Thanks Mischka, and first posting!

[Dukerdawg]

First of all I want to thank Mischka for creating this new category. I have wanted to get into selling at farmers markets for several years and may take the plunge this year. Just to make a few dollars, but more importantly I think it would be extremely satisfying to turn more people on to healthy vegetables and in particularly heirloom tomatoes.

First of my requests are suggestions for products for packaging. Does anyone have a good source for cardboard boxes for tomatoes. Google doesn't seem to help much, and it could be I'm not typing in the correct phrases.

Secondly, I would love to hear experiences from everyone who currently sells at farmers markets and would greatly appreciate your knowledge and pro's and con's on what to expect.


Duane

[ContainerTed]

At the new farmer's market in a local community, one lady who has raised heirlooms for a few years brings all her product in wicker style baskets. Some of these look like the old Easter baskets I had as a kid. She also has a nice hanging scale that gets mounted off the back of her flatbed truck (she hauls a bunch). Folks select the ones they want, she weighs them for all to see, and then she puts them into plastic shopping bags (just like the bags at Walmart, only one or two sizes smaller. I've never seen her leave with anything left.

Oh yeah, she charges $4.00 per pound. I bought one Black From Tula from her and happily paid the $3.00. I got plenty of seed and three BLT's. I call that a bargain.

[heirloomer08]

First off I have to say go for it!!! Just keep one thing in mind. It can be tuff getting people to try the more unusual heirloom tomatoes. You will need to sample some of them to get them to try them. I started mine this past growing season and I live in a small town in Northwest Iowa. I have two other small towns nearby that I started my own market in as there wasn't one there until I came. The general public has stereo-typed tomatoes as having to be red, round, and good for slicing. If was very tuff for me to get them to buy any of the different colored tomatoes. But, once I was able to get them to try them they came back for more. My customers just didn't understand the quality of the different colors. Although, I am very persistant and I will be back in town next year. I raised 43 varieties of tomatoes and I only saved seed from 15 varieties. I have already received some new varieties for next year and still looking for more. I will be back up to growing 40 - 45 varieties again in the spring. For my area I have to keep trying different ones and sort down to what my customers will buy.
As far as containers to sell out of I found the best are cardboard pop flats. Go to any grocery store and ask them for them they should just give them to you for free. This way you don't have the temptation to double stack your tomatoes and the public can see them clearly.
If you live in a larger metro you shouldn't have the problems I had selling heirlooms. The larger city people are generally already exposed to the different varieties. The odd and unusual varieties that I tried to sell they had never seen before. Thus, I had to educate them about all the new varieties.
Good luck!!! Have a great day!!!
heirloomer08

P.S. Raise lots of red ones, that way you will still be selling tomatoes until you get your customers educated on the new ones.

[Wi-sunflower]

For packaging check out Monte. They are in Western Mich. and have a web site. If you grow just red tomatoes, you will have to have absolutely PERFECT tomatoes to sell them for any kind of decent price. Any cracks or blemishes and you will be about giving them away. People that have been exposed to heirlooms tho will be at least a bit more tolerant of some imperfections, especially if you name the tomatoes on your exhibit.

All of our tomatoes sold better when we had enough to keep them sorted and named. IF you are able to sell at an established farmers market be very careful to follow any rules established by the authority running the market. Many of the markets around me are run or at least overseen by the local "health dept". Because of that we need a scale that can be certified "legal for trade". Hanging scales or "baby" scales need not apply. Check out what your state requires as far as HOW different products can/have to be sold.

In Wisconsin, cherry tomatoes can be sold by the pint basket. Many sellers also sell the large types in quart containers, but to be legal you have to post an "average" or "minimum" weight. When selling "bulk" such as "seconds" or canners, you need to post the weight or min. also.

While giving samples is a good idea to get sales, be careful there too. Cherry tomatoes are OK as you can just let customers take a tomato. But if you need to cut anything for a sample size taste, any "health dept" MAY say you can do the cutting only if you have a "licensed kitchen" (the type of place where you might make jams or muffins). My biggest market is a PITB about NO samples that need to be cut. Really kills melon sales. But Hubby's market doesn't care, so he does better with that stuff.

Be sure to grow several kinds of cherries / grape tomatoes. That way even if your weather screws up your big tomatoes and makes them hard to sell, usually the small stuff is still OK. Also if you have a greenhouse / cold frame / high tunnel or whatever where you can get a jump on the season, do something with it. Even if you don't start tomatoes REALLY early so they are ready in May, any jump on the normal "field" season for your area will get the customers to you for "vine-ripe" flavor. And you will get a better price for that short time before all the field tomatoes come in.

[natural]

Hi Duane,

I've sold heirloom tomatoes at markets for 6 years. Unfortunately, last year was my last year selling due to health reasons.

