How much are you charging now? One thing I have found over the years, is you can charge less, but people will just buy the same amount and I end up just making less. When we have a lot of tomatoes, I advertise a 50 cent cheaper price, for 10 pounds. For example, we were selling tomatoes for $2.00. I advertised 10 pounds for $15 dollars. This was right off the table, they pick out the 10 pounds. I probably only sold 5 or 6 the whole year.

How many pounds are we talking about too?

Thanks,

Jay

Totally true! Charging less does not equal more sales. I have been bringing potted perennials- divisions from my garden- and they are not selling at all. So I made a big sign today- Last Chance- Half Price. Guess what? No one bought any! I gave one to another vendor who is a friend. I will replant the rest.

Ok for toms and peps... Egads they ain't sellin this year! Even worse than normal. I have tried the recipe thing. I put a popper recipe with the jalapenos and a hot banana pickle recipe with a 1/2 peck of them and no buyers. I put a sign about freezing hot peppers and no buyers. (red serranos are better- the bomb in chili).

There is drying. I have had some success selling pepper flakes believe it or not. Canning the hot peps can be good since it gives you many months to sell them and it is easy. I sold one jar so far!

Too bad about the salsa already next to you. The tomatoes could be processed for bruschetta instead (broo sketta). It is like salsa without hot peppers. You take garlic, onions, tomatoes- salt and drain the tomatoes. Reduce balsamic vinegar on the stove- carefully! mix everything, and then add basil strips. When you have good tomatoes and they are drained well (squeeze out the seeds first and chop and drain in colander) it is out of this world! Put in jars and sell chilled if you can at your market.
I don't have enough tomatoes to sell any bruschetta or salsa this year.

Oh one more thing, salsa kits sell well for me. Make a cute sign and put salsa tomatoes, garlic, onions and hot peppers in a basket then give free basil or cilantro with it.

Also sample! It really helps sell!

I'm really constrained by market rules (producer only, so I can't buy garlic, onions, cilantro, etc. to package with and resell) and state law (I haven't got a food service license for sampling, or a commercial kitchen for processed food such as fresh salsa or dried pepper flakes - I haven't got red peppers anyway, or the required pH testing and well testing to sell acidified foods).

I think I can give samples (whole peppers or tomatoes) as long as I don't cut anything. Guy on the other side of me gives samples of his green beans (whole, lets people take them right out of the pint) all the time, though he also has a commercial kitchen they make maple syrup and jams/jellies in. Or maybe it's just the maple syrup exemption. But he gives samples of jam/jellies/maple products so I'm sure he has a food service license.

Salsa kits may sell for me but all I can put in are tomatoes and peppers - how many do you put in and what do you charge? I was thinking since I don't want the liability of a canning recipe I would just put in enough tomatoes to make a pint of fresh salsa, along with the recipe, but then how many hot peppers to go with since tastes vary? Make up "hot, medium, and mild" mixes?

With hot peppers, jalapenos and habaneros most people only want 1 or 2. My neighbor at the market and for real, has been selling Jalapeno's and hab's for 25 cents each. He sells out most weeks. He brings around 50 of each. Peppers weren't very good for me this year, so I don't have any. But in years past I would put out 15-20 pounds and sell very few. That is why I backed off the hot pepper production and used that space for something that sells better.

Jay

I've got about 12 lbs of Glacier tomatoes (about 3lbs ripe, 5 not quite so ripe, and 4 lbs that will be ripe on the counter within a few days). Got 8 or so nice cukes too, only a couple left on the vine that may be made into gherkins. Some critter picked one of my gourds last night - grrr!

I could pick lots of serranos but as you say they don't sell awfully well - may only take a dozen. Maybe a dozen jals too? I picked 3 sweet bananas today, will try selling those b4 I pick more. Only 3 Chablis bells - I want green and purple bells to get larger. I don't know whether to pick any Numex Sunrise now, when they're big enough to stuff, but still green? No one bought any so far even when I explain they're almost as mild as a bell.

I picked a dozen teeny Thais - talk about hot! Still sell those for 25 cents each, or more like 10? I don't know whether to charge by the Scoville or not LOL. I have a couple ripe hinkelhatz, don't know whether to pick those or not, or pick any green ones. I did manage to sell some green ones a few weeks ago to another vendor I let taste one, but those are pretty hot (halfway b/t Thai and hab) so I don't know if anyone will buy. Picked 3 ripe cayenne (sorry, this sounds like measly pickins' but I've got lots of green pods, I only picked ONE ripe cherry bomb and we've only got 2 weeks left of markets!).

