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Farmers Market


teagal

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This will be my 3rd year doing our local, little farmers market. The first two years were a learning experience. I had been selling a lot of cookies, muffins, cupcakes,etc. Kinda gourmet/different things. Basically single serving items. They sold, but took a lot of time and my pricing was a little off. I now realize I can charge higher! This year I think we'll have a lot more sellers and I'd like some ideas for other things to sell. I've thought I'd try homemade marshmallows for one thing, but would like all of your input as to what makes you buy/stop at a stall. What makes you go WOW? What have you seen that is a little unusual? What's the latest trend out there?

Cheese - milk's leap toward immortality. Clifton Fadiman

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Hi, Teagal.

Where I work, we have an occasional 'craft fair' where suitably-inclined staff bring along their home-made food/baby quilts/jewellery/whatever to sell over lunchtime. I've had some success with herb-infused olive oils; you might like to look into that.

My 'point of difference' is that the herbs come from our home garden, and the label (designed by me - I'm supremely multitalented!) makes that clear. I also use a local (New Zealand) olive oil rather than the commercial Spanish/Italian ones you can get almost anywhere. I've tracked down a supplier of suitable bottles. I only sell in 250ml quantities - it feels more 'artisan', I suppose.

My recipes were originally based on a Ramsay one in his (I think) Kitchen Secrets book, but it's not hard. Basically: blanch the herbs very quickly in hot water to annoy any bugs, refresh in ice water, dry, add to oil and bring slowly up to around 90°C and hold it there a few minutes (I do 5 litres at a time in a large stock pot), allow to cool, bottle.

I can't help you with pricing (I sell mine at $NZ15 a bottle, but that's entirely irrelevant to you). Check what your local specialist food shops sell similar things for. I fall somewhere within the range of prices out in retail land, and make a very comfortable profit! You may also need to think about any regulatory requirements. Because I'm only (so far) selling to colleagues I'm ignoring that aspect, but if I wanted to expand to farmers' markets and such I'd probably have to be preparing my oil in a commercial kitchen, the cost of which might then affect the price I'd need to charge.

The flavours I've had most success with are sage, rosemary and bay (nobody seems to do bay oil, but it's delicious). I've been asked for basil and lemon and I've done them, but I found it was quite hard to get a good flavour out of them (this surprised me, given how pungent basil is in its normal state. In the end I had to hit the oil, basil and all, with my stick blender to get any taste out of it, which resulted in a rather murkier result than I'd like). My 'big 3' give me no trouble, though. I plan, sometime, to experiment with thyme and fennel as well.

Hope this gives you something a bit different to think about. If you go with this, I recommend you have small dishes of oil to sample, along with small pieces of good bread for dipping.

Good luck ...

Leslie Craven, aka "lesliec"
Host, eG Forumslcraven@egstaff.org

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one's own relatives ~ Oscar Wilde

My eG Foodblog

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I sell at Farmers' Markets (non edible--handmade soap) and I've noticed that for the bakers it's true, the small single serving items seem to sell well.

Another good seller is a small pie--maybe a size for two servings.

Also tea breads are nice, and don't laugh, but pet treats are huge--people treat their pets like children.

Vegan & organic is big--if you switch to organic flour you can definitely up your prices.

What about adding jams & marmAlades, and flavored butters.

Fresh pasta--unusual colors/flavors.

Marshmallows might need more selling--I've found over time, that having items that you have to explain in detail about over & over can be tiring--it's nice to have things that people notice & understand & buy.....

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At the Farm Market I like to buy bakery stuff that I can't easily make at home, which for me is a lot. Savory pastries push my buttons, crunchy and foreign doesn't hurt.

Peter Gamble aka "Peter the eater"

I just made a cornish game hen with chestnut stuffing. . .

Would you believe a pigeon stuffed with spam? . . .

Would you believe a rat filled with cough drops?

Moe Sizlack

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A friend of mine does something similar, and I try to support her whenever we can. Her products are excellent, and ingredients are organic, as much as possible, which is noted on her labels.

She does large cookies (choco chip, oatmeal, ginger) U$2 a piece, small tarts with seasonal fruit (U$5-7), biscotti (U$3-5). I think she tried marshmallows, briefly, but it doesn't seemed to have worked out.

The product which she had, which I really liked and seemed to sell reasonably well, is meringues of assorted flavors. Sm/med bag ran about U$5. Easy enough to make. HTH. :)

Corinna Heinz, aka Corinna

Check out my adventures, culinary and otherwise at http://corinnawith2ns.blogspot.com/

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I'm also a sucker for savory baked goods (quiche, croissants) that can work as lunch with a piece of fruit.

But speaking as someone who does not have much of a sweet tooth, who can go months without tasting chocolate...the reason I both love and fear the advent of my local farmers market in another month is the fantastic baked goods filled with MARZIPAN offered by the Danish Pastry House in Medford, Ma. It's not very far away by car, but I don't own one, thank heavens, otherwise I'd be stopping by all winter. One word of advice: MARZIPAN.


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Thanks for all the good ideas. Now I'm hungry! (but not for dog biscuits, although I will be looking for recipes for them!)

Cheese - milk's leap toward immortality. Clifton Fadiman

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I could pm you my dog biscuit recipe. It is the least 'grain' and other basically non-dog related recipes I have used. It's a recipe born of putting together the best of a few recipes I found years ago. The only 'problem' with it, in terms of sale, is that it is made only of REAL food, has no preservatives, and won't last forever like the commercial dog food biscuits. (Kind of 'problem' that I like.)

ps. Being made of REAL food, the biscuits will go bad after a length of time. I can't say how long...I make 4x batch, we keep them in the fridge and I've not had them go bad yet in years of making them.

Edited by Darienne (log)

Darienne

 

learn, learn, learn...

 

We live in hope. 

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For foods, there seem to be two markets -- hand-foods that shoppers (and their kids) can eat while walking around, and meal components. Make both, and you'll have two markets. We have a lot of tourists coming by boat, so they have kitchens.

Our hours are 10am to 1 pm, which is a factor. We make a cornish pastie type of meat pie with our own lamb and beef and a vegan mushroom one as well, with our own potatoes in an organic crust. Yes with all that healthy stuff they are really good! (we run a ranch and have a commercial kitchen). Those are served warm from the oven at $6.50 each. We do well. Another guy does small tacos with local pork and local vegetables for $3.00 each. He does well too. Sweets do well - we always sell out of apple tarts, and in the fall our pumpkin pies and pumpkin bars do well. The sweets sell first (it is morning) and then the savories as we get towards noon.

We also make fresh pasta and sauces and sell those, we do not sell them as take away, but ready to cook or reheat (for our small lasagnas).

One woman does VERY well making herbed lemonade and iced teas from her herb garden, and has a line of soaps and lotions from her garden as well.

The key is fresh - local - natural -- buy ingredients from the farmers, not from food service. And tell the story - people want to connect with what they are eating.

Good luck this season.

Oregon Crêpe Company,LLC

have crêpe will travel

...pies too!

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I was at my local produce farm yesterday and noticed they sold bags of homemade granola. It made me think of this thread and that it might be a good item to sell.

Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Orison Swett Marden

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