The Grind continues at the Farmers Market

So got through another weekend. Had to set out Saturday due to remnants of Hurricane Bill. Did our Sunday market that starts at 10am. We were selling Brisket by the pound at 10:01am:shock:! We sold out of it in a little over an hour. Still amazes me people are enjoying our food and we are actually doing this. We even have a few followers now that seem to be there regularly and genuinely like our product. I think that means the most to us right now, is seeing repeat customers. I will buy anything once, but to go buy and eat it again it has to be good. I wish though people would buy the brisket in slices rather than chopped up on a sandwich. We tried to slice to order but no one wanted it. We chop it up and people seem to love it. Guess it looks like Pulled pork to them?? We are gearing up for some pretty big festivals and it is crazy reading our names with the lists of other places on there. We are like "Dude, these are like legit places. Are we legit? Are we good enough to be on this list?" So we are just still taking one humble step at a time and seeing how this plays out. Again a HUGE thanks to all you guys for comments, help, advice, and everything. I am sure in the upcoming weeks I will be firing off tons of questions!

Oh P.S. The book and shirt I got for Father's Day! My wife I guess actually called the shop and ordered it directly from them. Said she was just making small talk with the guy and how we are starting to do the Markets and stuff. This is her word's and I quote " The guy said that's awesome. You know we started real small and just went with it. I'll sign it and get that out for ya."My wife really has no clue if she just talked to THE GUY but in my own little world I am going with that she did. :wink:

mchar69 said:

This is fantastic!
Gives you goosebumps, if you had the time to enjoy them.
May I suggest you elaborate on your set-up, just to show others what you are up against? W/ pron, of course.
The Farmers' Market seems a legit 1st step.
I am so happy you are killing it!!!!
Mark

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It really does. Scared, excited, confused, humble, grateful are all words that come to mind.


Are you talking about just what equipment we use so far and how we logistically set it up?

mchar69 said:

Yup. Show pics like Marubozo and your plates -
look - I know you have zero time to take pics,
But you'd beter, looks like this is ground floor for you.
Show us your set- up, tell us of the hassles of the Food Inspecktor,
all the non- fun details. All the mistakes.
Finally we all want to know if you made $200 or $400 or $1000 any given day. THAT, is private - do not divulge. You are building a business, and if you LOST $200, it might be the greatest advertising feat for you.
Psst - how much did you make?

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LOL ok I will try and get some more "food plate" shots this weekend.

Set-up is a 10x10 but we get to cheat a little and have our camp stove and drum on the side. We have the vending cart "Lady in Red" that has been one of the best purchases we have made. It has to Cambros underneath and then we made 2 cutting boards to go in the cutouts on top. We put our paper product that we use to serve in the middle. To the left of that is our Register table, setup with our signage stand and Square register. Our menu board and then our cards and catering flyers. Behind that is a staging table that we have our scale and butcher paper that we use to wrap up orders by the pound with. Think of how a butcher would wrap up your meat at an old school meat market and that is the direction we are going for. This table also has out hand wash station on the back end. On the other side is the table with a Cambro that we stage the bread and buns in to warm and hold any extra meat or hot sides. There are two Chafing dishes on this table one for our hot sides and one for cold sides and pickles and onions. Our homemade 3 compartment usually is in the back or on the trailer. So that's our setup in a nutshell.

Getting all the licenses and insurance was a pain yes. Started with the Food manager cert., Permits, fire codes, market permits, the list is crazy. The inspector and inspections really were not that bad. We just did what they wanted us to do without questioning it and they liked it.

Mistakes-- To many. Forgetting stuff, cooking to much, not enough, I mean now we are looking at everything we do under a microscope to try and make us better, so we look at marketing, do we do enough? How much to spend on it? do we get a bigger fridge, and bigger hot holding (alto Shamm) all these things are now going to pay off down the road or become costly mistakes. :wacko:

Money. So far we have been very blessed and fortunate. Our bad days we have made enough to pay our food costs. Good days has been upwards of $$$$:wink:

No problem. I appreciate it. And humbled. I still read stuff on here and feel the same way. Don't hesitate to ask anything, I'll try and make up an answer.