19-05-2025
Popular farm market is for sale in Wayne County
Owner Kendra Burnap has opened Burnap's Farm Market & Garden Café in Sodus for the 2025 season, but she's hoping it will be her last with the business. She has put the popular farm market and café, together with 71 acres of land, up for sale.
"I've run it for 28 years," she said. "It is my heart. It is my love. I have created everything in that building. But I can only do so much."
Jen and Ed Burnap, Kendra's parents, started Burnap Fruit Farms on 60 acres on Munson Road in Sodus in 1969. They both were from the suburbs of New York City and learned apple farming by trial and error. Their three children grew up doing chores on the farm, much of it physical labor. Kendra was 8 when she was assigned her least favorite job: Answering the phone on the weekends during u-pick strawberry season. She didn't appreciate the interruptions from her Saturday morning cartoons.
The three Burnap children embarked on different careers. Kendra was living in Colorado at age 27, with one child and other on the way, when she got a call from her parents. They said that if she didn't return, they were selling the farm.
That was 28 years ago, and she, along with her husband and two children, moved to Sodus. She remembers looking at the small farm stand where her mother would sell strawberries – 'It was just a put-your-money-in-the-can thing" – and knew she'd need some big ideas if the business were to support her and her children (her marriage would eventually come to an end).
She embarked on a series of expansions, including a farm market, a large commercial kitchen, a farm-to-table café and a deck that seats 100.
Now, Burnap's is a destination where families will visit and spend hours. Customers will pick whatever fruit is in season; it's planted with strawberries, raspberries, peaches, plums, prunes, nectarines and sweet cherries. They'll sit on the deck and have lunch; adults can even sip on wine or beer and, on nice days, spot Lake Ontario in the distance. Meanwhile, children will dig in a sandbox and climb, swing and slide on play structures that look like a castle and a train.
Kendra Burnap said that although the farm market is successful, the apple farming aspect of the business has become increasingly challenging over the years. Prices for processing apples has remained stagnant as the costs of labor and chemicals have soared. And imported apples from places like Chile have overrun the market for fresh apples. She finds it frustrating because foreign growers don't work with the same scrutiny that domestic growers do. "How do you know how they got here?" she said. In recent years she's found a sweet spot selling varieties like Northern Spy and Ida Red to hard cider producers.
In 2016, she launched a new, separate business when she purchased and restored a nearby 1876 brick Victorian home. A year later she opened The Inn at Burnap's, which hosts events and parties and has five rooms for overnight stays.
Her parents live in an apartment at the inn and take care of the guests, with Kendra stopping in and helping out as well. "It works out pretty good," she said. This business, set on 200 acres of farmland, is not for sale and will be her primary focus moving forward.
"It's time to start slowing down just a little bit," she said. Selling the farm market and its associated farmland will reduce her workload by about half. 'I'd love for a young couple to come in and do what I've been doing," she said. "It's a phenomenal business for the right people.' The business is listed at $1,250,000 through Cornerstone Realty Associates.
She's encouraged by the interest she's had in the business thus far, and hopes to have a say in its future. "I can be slightly picky with how my heart lays," she said.
Burnap's Farm Market & Garden Café is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, but hours change from week to week throughout the season. Call (315) 483-4050.
The Inn at Burnap's is at 7094 Lake Road in Sodus. Call (315) 566-1024.
Both the inn and the farm market are open from May through October.
Tracy Schuhmacher is food and drink reporter for the D&C. Email her at TracyS@ Follow her on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Burnap's Farm Market in Sodus NY is for sale
