We are not selling
groceries! But, what we are selling is: freshness, flavor, quality, The
farm experience, unique products, entertainment, humor, family together
opportunity and a worthwhile destination. Assuming that we have done a
good job of providing all of this value added stuff, we need not be
anywhere near competitive with supermarkets i
n price for our products.
Supermarkets do a great
job these days of providing a huge array of decent product from all over
the world, year around. Fortunately for us, shopping there on a regular
basis becomes habitual, tiring, monotonous and mundane. This becomes
our opportunity to lure them to our markets with interesting diversity,
some of which are listed above.
I believe that our
markets should all be different and unique and an extension of
ourselves. We should share our interests, passions, work, hobbies, etc.
If you are a wood carver, gardener, or even a sky diver, share it with
your customers. The visitor greatly appreciates your sharing and this is
certainly not to be had at the supermarket.
At our farm markets in
Chicago we have our Flamin' Fury® Peach signs up, starting with
asparagus. We always have a bouquet of small peach limbs featured in the
middle of our display showing the maturation of the fruit and the
advancement of the fruit from week to week, until harvest begins. The
customers are fascinated and appreciative of this effort and education.
This, of course, also creates a pent up desire for the start of the
peach season. There fascination actually brings them back from week to
week to see the various stages of fruit development
At my first farm market
50 years ago, I strung a cloths line across my checkout with plastic
bags ½ filled with water and had a sign “Invisible Goldfish $.79 ea.” It
was great fun for us as well as customers, watching folks squinting one
eye, trying to see the fish.Return to website.