To Market, to market…
Posted on July 28, 2007 - Filed Under green market, herbs, pet food, products
Today was the very first ever Green Market in Thomasville. We were up all night preparing: making samples, printing out literature, packing product. Phew. We sold Angeka on the Farm Garden Fresh Herbs (basil, sage, oregano and parsley) and the natural pet food John’s repping. The pet food was the main product. The herbs we brought as a test to get feedback and gauge interest in natural produce.
The market was very small. We were one of eight vendors. The turnout and response was thankfully much bigger. We estimate a steady flow of 75-100 people came through. We sold almost all of our dog food samples and got 2 actual orders for big bags. Never underestimate what people will do or pay for their animals. People seemed very interested in the food especially after the recall scares. It’s all natural, no fillers, wheat gluten, preservatives, or artificial colors/flavors — basically human quality food (made in the US from chicken, fish and grains) for pets. We practically forced a sample on one woman with a picky older dog. She insisted we not waste the sample because her dog ate nothing but table food. She came back an hour later, astonished that her nitpicking dog ate the food immediately, and placed an order. Cool.
The herbs were a slower seller as many people already grow their own around here, but I made a respectable sales. More importantly, I met people who are interested in naturally grown produce and learned what they want to buy like special lettuces and salad-type veggies, arugula, cilantro, tarragon and herbs if they’re dried and made into special mixes or rubs or seedlings. All my business cards were taken (about 25) and I urged people to call and let me know what they want us to grow. My next step will be to make special packages of current harvests to drop off at select local restaurants to make myself known. There’s really only about 3 that I would want to sell to. Good restaurants are few and far between in this area.
I did manage to trade our leftover bags of herbs for the other vendors’ wares. That was very cool and gave me hope that not only can we sell, but we can barter locally. After 4 hours, we were pleased to walk away with enough money to cover our costs, plus another $30 profit, a hunk of raw organic goat cheese, 2 kinds of fresh salsa (from 2 different vendors – salsa is big here), all natural pork and sausage (John and the dogs will enjoy that), and 2 packages of homemade biscotti.
Today definitely gave us hope and motivation. I’m already looking for the next event.
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