Selling at the local farmers’ markets has been on the agenda when I started brainstorming the steps for my business. It was going be a significant part of getting exposure and introducing my items to the locals. The pandemic had put a halt on that plan for months. Most of the spring months were spent quarantined and not stepping out of my home except when necessary. In the more recent months, I started applying to some of the local markets only to find out that they’re either temporarily closed, put a temporary halt on food vendors, or simply just didn’t have the space for me (which was mostly the case). Places are tight on space due to Covid-19 precautions and limitations. I got put on the waiting list with a couple. One of those places was the farmers’ market at Farmakis Farms, which just opened up not too long ago. It was exciting news when I received the email, notifying me that a space had just opened up.
Farmakis is a family owned venue that has become established and known for being a destination to come pick out Christmas trees during the holiday months and exploring the pumpkin patch during the fall months. The farmers’ market here only started some months ago.
I was asked if I could start that same week. And I had nothing prepared! I wasn’t expecting to be asked to start anywhere so soon. I had to go into preparing mode ASAP. I literally had NOTHING prepared.
Insurance $299 (already existing, but had to add additional insured, at no extra cost).
I was asked to add to the policy: the market where the event is held and the city of where the event is held, Farmakis Farms and the city of San Juan Capistrano. I use FLIP (Food Liability Insurance Program). As a new foodpreneur, I wanted a budget friendly option and FLIP came highly recommended.
Business license $45.30
I assumed that the business license that I already had (for the city of Fullerton) was a one for all deal. But apparently, I had to get another one for the city where my items were going to be sold at. I had to obtain a business license from the city of San Juan Capistrano as well.
TFF $112
A Temporary Food Facility permit is needed when selling at events and markets. It just came in the mail the other day, and it looks the same as the first health permit I received earlier this year for the city of Fullerton, which is where my items are prepared.
More farmers’ market essentials…
Banner
It’s a good thing I was already in communication with my designer about my banner. We had been casually exchanging messages on design ideas, but at the time, I had told her that there’d be no rush because it’d probably be weeks or even months until I probably needed it. I contacted her right away when I started getting ready, making sure she had plenty of time. I first worked with Christina at Select GP when needing a designer for my sell sheet. I had just about had it with all the drafts of the hideous designs I was coming up with and decided that it was time for help from a professional. She’s been helpful and communicative with my design needs and I’d recommend!
Prior to the pandemic, when I was planning things out in my head, I envisioned having items in a display case. They would have been unpackaged items that I would have grabbed with tongs upon orders to probably put in wax paper bags. Well, we are living in different times now. Display cases at farmers’ markets are yesterday’s news. And nobody is pulling down their masks to munch while browsing the markets. Well, maybe some people are here and there, but it gives off an awkward and taboo feel. Food items are taken home to enjoy. Things have to be prepackaged, including samples. Pre-COVID sampling plans were to lay out plates with tongs and toothpicks for folks to grab and try, in the exposed air. What savage practices we’ve had pre-COVID! Baked by A.K. is a stranger to SJC and sharing samples is a vital part of making an introduction. I put samples in the little sauce containers with lids. I had these ones (below) to start. I started with those and later bought more in bulk at Restaurant Depot.
The next step was menu planning. Pre-COVID times, I imagined selling items by the singles. This felt more ideal for a munching while browsing situation. Selling by the singles from display cases (like my original plans) didn’t make sense for present times. Like with cookies, I figured, selling by the dozen would probably be too much. But threes and sixes felt more ideal. People would be taking them home to eat (and possibly save to eat for later too and even share with family members at home), so I had to pivot to figure out what made more sense, quantity-wise, too. Pre-COVID, when I was visiting a farmers’ market as a customer and in the mood for a cookie, I’d probably want one. One cookie to munch on and to go with a coffee I might have gotten at another booth nearby. But in current times, since it feels incredibly awkward to be walking around removing my mask each time to take a bite and sip, I’m buying to take home to enjoy. And when enjoying at home, it’s more likely that I might save it and put it away for a major sweet tooth day (that’s just me, personally). I may likely be having them while vegging out in front of the tube. I am not sitting at a shared table with random market going strangers while munching on some tamales I just got, along with the coffee and a bag of produce. In that type of setting, a single cookie to be had after the tamale snack would be feeling more fitting. And this is my own real life scenario of how it used to go down when I used to visit farmers’ markets pre-COVID. I am still learning and tweaking, so who knows what that plan might evolve into.
As a vendor selling baked items, I also have to keep an eye on what other vendors selling baked items are selling to make sure that I’m not selling the same or similar items. For me, that ruled out good old regular chocolate chunk cookies. I thought about having something simple, regular, familiar, and classic. Chocolate chunk cookies seemed to be it, but I found out that someone else is already selling those, so that’s out! But I do have vegan versions of it.
BAKED BY A.K.’S FIRST FARMERS’ MARKET
DAY 1
After spending the week preparing, I felt ready to take on my first day at Farmakis (first farmers’ market experience). I was anxious but felt prepared. Since I had no idea of what to expect until actually experiencing it firsthand, I wanted to keep things simple for the first day and not overwhelm myself with having ten million different items and even more display items. With first time anxiety, my headspace was already expected to be a little bit scattered. It doesn’t help that my brain doesn’t perform at its highest capacity in the early mornings!
5:00 a.m. –Alarm goes off (and I typically sleep around 1-2 a.m., so this wasn’t easy)
6:15 a.m. – Pick up and load items from the kitchen and drive to the location.
7:00 a.m. – Arrive and start setting up. I was so worried about the tent situation because I knew it wasn’t something I’d be able to do without help, especially since I had never set one up before. One of the owners is there in the early morning and he was quite helpful with the tent setup, answering any questions, and offering tips and suggestions. So were the other vendors!
9:00 a.m. – Open for business
The simplicity of my booth ended up looking like this…..
You can’t get any simpler than that! Now that I look back on it, it’s embarrassingly too simple and plain. I will work on pimpin’ it up a bit more next week. I had samples inside of the jack o lanterns and the actual items were in the back to retrieve upon purchase. Now that I have gotten a feel of the environment, for next time, I will have the actual items on full display. I was told that maybe the samples should be within visibility as well instead of having to look inside the pumpkin to see what it is.
I felt I had a good amount of variety to start. I didn’t want to have too many. Too much variety can sometimes make it hard to pick anything sometimes.
Vegan tahini chocolate chunk cookies
The item that I sold most was the coffee cake. That seems to generally be the best selling item right now overall, even outside of this venue.
DISCLAIMER: This post contains affiliate links, which means that I will be earning a small commission from any purchase made from the items here that I am sharing. These are items that I have purchased myself (many shown in the display setup photo above), with a few items that are currently on my wish list to purchase.