Wholesale Pricing

[TomatoDon]

I was curious about wholesale pricing in the South. Most guys in my area are selling out of their pickup beds at $1.00 a pound. As I understand it, that's the only price.

I was curious about other wholesale and retail comparisons. I was thinking about buying either 20 or 25 pound tomato boxes with lids. Which is the best to purchase (which sells the best?) What is the market standard, or is there one?

I know that each year can be different and each variety can be, too. I'm just wanting some basic ball park ideas.

And what are some wholesale and retail prices you see, or use, around the South?

Thanks!
DS

[ginger2778]

$2 lb is what the farmers sell their wholesale tomatoes here for. $4 lb is what those guys then sell to the chefs and hotels for, and any walkup to the farm consumers too.

Marsha

[saltmarsh]

I'm not "Organic" just "All Natural". Last years crop sold for $2.00 a pound and that's what I plan to charge this year. My son has his entire crop booked to a CSA for $3.50 per pound but that's in Ann Arbor, Mi.

Greenhouse "Tomatoes on the Vine" are retailing in the grocery stores for $1.28 a pound. Those guys are really making a killing aren't they. Claud

[Cole_Robbie]

Those greenhouse OTV tomatoes were on sale for 99 cents a pound the last time I was at Kroger.

I'm only a small-time market grower and not exactly in the south, but fwiw I get only about $2/lb for market tomatoes. Prices at my market tend to be low for everything. I wish I had customers who would pay more for heirlooms, but peoples' idea of what tomatoes should cost is set by the prices in the grocery store. Price is the first consideration, appearance is second, and if flavor is a factor at all, it is a very distant third.

[TomatoDon]

Thanks for the info. Those prices you listed are much more encouraging than the ones I've seen here, which are almost always a dollar a pound.

One thing I forgot to mention is that also...almost always the tomatoes are Goliaths. I wanted to try pricing Goliath and Big Beef (wholesale) at $1.50 and Cherokee Purple, Indian Stripe, J. D.'s Special C-Tex, Brandywine Sudduth at Two dollars a pound. That should be in line.

I've never tried to sell to a large chain like Krogers. Is it hard to get to talk to the produce manager? Do they have contracts that forbid them from buying from other suppliers bedsides the ones they have contracts with? How hard or easy is it to sell to Kroger?

Thanks for the good info!
DS

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by TomatoDon

Thanks for the info. Those prices you listed are much more encouraging than the ones I've seen here, which are almost always a dollar a pound.

One thing I forgot to mention is that also...almost always the tomatoes are Goliaths. I wanted to try pricing Goliath and Big Beef (wholesale) at $1.50 and Cherokee Purple, Indian Stripe, J. D.'s Special C-Tex, Brandywine Sudduth at Two dollars a pound. That should be in line.

I've never tried to sell to a large chain like Krogers. Is it hard to get to talk to the produce manager? Do they have contracts that forbid them from buying from other suppliers bedsides the ones they have contracts with? How hard or easy is it to sell to Kroger?

Thanks for the good info!
DS

We have Publix here. The big guys have a waterproof airtight corner on the market here. Our farmers sell from their farms, farmers markets, go to restaurants to let the chefs try them, and sell to hotels, which there are plenty of because of all the waterfront.
Marsha

[Cole_Robbie]

The local co-op is the easiest place to sell to. I haven't tried Kroger. Another supermarket chain, Schnuck's, advertises that they buy from local farmers. There are also smaller mom & pop grocery stores and produce markets.

Shelf life is the issue with heirlooms. The window is brief. I would want to be confident that they would sell very quickly without sitting on a shelf and rotting. Pre-arranged sales to chefs and also selling shares in your farm will line up the buyers ahead of time.

[saltmarsh]

The solution for short shelf life is to do a pink to ripe pack with pinking tomatoes on the bottom, half ripe in the middle and ripe on top. No spoilage for you or the merchant or chef. Claud

Also, a lot of little old ladies and some not so old still can tomatoes. Businesses that employ these women, such as Florists and Restaurants are worth working to sell your cutters and canners. These sales will normally cover your crop expenses. I sell cutters and canners for half the price of #1's but only sell in bushel quantities on these.

[J luv red]

I'm in Texas, Rio Vista 50 miles south west of Fort Worth Texas. I have Beef Steak, Celeberity Hybrids, Bella Rosa, Tycoon, and 611's. I'm having a hard time trying to sell on the main drag in my town. I've sold some of my bigest tomatoes at 1.00 each but I have so many different sizes. One lady has asked If I'd sell her a busshel to tomatoes for canning. I saw that a bushel is 52 lbs. Any suggestions of what I might charge

[joseph]

The way to sell more tomatoes on the main drag through town is to lower prices....

People don't typically know what a bushel is... They see a half bushel basket and think that it is a bushel. Ripe tomatoes would crush themselves by their own weight if put in the typical round wooden bushel basket. Around here tomatoes are typically sold by the half bushel (26 pounds) but we don't weigh them because the laws regarding the use of scales are too oppressive to bother with.

Around here farmer to customer prices vary during the season. Early in the season we might get as much as $20 per half bushel for canning tomatoes ($0.77/pound). Towards the end of the season we only get around $13 per half bushel ($0.50/pound).

First of season tomatoes might sell for $1 each at the farmers market, but those prices drop off rapidly as the season progresses.

Stores typically double the prices of items that they receive, so if they are selling tomatoes for $1.50 per pound farmers that drop things off at the store can expect to be paid $0.75 per pound.

[Cole_Robbie]

The state weights & measures people used to come by to test our scales, but I haven't seen them in several years. I think the state ran out of money to pay them. It's the same with the health department inspectors.