guys what is up it is Damian from
marketing food online I've got another
video this evening this one is going to
be specifically aimed towards farmers
markets if you have never sold locally
at a farmers market or if you're
starting a cottage kitchen and you're
producing a food at home and you are
looking to attend local farmers markets
I have five tips five ways to make it a
success when I started my business with
my wife we did the farmers markets as
well locally we also did festivals and
we did quite a few places we even did
some volunteering and we donated some
stuff to charities which is another
video a great way to also locally get
yourself out there is to donate your
product and your time to charity it's a
great free way that you can get some
notoriety and then get out there people
aware of what you do and out the
business cards and let the locals know
you are there
so five tips five ways to have a
successful farmers market really quick I
am going to tell you a horror story it
is a story about the first farmers
market that me and my wife went to which
was eight Rochas it was not a successful
event it was a learning experience oh my
gosh that was horrible well my wife and
I took we had we actually had our our
brick-and-mortar retail bakery our
Italian bakery and we got invited to a
an event which turned to out to be one
of the worst experiences of food sales
I've ever had so the way it broke down
is this was the first one we went to I
wasn't sure how to set up things I
wasn't sure about when to set up things
and a few other questions that weren't
answered exactly the way that we thought
prior to attending this event so what we
took from it was the five things I will
show you as we learn from experience we
actually went there and realized that we
brought all of our cookies we did a lot
of cookies though we asked the
prepackaged cookies in we bought some
samples and we put those in contain
display cases but didn't realize that it
was in the middle of summer and there
was an enormous amount of flies that
would be attending this farmers market
as well so long story short you can put
two and two together and realize that
sampling cookies with no covering on
them was something that we should have
probably not done but the Flies did
enjoy the cookies most of the people
that were there did not so all right so
five things that I learned from the
Flies number one farmers markets
you've got to understand something they
are different everywhere okay there's a
lot of different things that you need to
think about or look into and you need to
ask the farmers market in particular
about the following the first thing of
that is do some market research check
out the farmers market itself if you
want to attend a local farmers market go
to it see what they have okay here's why
there are a lot of farmers markets that
are set up for vegetables and fruits and
produce okay they have a lot of local
growers that bring produce to the
farmers markets they are not necessarily
set up for candy makers let's say or if
you make breads or if you have cookies
whatever it is that you're allowed to
make with in your cottage kitchen within
your state every farmers market is not a
fit for what you do so you need to know
that okay some farmers markets actually
restrict the type of food or items being
brought in so you want to check that out
go to the people to view or who are
doing the production end of it who are
producing this the farmers market who
put it on who manages it ask them
specifically hey this is what I make do
you think this is something that will
sell good here because a lot of times
some farmers markets like I mentioned
would be set up just for produce so
customers coming in people who are
coming to visit coming through those
farmers markets are not looking for
cookies candy breads baked goods jams
and jellies they may just be there for
fresh produce okay why do I say that is
because some farmers markets will be set
up and they're going to have 20 booths
of produce and you're going to be the
only one there with baked goods and
nobody's there expecting that you're
going to be there
so your sales may be zero or nothing and
then a lot of cases farmers markets
charge fees to get in not only do they
charge fees to get in but then they'll
charge you a percentage based on what
you sell
once you're there okay these are things
you may not to think about so do your
research check it out first
number one research research research
find out what is going in there what is
selling what kind of sub can you sell
because they can restrict they can tell
you yes or no based on what they want
they are governed by the way just so you
know farmers markets are there's certain
aspects of farmers markets that are
actually governed by local laws and
state laws but there are rules and
regulations that the farmers market has
the right to set up and they can dictate
whatever those might be as far as these
percentages of what you sell how big
your booth is what you can sell what you
can't sell these are all different
things to think about okay so do your
research first find out first the next
one actually I discovered two of the
five which was actually that mark the
farmers markets set up their own rules
and policies now when they do that keep
in mind that they will tell you the type
of boot that you can have the size of
the booth when to be there what time you
have to actually take everything down
you got to kind of shut down your shop
if they close at seven you got to be out
by 8 people who own farmers markets own
that actual land that is on they're
going to regulate to you what the rules
are as far as participating in those
okay expect that in some cases they have
their own rules okay and in some cases
those rules may involve a $50 fee some
I've actually seen in certain states go
up to several hundred dollars to get in
but in those farmers markets they're
going to tell you well the traffic's
going to be like 20,000 people so if
you've got five hundred dollar fee and
you're going to sell them you have the
potential to sell to twenty thousand
people you're going to make that money
back okay
what you also want to know is your
product okay and I know that maybe you
may make a face to that too like what
does that mean
know that your product know what your
product is like the back of your hand if
I make cookies okay and I'm going to go
to a farmers market and they have about
50 booths set up and there's four people
selling cookies the likelihood that you
should go to that farmers market in my
opinion is zero do not do that know your
product if your product is a baked good
