Most of the tomatoes sold at my market are red slicers such
as Celebrity or some of the Mountain Series.
There are a few cherry and grape tomatoes sold, but most are
8 to 10 ounce reds.
Anything else is a hard sell or not at all.
Bud

I agree with Bud. I sell most of my tomatoes that are red and 8-10 ounces. Most want one that will fit nicely on a sandwich. Usually the really big ones don't sell great. That is the ones that are over 1 pound. Most complain about the price of one tomato. I always have really good luck with cherry tomatoes. I grow all the colors. Red, Yellow, Orange, Black, Pear Red and Yellow. I am trying the green this year.

I have grown alot of heirloom tomatoes. Last year I grew more the heirlooms and hybrids. The hybrids sold better. They were more consistant and didn't have any marks. The only heirloom that sold well was Cherokee Purple.

If your market will support higher prices for heirlooms, then raise them. If not, raise some and raise mainly hybrids.
Jay

most of the people that bought last year just wanted a red slicing tomato. it did'nt matter what it was just as long as it was red and ripe.

folks that dont grow their own and only have supermarket types to compare to dont know the difference or care.they just want a good tasteing one and hopefully a good buy.

I agree - most people aren't interested in the heirlooms because they don't always look like what they think a tomato should look like. They are used to the round, red blemish-free store tomatoes.

I've tried putting out little signs that gives the background/history of the tomato, but folks still want the perfect tomato. One year I tried to sell Purple Calabash - now THAT was a hard sell, lol.

If you can offer samples (not all markets can due to regulations) that might be a way to increase interest in the heirlooms.

Dee

I sell heirlooms in mixed boxes-a quart pulp box with 4 to 5 different colors/varieties of heirloom tomatoes. I also do this with cherry tomatoes, though I have a following for sungold and a home bred pink cherry we grow.

People i find are more willing to take a chance on a boxed of mixed tomatoes rather than buying a 1.5 pound box of all one type.

Another thing you can do is give sample-cherry tomatoes are easy, simply fill up a pint box with all the different kinds of cherry tomatoes you grow (I usually grow 5 or 6 different kinds). people can pop a couple of kinds in their mouth and decide. Larger tomatoes you can cut into slices (if allowed at your market) and have folks try samples of the heirlooms.

let people know these tomatoes while ugly have the old fashioned taste they are looking for-that will get some takers, and they will come back for more once they try 'em.

it will take quite a bit of education on your part to get them to sell but in the long run is well worth it as you can generally charge a dollar more per box for the heirlooms and it is good fun to turn folks on to tomatoes that are something other than red

"... it is good fun to turn folks on to tomatoes that are something other than red..."

I agree, boulderbelt, and actually, if you do get the customer hooked, there is the added advantage of being one of the few suppliers of their new habit, lol!

I just remembered that I read on either this forum or another one that a grower would give a free heirloom tomato to each customer who bought more traditional tomatoes, just to get them to try something different. It worked for him, as several of his customers did indeed realize how good the flavor of the heirlooms was, even if they weren't perfect looking.

I'm hoping that with the current trend towards organic and local eating, that people will be more open to trying new things.

:)
Dee

My market is in the tropics & +/- 4 oz. plum tomatoes' shape holds up the best in the heat for rustic transport home. Local cooking tradition favors their more meaty flesh that preserves texture.
My tourist restaurant cooks like the round slicer for their customers' taste for salads & garnish flair. The red +/- 8 oz. clean line hybrid sells, but heirlooms don't.
I trial heirlooms for my own table. They generally yield low & it seems the climate is too harsh for them.

Sounds like the heirlooms are a hard sell in most locations. I will likely be selling in some downtown urban locations (in Toronto)...wonder if the heirlooms would sell better there?