I'm taking a dozen jars of jam/jelly today, may take more to the last 2 markets. The Wild Grape jelly I made the beginning of the week is still setting. I may have to make some hot pepper jelly this weekend. Tomato-Pineapple Jam hasn't sold at all yet but I may have to do something with all these tomatoes.

Jay - maybe this is on the other thread (or maybe I should start a new one) but what DOES sell better?

What I do when I start getting alot of anything, I offer canning specials. Like 15lbs for $15, if I'm selling at $1.50-$2.00 per pound. But the customer must buy the minimum quality for the special. Sometimes, 2 customers will get together and buy the special and then divide after they make the purchase, so both of them saves.

Keep mentioning that winter is around the corner, and this fresh produce will taste "Oh so much better, than what we will have to buy this winter in the grocery stores".

If they don't know how to can, tell me how or refer them to the library for a Ball Blue Book. Or ask them if they know of any older lady that will teach them for a few jars. This gives the older person a feeling of being needed.

Good luck, if you were closer, I have several people still wanting tomatoes, not so much on the peppers tho. I have 4 bushel going out Monday.

Marla

You do have a small market then. A ton of tomatoes for me was when we had 450-500 pounds of ripe tomatoes, another 250 plus that were almost ripe. We sold almost all of the ripest ones and the rest sold at the Saturday market. I was so busy that day that I brought my wife and two of our kids to help sell. I just checked out tomatoes and she handled the rest.

It tied our best day ever in sales, down to the last quarter! Kinda strange.

Recipes always help me sell things. Also, sometimes I have prepared a dish, with a recipe, cover it in saran wrap and then let customers see the dish (not taste it). I did this on accident several times. The dish was just left-overs from the night before.

Good luck and let us know how everything turns out.

Jay

With that little bit of produce, it would not be worth my time or gas money. If I don't have a minimum of $100 worth of stuff, I stay home. Not that I'll sell the whole $100 worth, but that's my bottom limit.

Marla

I know, small potatoes (or tomatoes LOL!) but it's my first year at market, I had just what I had started for our own use and then the weather....just trying to make back my market fees (which I did tonight!). Hope next year is better. Only $4 for gas - but it does take a lot of time.

Gotta make salsa or something this w/e - sold about a dozen tomatoes even though I had them priced $3/pint (same as guy next to me). Sold some peppers too, mostly sweet and some jals - but some interest when I mentioned making Pepper Jelly for next week. Jams sell well.

I was small time my first year also. This year, I stepped back and started with new markets, so semi=small-time. First year=$1700, and I was thrilled. Largest year=$40,000. These figures were sales, not profit for sure. Biggest week, I've had was 3,000 pounds of just tomatoes, 1 person took 10 bushel. Now I have 1 person that wants a minimum of 4 bushel every year. He now calls me at home and we don't mess around with farmers market times.

I had a church contact me a few years ago and they made Red Pepper Jelly for a fund raiser, they took 2-4 bushel each year for that.

You will get out of the small-time, if you want to, with time and patience.

I'm glad you made your market fees. Start planning for next year and we all hope it will better.

Marla

Marla - do you have an approved recipe for that Red Pepper Jelly?

Jay - I'm sure you don't want to post it here, but email me through GardenWeb if you have any pepper jelly recipes you would share. Thanks.

Covered the peppers and tried to cover the heirloom tomatoes (2 surviving plants) tonight - we might have frost! Weather.com isn't showing it, but local radio station mentioned it and it *was* getting a bit nippy at market tonight.

I probably bring $300 worth of stuff and this year sell less than $100. The first market day ever for me I made the mistake of adding up the value of everything I brought and I remember it was over $300 and I sold like $60-70 IIRC. It was a bummer. That first year was tough.

Minnie, I always like to total my produce worth each day and I don't expect to sell everything. If I sell 75-90% of the perishables, then I'm happy. I expect to have some that I have to sort out at the market. By sorting in front of the walking by customers (but keeping my front side to them), it gives them the knowledge that I'm always looking for bad ones and disposing of them. Of course, I mention all of the sorting and point to the bucket(s) as I bag their produce. Usually I hear, your stuff is always SO nice and I mention that there was plenty of not-so-nice stuff. I show them one of the better 'not-so-nice', which was probably ok for other vendors, just not as high quality as I want to sell. They usually tell me, that one was ok and I tell them "it's pig food" or "it's cow food", then that brings up the idea that we also sell pork and beef as wholes and halves. And we grow our own fertilizer, kinda a circle of life deal.

Aj, I sent you an email.

Our weatherman mentioned frost for nearby communities, but since we're pretty well done, I didn't worry about it.

Marla