickles on her desk and the class has already planned a ceremony to celebrate their success on the last day of school. “This was their idea – everyone will take a bite off the pickle. They’ve chosen a homemade pickle that we’ll slice and share.”

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