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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Selling Lettuce
  • Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:30:38 -0400


On Apr 29, 2008, at 9:41 AM, Richard Stewart wrote:

I am curious how some of you sell your lettuce both how you package
it and how you weigh/measure it.

I sell by the individual head, priced roughly according to size, and in mixed bags: a gallon bag holding 3 or more different kinds of lettuce, according to size. (I grow assorted leaf, butterhead, summer crisp, romaine, etc; no iceberg; the exact varities depending on the season.) Mixed bags are priced per bag; last year they were 2.50, I expect they'll have to go up next year. They usually weigh about half a pound, but they're not sold by weight.

I harvest each planting for approximately 3 weeks, starting with fairly small lettuce that may be four or even five to fill a bag, and winding up with heads that may need to be split to get 3 in a bag. My customers don't seem to care about size as long as flavor is good. This may vary by market.

Almost all of it sells in the mixed bags. I discovered some years ago that people who would pause at a display of six trays of different lettuces, with a "3 for, mix or match" sign on them and bags handy, and then walk on without buying anything, would snap up the same lettuce if I just put 3 heads in the bag for them and displayed it that way. Maybe it saves them having to decide? I've no idea. But it works.

I bring some bags already made up, but bring most of the lettuce not bagged yet and make more at market as I go; this lets me adjust what's in a bag for special requests (all reds? all romaine? no romaine?) and also adjust how I'm filling them depending on what, if anything, is selling as individual heads; as I generally have six varieties to work from to fill three-variety bags, if Purple Oakleaf, for instance, is selling relatively fast by itself, then less of that goes into the mixed bags. You do want to keep some bags visible on the display all the time, though. I second the person who said customers won't buy what they don't see.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale



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