Tomatoe Marketing Ideas Anyone?

[Tomatoes&Things]

This year I planted LOTS of tamatoe plants and am going to have a handfull of tomatoes. Does anyone have any marketing ideas. I'm not looking to make lots of money of them but I would like to make some. How do you think they would do priced like 4 for $1 or 5 for $1 at a farmers market? I have never been to one but I plan on going this year. Do you think a cator or someone with a resturant or something would be intrested?

 

[Buff Shallots]

It's a wonderful thing to have tons of tomato plants. About Farmers' Markets, I think you would need to be applying for a vendor license in order to sell your produce there, and be a regular attendee.

If you go that route, early in the season you may want to market some of your young potted tomato plants. Heirloom varieties are especially popular these days.

You may approach some restaurants or caterers to direct-sell to them. Be sure to have your named variety list handy, and an expected delivery date(s). That way they won't go ordering them from their regular produce supplier.

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

We sell our heirloom tomatoes for about 2.00 each for the large ones, and the medium to smaller ones for $1.00 each. This seems to do well in our area where "heirloom" tomatoes in the local grocers are $3.00 each.

Our yellow pear tomatoes are about $2.00 a pound.

Our hybrid varieties which are mostly smaller beefsteaks (similar to Better Boy) go for about 2/$1.00

Finally, our romas we do sell for about 4/$1.00.

We bring the exact names of our varieties, market them as organic (which they are) and give dates we are planning to be back.

We also do "veggie bags" which are basically $5.00 to $10.00 bags of produce that are easy to just pick up. It takes people's pressure off of selecting produce and stuff.

We also sell our eggs there too.

It's tough sometimes at these farmer markets in the SF Bay Area we have A LOT of vendors selling this stuff. We do fluctuate our prices accordingly sometimes but not too much. We sell tons of stuff from our home and bring small samples of it to the markets. Either way, you do need to research the market before you plan on going they sometimes have silly loops to jump through.

 

[Cassandra]

A friend of mine lives on a busy road and sells his from his house. He has a hand painted sign out by the road advertising whatever produce he has for sale at the time. Last year he was selling them for $1 per pound. (In the grocery store, tomatoes are about $1.49-$1.99 per pound depending on variety. At the farmers market, they are a little cheaper.)

I'm sure it varies by location. I'm in Mississippi. But my friend sells a lot of tomatoes this way.

Cassandra

 

[Tomatoes&Things]

So what do you have to do to get a license to sell the stuff at a farmers market? To advertise your stuff as organic or all natural do you need to get a license? Also, how many tomatoe plants do you normally plant for a farmers market? Currently we have 100 in the ground but will probably have about 300 after we get all the other types and late season types planted.

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

I would think each area is different but we contacted the organizers of our local one and it was an application process. We didn't need a business license set up because it was through an agreement with the local market. We are not "certified organic" just because we haven't made that jump yet. I think it's okay to tell people your products are organic but you can't label them as certified organic. Check out the USDA's website about that. I'm sure they'd have more information.

We only maintain around 30-50 plants of each variety and that gives us plenty. Like I said, we only sell what we have extra and this isn't a huge income for us. I'm sure with close to 300 plants you should be okay.

You might want to check out how much demand there is for the produce and what you're going to do with the extras. Make sure you stagger your plantings so you have fruits all season long.

Also, when we sell by the "pound" we weigh at home and sell by the bunch at the farmer's market. And tell people its about a pound. There are some strange laws about CA weights and measures and certification of your scale that we just don't mess with.

 

[bills]

So what do you have to do to get a license to sell the stuff at a farmers market? To advertise your stuff as organic or all natural do you need to get a license? .

I don't know how it works in the US, but in Canada, to sell "organic" vegetables, you must get certification. There are certain standards that must be met, as to your gardening, to obtain the "organic" status. I believe this is a good thing otherwise any grower may throw on the word organic, even though he is using chemical pesticides, or fertilizers, just to increase sales, or prices. The certification standards protects the consumers.

I suppose one could claim that they use "Organic methods" or have a sign that says something like "All naturally grown, no chemical pesticides, or fertilizers used".

As far as a "license" for a local farmers market, I doubt you need one. Usually you register and pay for a spot to set up a table, or area to display your produce. Kind of like a flea market. Keep in mind that all the other tomatos in the area will be ripening around the same time, so the market might be quite competitive price wise. Perhaps you could put up a sign that says, "Free head of lettuce with every 10 tomatos" or have a sliding price depending on the amount purchased. Home canners will often want 30 pounds or more, so you could attract them by having "large quantity discounts".

Just some thoughts for you...