The only way to find out is to try. My first year i did nothing but heirlooms and sold quite a few and had some followers by the end of the season. So I have kept on growing them for the past 15 years and I am in rural America where this sort of thing should not work. But I do a lot of marketing and that sells my product. And that is the secret-marketing. because you will be selling at farmers markets and thus competing with the other growers. You will have to sell the public on why your stuff is better than the others' so they will come to your stand to buy

This year I have stopped growing hybrids entirely and go strictly with heirlooms. I get $3 a pound wholesale at one upmarket grocery and never take less than $2 a lb at restaurants. Everyone has red hybrids and the competiton drives prices down. I grow large red heirlooms like Brandywine and Maryanne's Peace and large colored heirlooms like Goldie, Oxxacan Jewel, Virginia Sweet, etc. and people love them. And this is in Arkansas, not San Francisco.

Hi Canuckistani,

Here, in Saskatchewan the heirlooms sell very well, so I would think that in a more urban market it would be the same for you.

We sell both hybrid and heirlooms, lots of big canning tomatoes and then the cherry, roma, purple, yellow etc. All do well. There is one vendor at my market that only sells heirloom tomatoes, nothing else, just tomatoes and they do a great business.

And we are not allowed to give samples either...but we get around it by 'looking the other way' when a customer 'sneaks' one...they can't stop us from letting people steal them!

I live in the middle of a major tomato growing area. Around here in summer tomatoes are abundant and worthless. I sell tomatoes on my roadside stand for between 50 cents to a dollar a pound. People almost always select the large round red slicers and leave the heirlooms behind even though all the farmers in the area have been heavily promoting heirloom for the last 6 years. Grape tomatoes out sell cherry. Plums only sell late in the season for canning... Bob.

I have a few 'odd' tomatoes, otherwise, not round, red, slicers. I ended giving 1 heirloom away to each customer that was willing to try them. The was the first week, the next week they came back to buy those 'odd' tomatoes, and then they told other customers that were waiting how great they were. It was better than taking the tomatoes home and giving to the pigs.

Samples of cherry tomatoes really help sell the different ones.

I live in Providence RI. This year I am selling sweet pea, mexico midget, and trophy heirlooms. Everything I grow is heirloom. The biggest thing about selling heirloom seems to be the market for them. If you can find a place that has alot of customers looking for better quality tomatoes,(as I was lucky enough to find) you can make alot more.

All I did was go around to local nursuries and found one that also sells produce. I sold heirloom plants there from May to June and told every single customer I came in contact with that I was going to be selling heirloom organic produce starting in July. So now I have a bunch of people waiting for my stuff to come into that nursury. It is a win/win for both me and the owner.

I suggest if you want to sell organic and/or heirloom you don't undercut yourself since they are harder to grow and try to find an area where the people appreciate a better tomato and sell there.

I have a friend who is a 4 star chef. While visiting him in Vermont last year I said something about my tomatoes and he said "How do you like green zebras?"( oddly one of my favorites I grow from my own seed). He has cooked in NY, Ohio, Maine, NH, Vermont, and now in Conn. When he was in Maine he had a market gardener that provided fresh, heirloom, organic produce from April to December. If you can find an upscale chef and gaurantee him a reasonably consistent supply, you may have a steady market for good tomatoes. Hard to believe most consumers will pay $4.95 a LB to Hannafords for a red tomato looking thing that tastes like cardboard but not $2.00 a LB for an odd looking orange or purple thing that leaves you with your eyes rolled back in your head from sensory overload! Good luck. Trying the same thing myself this year, for the first time. Oh, and with those more than a pound tomatoes, I find one 3/4 inch slice between two pieces of plain white bread with mayo is a meal fit for a king. Wash it down with a cold Brador, a little potato salad made with fresh herbs and potatoes from your garden, and even if you don't sell well at the market you'll know "It's good to be the king"!

We grow and sell heirloom tomatoes exclusively. The big pinks are the best sellers followed by dark yellows and striped types. We sell 150 to 200 pounds each Saturday at market and sell out every week. Reds sell good too but are not the best seller for us. We get from $2 to $3 a pound depending on the time of year here in southern Ohio.

Blueflint