Farmers Markets

[aris]

Suggestion - start a blog. Makes for good advertising, and you can get your story (and pictures) out fairly easily.

Starting a blog is free - try these websites:

www.blogger.com
www.livejournal.com

Aris

[welsh wizard]

Nice one aris I will certainly look into that especially if I can get more marketing on the go. At the moment I am trying to learn the ruidments of setting up a web site and have registered my site name and now need to start building my pages, so thats most of next week taken up!

Marketing to date:

> Business cards, post cards (to place in shop windows) and fridge magnets all from www.vistaprint.co.uk who are a good and cheap site.

> Flyers and "all about" sheets for the pubs that take my wares I have done on the computer and good grade paper from Staples office suppliers.

> Articles in the local paper with photographs. If you do this you must think of an angle to set you apart from evryone else, I went with "director gets out of the rat race to create his own"!

> Word of mouth - the most powerful form of marketing there is. If a pub gets me another account for any of my products they recieve a side of smoked salmon free. It is up to me to maintain and service the account but initial introduction via a fellow chef is 100 times better than a salesman selling his own wares.

Hi Hobbitfeet and thank you for your kind remarks but I dont really know if I have big b***s or a case of mass stupidity!!

Cheers WW

[saucisson]

If you like to, let us know your website early on and I'm sure you will get lots of constructive advise

Dave

[welsh wizard]

Hi S -ALL advice always needed!

Trying hard, and people like you can make a difference

Cheers WW

[saucisson]

In that case I'll suggest putting a saucer of dry bicarbonate of soda in your car boot where it won't get knocked over

Dave

[Lance Yeoh]

I'll be selling some of my produce in a Flea Market here tomorrow. It was a last minute thingy so I'm a bit unprepared. Just printed some simple price list and a small notice to hag on the stall.
I'm only gonna be making the sausages tonight so they'll be real fresh when I sell them tomorrow. I'll be packing them in a styrofoam box with crushed ice.
Hehehe kinda nervous as it's gonna be my first time out.

[welsh wizard]

Hi Lance, I really wish you the very best of luck. Dont under price yourself though! I recently saw some sausages for sale at the local farmers market for c�9 a Kg - how much is rump steak????

Anyway I asked him how it was going and he said - really well! I sell my sausages to the trade @ �6.20 a kg and was thinking of selling them on the FM for c�7 a kg, but this has changed my perspective.

Go for it Lance and please let me know how you get on I will be very interested.

Cheers WW

[Lance Yeoh]

WW,
The flea market thingy was a flop. It rained almost the whole time and there was hardly any visitors as all. The fact that the flea market was just set up last month did not help either.
Good thing I didn't have to pay rental like the other stalls. Now I've got 10 kilos of extra sausages on hand, hahaha time to have a cheap sale.
Will be trying at another more established flea in a more upscale part of town later on. Probably next week actually. Wish me luck.

[welsh wizard]

Well you seem to have had a bad experience but you dont sound to be down - well done you. Mind you 10kg of sausage makes a lot of breakfast!

Good luck with the next one............

Cheers WW

[Lance Yeoh]

Hey WW,
Was at my 2nd flea market and this time it rained cats and dogs again. But the diference is this time round there were more people at this location and I managed to sell about 8kg of sausages. Not too bad for a first outing to this location. Will be going again this week with more sausages and I'm praying that it won't rain. Only down side to this one is I can't sell pork meaning I can't sell bacon and sausages made with hog casing.

[welsh wizard]

Top Sausage Lance -

Glad to hear it went well for you and it seems to be working. I had a chat with a stall holder in my local Farmers market last week and he told me it took him 3 months to do any considerable business. a lot is via word of mouth and people knowing you are going to be there when they come back. I am embarking on my first 3 day event this week at a place called Shobdon on the Welsh Borders. I have decided to sell Hot Dogs (my own obviously) Beef Burgers (hand made) made with local Long Horn Beef and some of my own smoked salmon in brown bread and aslo per KG vac packed. Problem I have is I am not too sure how much to charge?

I am going to put the burgr / sausage / salmon in a quality bun and then onto a paper plate with some coleslaw and rice complete with a wooden disposable fork (5p each! because of the Glastonbury festival) so it becomes more of a meal rather than a sknack. BUt how much to charge - gawd knows??????????????????????? I thought about �3.50 - �4.00 - anyone got any experience of this???

Keep us informed on how you move along - any Pics?

Cheers WW

[Lance Yeoh]

WW,
I'm just trying to follow in your footsteps, that's all. Doing something you really have a passion for is so much more fulfilling than spending hours in the office doing paperwork.
Burgers is a good idea as well. Maybe I'll try doing it one day as well. This week I'm adding spaghetti to my list and I'm putting bulk sausage into the sauce. By doing that I set me spaghetti apart from what is usually found here and since I do my own sausage, I can afford to put in a generous amount.

[welsh wizard]

Hi Lance - Yes it is VERY rewarding if not a little frustrating at times. Ref Burgers, good quality ones are very easy to make and I have high hopes for them this week.

I suppose when you boil it all down you are trying to minimise your time and maxamise your profit without ever taking your eye off the quality and what sets you apart from the rest of the crowd. I am still very keen and I know this venture will work. It is lovely now having people phoning me for goods rather than me having to do all the proactive work on the marketing side.

I seem to work 6.5 days a week at the moment but it is all 100% better than the office waller I used to be. No regrets (well maybe for the bank manager!)

Cheers WW

[welsh wizard]

Well I attended my first 3 day farmers food / flower market over the weekend and it was for me a good sucess but with a very steep learning curve.

I sold on my outside stand (good weather considering the forecast)

Pork, apple and cider sausages

Rare breed, sorry traditional breed beer burgers

Smoked salmon club rolls

Home cured bacon rolls in the morning for the exhibitiors.

All rolls were fresh cibatta (is that how you spell it?).

I sold c 400 rolls - 6 sides of salmon - 20 packs of sliced salmon in 150g packs - and took orders for goodly quantities of smoked bacon and smoked salmon.

The down side was I was too busy cooking to promote my business of outside catering and quality produce, but I did make a few shillings and a lot of my litrature went as well so all in all a good couple of days.

Next time it will be a local cider festival so I have to decide what I produce for that.

I have some pictures and I will try and post them but it just seems so complicated for a computer dunce like me so I will have to wait for one of my children to show me...........

Cheers WW

[Hobbitfeet]

More power to your elbo, mate. You've worked hard and deserve a bit of success.