Market Farming

["Elizabeth Pike" <pike AT always-online.com>]

Salads!!!  This is my specialty, though I do not sell to restaurants.
I do have a few chefs of the small downtown restaurants (bed &
breakfasts, supperclubs) who buy from me at the farmer's market.  When
I began doing research on this particular fm, I noted that the vendors
sold very few salad ingredients-2 kinds of lettuce & that's it.
Knowing that salad produce is the only produce that can't be frozen or
canned,  I eat so many  of them myself, & this is a market that can be
supplied year round here in my climate, I saw this as my niche.  I
kept anywhere from 10-19 types of lettuce on my tables at all times
(except the heat of summer-still working on that), various greens
(including arugula) & herbs, and a few other things like baby squash,
baby carrots, baby cukes, etc.  I charged $8.00 a bag-mix or match, or
$4.00/lb.  Now, the psychology behind this is that the bag held 2 lbs
approximately.  But because of the thought of having a whole bag of
produce versus just a pound, made more people go for the bag.  This
single strategy doubled my sales.

After the first days of market, several vendors began copying me, and
as I've said, I had to vary this all through the year (keeps the other
vendors on their toes).  No matter-I got the initial customers &
turned them into loyal customers who spread the word.

Liz
Morningstar Gardens
Pollocksville NC