• From growing ingredients to assembling and marketing the pizza kits, students at Badger Rock Middle School launched their own Badgerizzas brand (under adult supervision, of course).
• One student said she learned that “I don’t have to be a senior in high school or an adult to start my own business.”

Related: 6 ways a kids menu can improve the family-dining experience

Pizza meal kits are so easy to create, even middle-schoolers are getting into the business.

As Madison365.com reports, eighth-grade students at Badger Rock Middle School in Madison, Wisconsin, have wrapped up a semester-long program in entrepreneurship with a focus on creating and selling pizza kits for the community. The program was a partnership between the school and two nonprofits, CEOs of Tomorrow and Rooted.

The kids were challenged to develop a business model for their Badgerizzas Pizza Kits brand, plant and tend to a garden for veggie toppings and herbs, and work in the kitchen to create the pies.

“We went there once a week for eight weeks,” said Dayton Yu, one of two youth empowerment coaches from CEOs of Tomorrow. “We would teach the first half of the program, and it would be [about] the business concepts. Then, the second half would be in the kitchen and garden—the prep portion of the actual food. And we all got to have a hand in that and kind of see the process, but it was really great from start to finish.”

As the semester came to an end, the kids took their pizza kits to market, selling them for $20.99. The price included the ingredients for four personal pizzas, a pizza cutter and a Badgerizzas pizza recipe. Customers placed their orders in advance and picked them up on Saturday, Dec. 18, at the school.

Under the supervision of adults, the kids did all the work, from growing the ingredients to making and marketing their product. “We got to see the kids develop their entrepreneurial skills throughout the weeks,” Yu said. “We also got to see them in action, grinding or chopping onions and making the tomato sauce.”

Veda Newson, one of the eighth-graders, said she learned how to “organize the important specifics of our business. I also learned that I don’t have to be a senior in high school or an adult to start my own business. They taught us that you need certain resources and connections with people, but you don’t need a lot of money to do it.”