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  • From: KAKerby AT aol.com
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] wilted lettuce at market
  • Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:49:57 EDT

I just wanted to say thanks for all this conversation this morning.  I just asked my "grower advisor" to stop by my booth yesterday and give me a report card on what I can be doing differently, because we're having issues like this with our herbs.  So this morning's conversation about lettuce sales couldn't have come at a better time for us.  Particularly since the gloves come off next week and we're full speed ahead at two bigger, much more established markets in addition to the new market we've been doing so far.  This info may very well help us turn this year from a "learning experience" into something I can actually say made us some money.
 
On a related note, if you see in the news that the folks from the Funny Farm had to haul off a woman from a Western Washington farmers' market after she apparently had a nervous breakdown and started gibbering like an idiot about GAP, basil sales and how best to position her table baskets, that'll be me.  Send me some nice chocolates and some tea while I'm "recovering", will ya?  :)
Kathryn Kerby
frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA
 
 
In a message dated 4/29/2010 11:24:23 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, jaysleichter AT yahoo.com writes:
I agree sometime you can sell everything and sometimes you have to bring home the last three.
I have found that having different sized display boxes really helped.  I am sure you know that.  As my market goes, I am constantly restocking produce til I run out.  Then I keep putting it in smaller boxes until it is all sold.  Nobody wants to buy 3 cucumbers in a big empty box.  But those 3 cucs in a quart box might move them. This speeds up my tear down time. I  am taking tables down as I have less and less. It gives the illusion that I fill all my tables.  On my best day ever, I started with 3-6 foot tables, 3- 4 foot tables.  I ended the market with 1-4 foot table and my Ez-Up.

Maybe I will try more greens, but until then I will try to raise my prices.

Jay

Jay's Jellies, Produce and More
Clay Center, Kansas
www.jaysjellies.com
http://highfarming.blogspot.com/

--- On Thu, 4/29/10, Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net> wrote:

From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] wilted lettuce at market
To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Date: Thursday, April 29, 2010, 1:03 PM


On Apr 29, 2010, at 11:04 AM, Jay Sleichter wrote:

When you only take 8-10 bags, charge a cheap price (compared to many of the prices stated here) and bring home 3-5 bags it doesn't seem worth it to me.


On Apr 29, 2010, at 1:25 PM, saladg AT aol.com wrote:

Years and years ago I took some lettuce to the market and had it priced at $1.00 pound, couldn't sell it at all, well about 10:00 I changed my prices and raised the price to 6.00 and 3.00 for a 1/2 #, guess what it all sold in less than an hour.  Go figure, maybe I was priced to cheap.  Today we charge a lot more and we very seldom ever bring any home. 
 
Phil from Iowa
_______________________________________________


Charge what you think it's worth, or ought to be worth, and see what happens. You can always lower prices. Raising them mid-market, or even mid-season, sometimes annoys people.

And in terms of not bringing very much: years ago, I used to sell wholesale cucumbers (small scale, a few cases at a time) and would bring a few leftovers to market. If I brought three cucumbers, I'd bring three cucumbers home. One day I brought about 30 cucumbers -- and I still brought three cucumbers home. Eventually I figured out that, with cucumbers, I needed a full display to sell any: the last few just didn't sell; but, if I had the full display, most weeks I could sell quite a few.

That principle doesn't seem to apply to everything: there are items that I'll often sell out on if I don't bring very much in a given week; and in fact, in my case, lettuce is one of those. But you might try bringing more and see what happens.


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




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