Farmers Markets

FeistyParrot

FeistyParrot

We've been out researching farmers markets today for a possible new exciting venture in the New Year....for all of you who attend markets is there any advice or things we should look for apart from the obvious permits, license, insurance.
 
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Clean, professional booth (doesn't have to be expensive), the market should have info of what's needed for licensing etc for you in their handbook.
 
 
and be prepared to say the same thing over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over...........................
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
;)  you get the idea~~~
 
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salsalady said:
and be prepared to say the same thing over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over...........................
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over.-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over.
 
There was another topic about FM's here - SL, me and a few others chimed in. 
 
Tent: don't skimp - get the nice truss steel frame construction. I like the Shelter Logic both for the $ and for the great customer service of the company. 
 
Tables: 6' Lifetime, fitted table cloths 
 
Handwashing station - check with your local health dept. 
 
Health permits will vary in price county to county. You will need one for every county you're in if you intend to sample sauce. 
 
Price list - depending on state, posting pricing may be mandatory. It is in CA.  
 
Tasting - I use "ecotensiles" - the "ecotaster" specifically. My customers love them because they're wax-coated paper, both biodegradable and compostable.  I love them because they're cheap, and you can fit 500 of them in the space of a small stack of spoons. If you go this route, tell them Scott from LDHS sent you - I've turned a few sauce companies and shops onto these already. :cheers:
 
baskets for sauce - all it takes is for one kid to bump into your table to make a large crashing noise - a very expensive and loud crashing noise. Get some kind of basket or acrylic boxes to hold your sauce bottles in reserve. Depending on the market they may have rules about stacking cardboard boxes on the tables and you don't want to have to reach under the table for every sale. Brutal on the back. 
 
Don't use food to sample. It's a PITA, and it gives the health inspector an easy target. And you'll get 1000X the "grazers" who're just looking for a free snack and waste your time/food. I cannot emphasize this enough - don't sample on food. Tasters are best. 
 
Be prepared to say the same thing over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over. :D
 
Don't be discouraged if the 1st month is slow. You will need to acclimate, build a following. It took me about 2-3 months to build a fan-base at each market. Now I get regulars and new customers every week & the baseline of sales continues to rise with repeat customers returning & new customers coming on board all the time.  But this takes time. Smaller the market, the longer it'll take. If you've gone 3-4 months and sales are still sluggish, it's either the sauce or the market, but you'll want to consider changing something in the equation. 
 
Try to join a FM org that gives a crap. You don't want to be in a flea market. Hot sauce is "frivolous spending" - so you need to be at a market where people don't mind dropping a few extra shekels on some gourmet sauce.  Because of this location is important. I belong to an org that does farm audits to make sure no vendors are re-selling for others. Prepared foods like mine are sourced locally, and all natural. If not, they wouldn't let me in. If the market doesn't have those rules, you could be competing with a "hot sauce kiosk" that sells 200 kinds of other people's hot sauces, which makes it pretty hard to compete when you've got the 1 brand. I love that my FM's have restrictions and standards - it attracts the sort of customers who care about such things, which are generally the kind of people who will support a local brand of gourmet sauce. 
 
Other considerations - mobile payment. Set up with Square or other mobile app. Taking CC's opens another avenue for sales. People rain money at the market like they're a drunken sailor in a strip club - by the time they get to you they might be busted. Someone might not have that much cash and want a couple cases for a company event (this happened to me 2 weeks ago) - if I didn't take CC's that woulda been a lost opportunity. Sign up for one of the services (I like square a lot) and hang a sign with the Visa/MC/AmEx/Discover symbols on it. 1/2 my sales at my biggest market today were CC. It's hugely important. 
 
Product description laminated placards - you'll be saying the same thing over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over, but a few people will occasionally read the placard and saving you time/energy. I recently added these and customer who are waiting to taste have something to keep them engaged. Before people would get impatient & wander off. Give 'em something colorful & informative with descriptions and their interest will grow instead of fade as they wait. 
 
Banners - important to have nice full color banners. Here's my "festival" set-up, just to give you some ideas - pepper lights were cheap. Front banner 18" X 6' was about $160, back 6X6' banner was about $200. Signage isn't expensive and makes a HUGE difference!  

14826_607994012579016_1516172902_n.jpg

 
I hope all of this helps! 
 

(pictured: the lovely and talented Sity, my faithful assistant and one of my best friends since 3rd grade)
 
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Mailing list.
 
Make sure you are able to connect with customers and potential customers later via email. You can announce your locations as well as offer specials over the Net.
 
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Ooh - good call THP. 
 
Also social media - people will not go out and seek your FB. If you ask them to follow you, many will. 
 
Every card I hand out I let people know they can follow me on FB right from my company website. Not everyone does - but certainly more do when you ask then when you do not. 
 
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Wicked Pepper said:
http://smallfarms.ifas.ufl.edu/planning_and_management/pdf/FarmersMarketVendorCertifications.pdf
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This is all good info, but it's very much limited to the specific market/county it refers to and should not be considered "generic" information. 
 
For example: there is a health dept fee cited in the amount of $275.00
 
I am marketing in 2 counties. In one county, my annual permit fee is $282. In the other my annual permit fee is $408
 
Different inspectors in different counties may impose different "interpretations" of the food handling regulations. Do you need a gloved hand if you're using tasters? In one county I do. In the other I do not. So I use the glove at all of my FM's. Do I need hot water for my hand-washing station or just water, soap and paper towels? In one county it must be hot, in the other cold is fine. Do I need the kind of water jug with a "hands free spigot"? In one county yes, the other, no.  There are dozens of rules, all subject to interpretations. 
 
And that's just 2 counties in California. Other sates might have state specific rules/regulations. California law says I MUST display my pricing. I'm pretty sure some other states do not. 
 