and there's seven people selling a
similar baked good chances are that your
sales are going to be extremely low find
farmers market and you can ask them you
can tell the people who manage if they
look this is what I make how many of
your vendors are actually selling a
product like mine or even is exactly
like mine okay
if you're selling a big good product now
I don't want to deter you from what I
just said I do want to explain this to
you if you're selling the baking product
and let's say isn't cooking now there
are five other vendors selling baked
goods but their bread stone things that
are not like your product thumbs up do
it go for it okay but again knowing your
product and if you go there and they've
got five booths set up selling cookies
you're going to waste your money and
your time okay so know your problem
try to make sure that there's not going
to be a whole bunch of people selling
the same item okay all right number four
when you go to a farmers market you are
responsible for every aspect of your
setup your breakdown your sitting at the
table if you've got a tablecloth that
you're going to be putting down setting
up the sample setting up product to sell
you got to bring samples to sell okay so
you've got to keep in mind the amount of
money that you're going to put out for
samples because they're people going to
want to try your product and then you
got to have product there okay you also
want to make sure that you've got a sign
put up a sign you can get sides made for
nothing you can go online you can get a
sign made set it up in front of your
booth explaining who you are and the
sign what your product is you don't
necessarily have to do a set price you
can change your pricing as you go
recommend that you do a sign just
explaining the name of your company your
website if you have one a contact phone
number and of course the type of product
it's yourself ok so if you're Suzy's
great cookies put Suzy's great cookies
and Suzy's great cookies calm a phone
number because what that will do is you
need to also hand out business cards by
the way I would highly recommend you do
that that sign makes a big impact on
people as they come up to your booths
you look more professional you don't
look like you're just doing this on the
weekends to make up money so you can go
out and party or whatever you may do so
make it look professional make yourself
look professional okay
also with that kind of having a system I
guess you want to say of setting up make
sure that you understand the guidelines
for that specific farmers market they
all are different okay they may require
that you be there an hour before to set
up your booth maybe two hours and if
they close them at say seven they say
look by 8 o'clock you've got to be out
of here so wrap up your stuff get kind
of a system set up so you know how long
it takes you ok
how long is it going to take to get
everything put together to get yourself
set up time it out understand the best
way for you to set up are you going to
bring help are you doing about yourself
you have family members I don't
recommend you bring your kids
unprofessional and plus you're going to
be taking this to the bathroom every two
hours
Do It Yourself with either like your
husband or wife your cousins somebody
else who can help you okay some of the
boons that you set up you're going to
have a lot of stuff between samples sign
tablecloths chairs to sit on you bring
in coolers you have some food to eat
while you're there
most farmers markets are hours on end
okay
does it keep that in mind so kind of
have a set up how you going to do
everything okay and again well I'm not
going to deter you or scare you with all
of these things that you need to think
about if you want to do a local farmers
market okay the best way to learn just
by doing it okay take these notes down
write it down but don't don't stress
over it zone zone the key yourself
trying to figure out everything and
every little aspect do it once learn
from it do it twice
learn from it it's so on and so on and
so on okay remember if you can do it
properly and you can execute it great
setting yourself up and your sign
sampling you can make a lot of money at
farmer's markets okay because a lot of
people go to farmers market with money
to burn they are willing to pay a
premium I guess you want to say almost
four products that's locally made
because they like to support small
business they like to hear your story
but the great thing is they come with
cash okay and cash is just it's
phenomenal when you start selling stuff
with cash it's just great and I can do a
whole separate video on that so lastly
start small okay start small
don't go into this with the mentality
that you're going to make $10,000 or a
couple thousand dollars on a weekend you
can think that if you want but be honest
with you when you start out from scratch
a few hundred dollars or a couple
hundred dollars it's great if you can do
all of our grand that's fantastic
okay but start just little by little
start and small start incrementally okay
if you want to think big and starts well
that's always a good way that's my
philosophy when I started out my
business I always saw myself as
something much much bigger than I was
when I started but realistically start
small you don't know what you're doing
at first that's fine you've got to keep
practicing and keep trying it okay and
then from there as I've always said
before it becomes a success locally get
yourself into a commercial planes and
get yourself with a big bigger system
their facility bigger equipment more
people and then you can grow from there
okay so start small but think big okay
so remember these five things are the
best things to remember when you're
going into a farmers market or a
festival even it does you know those
types of settings keep in mind the peas
keep in mind how big is your boobs when
you're supposed to be there
how many peoples are going to take for
you to set up and break down ask all
these questions okay and if you don't
know just simply ask I hope that video
helps you out definitely go out there
and try farmers markets if you're
selling locally it is a big thumbs up
for me great place to network also you
never know who is actually at farmers
markets
you could even run into a local buyer
for a food chain and say hey look you
know what I'd love to take this to
another level I know some people you can
get touch with you just never know
alright so if you like my videos it's
always give me a thumbs up if you don't
let me a thumbs down that's fine you
have questions down below as always and
I will see you on the next video thanks
guys