We were very successful. Some days we sold 500 + pounds. We NEVER came home with tomatoes.

Can't remember if you asked, but the plants are also BIG sellers.

I did ALOT of research into growing for market. We easily sold 5X more than any other vendor. I am sure that our success was due to the attention we put toward display, customer interaction etc.

First, we packed and transported the heirlooms in SINGLE LAYER 10 LB tomato boxes. Most people use the smaller -taller (2 layer) boxes, but we feared that this could risk damaging the ripe ones. (We always strived to bring tomatoes at all stages of ripeness so that the customer could enjoy them for more days). The single layer boxes were harder to find, but well worth the effort.

Next, we displayed the tomatoes using a 3-tier stand so that more of the tomatoes were visible to customers from across the market. Each of the shelves were 12 inches deep (and as wide as you need). We also used LOW, FLAT baskets that were 2 inches tall (wicker baskets lined with cloths to prevent indentations). The baskets were about 12 inch deep (to fit the shelves) by 9 inch wide. We usually brought at least 8 colors of tomatoes. We wanted to group by color and have the basket large enough for a nice looking display.

The other key factors are communication. Provide information about the varieties available. Ask the customer what they prefer, how they plan to use the tomatoes and make recommendations when appropriate. Customers love to get information. The more the better. Thats part of the reason they come to the market.

Another HUGE key for us was providing samples. Whenever we had a glut of a certain color or type, we started slicing and providing samples. Man, you should see those tomatoes fly off of your shelves after someone has tasted them. The cool thing is that when one customer tastes one and goes nuts, the other 6 people in line start grabbing samples and tomatoes like the world is coming to an end.

For weighing, we used a hanging scales that is Legal For Trade (required by all of the markets in our area). We used plastic bags for the customers, but by last year many of our customers were bringing their own re-usable bags.

Any other questions, feel free to ask.

Bill

[Grub]

INteresting new forum.

My question is to you, Bill.

What varieties did you grow for sale, which produced best for you, and what were the hot sellers?

Regards, grub.

[DennisM]

Duane,
If you are looking to purchase cardboard boxes, I used a company from the Chicago area that shipped boxes to me in MIchigan at what I thought was a reasonable price. I was not selling tomatoes, but they have a catalog with so many different box types and sizes that you probably could find what you need. I believe that you can also find them online. Otherwise, their contact information is as follows: ULINE, 2105 S. Lakeside Drive, Waukegan, IL 60085 (800) 295-5510 My only affiliation with ULINE is that I purchased boxes from them last year, and I am a satisfied customer.

Dennis

[Dukerdawg]

Wow! Thanks to everyone who has piped in so far. I knew the kind folks here would be a plethora of information. You have brought up some great points and as I research this longer I am taking notes from all the great ideas and experiences communicated here. Thanks also for the info on the boxes. If I do this, and I thought I would put some time into doing it right, or at least avoiding the most pitfalls a newbie would encounter, I wanted to be organized and professional. Not to say looking like an international conglomerate, but to have nice attractive packaging. Image counts for something, or at least in my area it does. I am in a metro area with probably 50 farmers markets within a reasonable driving distance, so I have to research the one-three that would be best to start. I plan to start small the first year and learn the ropes a bit before jumping in whole-hog.

More later, and will comment directly to some of the folks who were kind enough to give me insight and information.

Duane

[Wi-sunflower]

Uline is nationwide and has offices/wherehouses in several places. I wouldn't doubt in the Detroit area too.

If you have a large "flea market" near you, you might be able to find commercial produce boxes for the taking. The big market near me has several wholesale produce sellers and they like it when other sellers take the empties as it's less for them to clean up at the end of the day.

Sometimes you will find actual tomato flats. Other times grape or pineapple boxes will work too. The only problem using "recycled" boxes is the fact that some other growers may think you "bought" the produce wholesale. Turning the boxes inside out or painting over the printing is an option tho and cheaper than buying boxes, especially when just starting out. Many of the sturdy produce boxes can cost well over $1 each and don't last all that long.

Eventually you may want to look into wood or plastic flats that are a bit larger than a "seed flat". Definately more pricey to start off, but worth it in the long run. Just be sure they are something that will stack without crunching the tomatoes. If they also "nest" when empty that's a plus for the trip home. Nothing worse than being tired after selling well but having to figure out how to get all your stuff back into the vehicle to get home.

[Wi-sunflower]

If you have that many markets nearby, check out plenty before hand. I've been selling at farmers markets for over 25 years and have been at several types.

There are usually 2 or 3 "types" of markets.

1 is a flea type market that also has some produce area. For me not a good fit. Usually has 3 grades of produce, homegrown, wholesale, and stuff the wholesalers are ready to throw out. The customers usually don't realize the quality differences and just look at the price. Difficult place to sell at if you are the one with the good quality.