On and on - does the sauce need to be kept at a certain temperature while on display or not. Do you need to swap out bottles from a cooler every "X # of mins", do you need to have a fire extinguisher in your booth (I do in one market), etc, etc, etc
 
So yeah - it's a nice general guideline, but with zero accuracy on any specific thing because it wildly varies from state to state, county to county and even inspector to inspector in the same counties. 
Sales tax is another one to be careful with - in CA there is no state sales tax on hot sauce. If I sell t-shirts, I pay state sales tax on them. Not sure about any other state, so if you're gonna market, better check it for yourself! 
 
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Lucky Dog Hot Sauce said:
 
Handwashing station - check with your local health dept. 
 
 
Price list - depending on state, posting pricing may be mandatory. It is in CA.  
 
 
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Wow, crazy how much this varies from state to state.  I have never seen a handwashing station at a farmers market
 
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illWill, you probably have and just not realized it.  I don't know of any place where a food booth (especially those selling ready-to-eat-on-the-spot foods) with any kind of health department monitoring that the vendor doesn't have a hand washing station. 
 
Usually, a "hand-washing station" is a 5 gallon insulated cooler (if hot water is needed) or a 5 gallon water jug with a spout over a bucket on the ground, soap and paper towels.  That's it>
 
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salsalady said:
illWill, you probably have and just not realized it.  I don't know of any place where a food booth (especially those selling ready-to-eat-on-the-spot foods) with any kind of health department monitoring that the vendor doesn't have a hand washing station. 
 
Usually, a "hand-washing station" is a 5 gallon insulated cooler (if hot water is needed) or a 5 gallon water jug with a spout over a bucket on the ground, soap and paper towels.  That's it>
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Spot on Ann. 
 
  • Paper towels
  • Hands-free spigot on a 5 gal water container
  • 5 gal bucket to catch the water
  • dish soap
 
This is the general requirement laid out in the CA Health Dept documents (complete with helpful diagram).
 
Offering customers a sample of sauce on a taster means I am of the same category as a "food truck" and thus have the same requirements for handwashing, along with my California Food Handler's Card. 
 
I'm glad I'm not serving prepared foods - food trucks and prepared foods vendors also have to have a 3-part washing station for utensils. (rinse/soap/rinse with a % of bleach)
 
As for the bulleted requirements above, each one is subject to interpretation by the county inspector. Every county has their own health inspectors and the interpretation varies. In one county I use hot water. In the other I don't. In one county they require a gloved hand for using a taster. In the other I don't have to wear a glove (but do so anyway for the effect). 
 
Pretty sure every health dept in every state has a rule about food service and hand-washing stations. 
 
There are also flea markets and unregulated outdoor markets where companies don't bother with health permits (or making a legal product, or following any of the food handling laws for that matter) where I'm pretty sure you wouldn't see a compliant set-up. But I assure you that 100% of the companies sampling a legal sauce with a valid health permit have some sort of hand-washing station present in their booth. :cheers:

If you don't, you get a sort of "fix-it" ticket - the inspector will give you X-days to correct, and they'll come check on you at that point. If you're still non-compliant they'll fine you and revoke your permit. 
 
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Lucky Dog Hot Sauce said:
 
I'm glad I'm not serving prepared foods - food trucks and prepared foods vendors also have to have a 3-part washing station for utensils. (rinse/soap/rinse with a % of bleach)
 
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Rinse/Soap/Rinse w/ bleach?????
 
Boy, I have been out of it for a while.  Used to be Wash(with soap)/Rinse/Sanitize(bleach water).  ???
 
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Ohhh, I didn't realize a 5 gallon container counted. I was visualizing actual sinks LOL
Ohhh, I didn't realize a 5 gallon container counted. I was visualizing actual sinks LOL
 
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salsalady said:
Rinse/Soap/Rinse w/ bleach?????
 
Boy, I have been out of it for a while.  Used to be Wash(with soap)/Rinse/Sanitize(bleach water).  ???
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Same thing. Phrased poorly, sorry - I'm punchy - been up & in the freezing cold since 04:45 AM
illWill said:
Ohhh, I didn't realize a 5 gallon container counted. I was visualizing actual sinks LOLOhhh, I didn't realize a 5 gallon container counted. I was visualizing actual sinks LOL
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The post so nice you posted twice. lol

I use a food service coffee/tea insulated container. It's awesome and if anyone has a party I can bring the coffee. :woohoo:
 
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Redtail and his Lovely rockin' it out!
 
 
 
OH!  and my one other FM booth secret....don't fill up your whole table with "stuff".  Leave some open spaces so customers can put their bag/purse/packages on the table while they dig out the $$ for their purchase....
 
which reminded me of my "other" other FM secret..... I used to have a bunch of used plastic and paper grocery bags on hand and when I'd see people walking by with their arms full of all kinds of purchases, I'd give them a grocery bag, regardless if they were my customer or not.  
 
I'd also use clear plastic produce bags (the ones that came on a roll like paper towels) and every purchase went into a bag.  Easier for customers to handle and carry the tubs of salsa (which are like clear sour cream tubs)...and the clear bags gives the product some visibility while the customer is walking around the market.  Others see it and..."Hey, where'd you get that salsa/hot sauce?"  It always amazed me how some vendors would sell 4 large onions to a customer and not put them in a bag.  :crazy:  
 
One caveat is that some markets don't allow handing out bags or something???  I think some markets LDHS is at have regs about bags.    
 
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When giving out samples to potential customers, I was considering buying a few of those squeezable containers, you see holding ketchup and mustard, and just pouring a bottle or two of sauce into it.....
 
or is it better to just pour from an actual bottle of the sauce itself onto a taster spoon or whatever you choose?
 
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