View Single Post
Old 02-20-2009, 09:02 AM   #1
HeSmellsLikeSmoke
somebody shut me the fark up.
 
HeSmellsLikeSmoke's Avatar
 
Join Date: 04-02-07
Location: Warren, Vermont
Default Vending at Farmer's Markets

I didn't want to hijack the Roadside Vending Thread, which is a very helpful, so I thought it best to start one specifically for Farmer's Markets which have different issues.

Looks like I am going to get a spot at the local Saturday morning farmer's market this summer so I am going trough the planning stages right now.

Here is my vision at this point.

I intend to be set up in an EZ-Up, and run like a miniature central Texas, german butcher shop heritage, operation like Cooper's in Llano or the Lockhart trio and sell smoked meat and sides by the pound. I want it to be more like a smoked meat booth than a traditional barbecue booth.

I want them to smell the smoke to help lure them them over to the booth, so I intend to have smoke coming out of a holding pit . I want to cut the meats in front of the customers, letting them tell me how much of each meat they want, wrap them in butcher paper and have them take it over to my wife to be weighed and purchased. (The eyes are bigger than the stomach in these Texas joints. The smell of smoked meat drives you crazy as you tell them how much you want and you always buy more than you can eat.)

Sides will be in containers and be sold by weight also. There will be picnic tables set up for them to sit and eat off the butcher paper. There will be a self-serve wrapping station for them to take home the extra food they have not eaten.

In Vermont, farmer's markets have a little less stringent permit requirements than normal vending or catering operation. I am now in the process of getting what permits I need.

More to follow like coming up with a good name for such an operation. But I wanted to get input from the Brethren, who have vended - especially in farmer's markets, on my thinking so far.
__________________
Jim - Another transplanted Texan
Former KCBS CBJ

Large and Medium Big Green Eggs , Black 18.5" WSM, Blue Weber Performer - Stainless, Green Weber OTG Kettle , Brinkmann SnP Pro, and a Stainless UDS. One retired Portable Kitchen grill.

Red Thermapen, Maverick ET-732, EdgePro Apex Sharpener.

Avatar is the original 1951 Weber Kettle
HeSmellsLikeSmoke is offline   Reply With Quote