2 is just a "farmers market" but has no "homegrown" rule or doesn't enforce it. Another type to avoid if you want to get decerning customers.

I was at 1 of them for many years. They had a "homegrown" rule but never enforced it. It finally got so bad that on any given Saturday probably 1/2 the produce came from the "commission market" or a huge mega farmer about 30 miles away. It's hard to compete with people that buy the produce and don't have any labor costs. It also kills the quality image of the market since shipped in tomatoes or melons never taste as good as homegrown vine-ripe, but often the customers don't know why (because it's shipped in).

3 is a strictly "homegrown" rule market that is enforced, where you can't even bring in stuff grown by your neighbor. If you don't grow it yourself, you don't sell it.

That is where you will get the best prices and have the better informed customers. It will very likely be the hardest type of market to get into if it's been established for a while. The several in my area have been "full" for years and have a waiting list for new vendors.

Another thing is to try to find a mid-week market. A good 1 is hard to find, but it will help keep your produce "fresh" as anything leftover from a Saturday market will usually not make it til the next Saturday, but can be sold OK or as "seconds" at the mid-week. If you find 1 that gets you about 1/2 of the sales as your Saturday market consider yourself lucky.

[carolyn137]

I haven't sold at Farmer's Markets, so am not posting in this thread, but wanted to make one comment that I haven't seen others make and I'll make it in the thread I started this AM for chefs and retail non Farmer's Markets as well when I get the time to go back and post what I want to there.

Never, but never, grow new varieties in the same season you expect to be selling them.

Always trial your new tomato varieties the season before your first selling season.

And if a variety comes to you highly recommended and it doesn't turn out the first season, grow it again.

I've been posting online at message sites about gardening since 1989, mainly tomatoes, but other crops and flowers as well, and I can't tell you how many folks have run into serious problems b'c they didn't know what they were growing in terms of fruit yield, disease tolerance, shelf life and more.

So when thinking about selling at Farmer's Markets please decide what varieties you've already grown that might work out, but if you haven't grown a variety, do so, so you know where you're at re what you'll be able to offer to customers.

[natural]

Hi Grub,

Varieties we sell:

The last few years I have averaged growing about 150 varieties, all heirlooms. In a given year, there are probably 15 -20 varieties (of the 40 or 50 new trials per year) that we don’t care for. We sell everything else.

My goals are usually to trial 40 to 50 new varieties in a given year. The remaining planting (900 plants total) is based on with what I like best. The past few years our tomatoes became extremely popular with restaurants, so I also factor color into the equation We always have 8 colors in a restaurant box for chefs.

One note here: We always control the amount of water the plants get. Thus, we never have tomatoes that are cracked or taste bland. I think this contributes to bringing out the best flavor of each variety.

Note: I'll post some additional info on sales to restaurants in Carolyn's thread.

Hot Sellers:

This is a VERY interesting question.

Short answer is Cherokee Purple, Brandywine, or any of the “black” tomatoes.

To be brutally honest, it is whatever I recommend. The popularity of heirloom tomatoes has exploded here. However, the vast majority of our customers seek out heirloom tomatoes purely for the taste. Thus, very few customers can name ANY variety of heirloom. For a few years, I was really into the “black tomatoes”. So now that is what everyone asks for first.

Again, I do try to ask what flavor preferences a customer may have before recommending a variety.

Production:

Production is not a main factor for me. This is only a hobby, so my sales goal is: “Make enough money to pay for the expenses incurred while “playing”. Fortunately, this has never been a problem. The profit is just a plus.

However…
This years winners were:

GMG – (I swear its true!) My first time growing it. This tomato MADE my year! This was a reminder of why I do this in the first place.

On a personal note : I almost did not plant a garden last year. It was the excitement over obtaining some GMG seed from some kind folks here at TV that spurred me past some health issues to continue growing. So thanks to all.

Other “best producers” were:

Green Giant, Orange Oxheart, Chapman, Kelloggs Breakfast, Pink Berkeley Tie-Dye and a “Mystery Pink” which is driving me nuts. I picked 13 1LB plus tomatoes off of one of these plants in one day, and I don't know what it is!

Bill

[cdevidal]

Bill,
Thank you. EXCELLENT information. Just what I have been looking for.

[louise]

We sell the plants to customers, at farmers market, from mid February until we run out. Last year over 1000 tomato, 200+ pepper (hot and sweet) 100 eggplant, 50+ squash, 50+ melons and herbs. Then when or vegetables are ripe we sell the produce to farmers market customers.

[Grub]

Thanks for your reply, Bill.

And great news that GMG did so well for you. It's a must-grow here, naturally, and a nice compact and productive one, too.

I think the advice about not overwatering is bang on the money as well.

Best, Grub.