The Farmers Market is a great place to sell your food because people are coming out to shop, to eat, and to not worry about the slightly exaggerated prices. There are dozens upon dozens of booths, selling all sorts of organic foods, grilled foods, raw foods, anything your heart can desire. So when folks come to the farmers market, they usually don’t have a specific cuisine in mind, they want to follow their noses and their whims. Organic produce, gluten free baked goods and local artisan foods are all very popular items at any farmers market.
So it’s up to you, the food vendor, the attract the people to your booth, and let their stomachs and taste buds choose you over everyone else.
But how?
The first thing you need to do is catch people’s attention. This can be done with the sweet smells of your fare wafting in the summer breeze, but if you rely on that you will soon be in the back of the pack, tossing all your unsold food at the end of the day, wondering where you went wrong. The first step toward getting someone to buy your food is having them know you’re there, and attracting their attention and piquing their interest. We suggest getting something like these pop-up banners and other visuals that will capture passing traffic. A passer-by will see your visuals and at least come over to your stand, where you’ll be able to engage them and sell them on your specific offering.
You also want to make sure that if they do decide to buy from you, that the service is quick and efficient. If you sell the best food but it takes 5 minutes to prepare and serve, you’re going to have a tough time attracting repeat customers. And remember, these farmers market goers like to go almost every week, and they will definitely return to a booth that they loved. Do as much prep work as you can before hand, and make sure your food is easy to serve. A line is good as it shows that your booth is popular, but a quickly moving line is best. If it means hiring someone to accept payments, or someone addition to serve, do it, because an efficient food stand is one that will have return customers, and customers who talk up your food to others.
You should also never underestimate the power of the free sample. It’s a percentage game of course – you can’t expect and shouldn’t expect anyone to sample your food to come right over and buy a plate of it. But you will certainly attract some customers and the cost of samples is well worth even just a few new eaters. These new eaters will likely become repeat customers and pay off the minimal expenditure of the free sample in short time. Much like a banner display, if you can put someone out a bit away from your booth offering samples, you will direct new people to your food that may have never known you existed.
Lastly, make sure your food is amazing. That should go without saying, but if it’s amazing, people will find out about it. That’s the bottom line.