Tent Talk

Farmers Markets offer food founders the chance to capture high margin sales, but it only matters if you know how to make them profitable.  In this episode, Sarah Delevan sits down with Catt Fields-White, nationally recognized farmers market expert and founder of the InTents National Farmers Market Conference, to answer real questions from Good Food CFO listeners about maximizing farmers market rev...

In this episode of our Survive & Thrive series, we're going back to the basics when it comes to maintaining a financially stable market. While grant funding feels unstable and uncontrollable, when your passion meets profit, you're prepared to weather even the most unpredictable of storms. A strong P&L around the core function of supporting farmers and incubating small businesses is almost like ten...

When your job is weird, it's easy to feel isolated. Who do you ask for help when all of your friends work desk jobs? How do you advocate for the importance of markets in your community when you're a team of one? Where do you go to brainstorm city specific issues? Well the solution just might be in your own backyard. In this episode of our Survive & Thrive series, we're emphasizing the importance o...

In this episode of our Survive & Thrive series, we're speaking with Dana DiPrima. She's built the For Farmers Movement on consumer education and thousands and thousands of small donations. Her organization's simple grant application creates solutions for one challenge at a time and ensures small farms can keep farming.   Listen in as she shares all about her story, the movements role in sustaining...

Tent Talk has returned with a new series, Survive & Thrive! Before we dive deep into our scheduled content, we're sharing a quick preview of this season and a few reminders.   Tune in as we talk about: Next weeks episode featuring Dana DiPrima from the For Farmers Movement Our new online community, the Farmers Market Forum Early bird ticketing for the 10th annual inTents conference ends September...

The leaves aren't the only thing changing this fall! We're shaking things up with an adjusted schedule, a fresh new Tent Talk season, and an updated interactive platform. In our upcoming series, Survive & Thrive, we're focusing on how to operate a successful market business during unprecedented times. In this episode, we're taking a look back at where we've been and forward to where we're going. F...

Almost 350 episodes in, we're making some changes to Tent Talk. We're still here, that big archive is still bingeable and new episodes are on the schedule. We're also moving our newsletter to a more interactive platform, making it weekly and adding related offerings. Watch for upcoming webinars, live calls and later this year additional private podcast episodes just for members. Tune in to hear wh...

We're talking this month about Building a Bigger Tent at our farmers markets. Let's remember that the more people and communities we welcome to markets, the deeper our variety of produce, products and personalities. Exclusion, whether purposeful or just thoughtless, means we miss out on all the richness that comes with diversity.   Sagdrina Brown Jalal is back with us for this episode, just in tim...

This month we're going to be talking about Building a Bigger Tent and keeping our commitment to making farmers markets a welcoming and opportunity filled place for everyone. We're also getting ready to launch some new ways to share information to make your farmers market more profitable and less stressful for farmers, producers and managers. Don't miss those upcoming announcements. Meanwhile, expe...

Wrapping up our series on defining farmers markets, we're chatting in this episode about what a farmers market is, and what it isn't. Whether inadvertently or intentionally, a lot of places and platforms and events are identified as farmers markets that don't meet the definition.  Tents alone do not a farmers market make and the same goes for fresh produce.  Are there farmers present? Does it happ...

In this episode of our series on defining farmers markets we consider online ordering and delivery services by looking back to a June, 2021 conversation with Christine Farren, Executive Director of San Francisco's Foodwise. Back then, the organization formerly known as Cuesa was redesigning the curated boxes developed on the fly during peak Covid into a delivery service managed with a logistics pa...

Continuing our series on defining farmers markets we like to wonder: what if everyone in a region or in the country agreed on one set of best practices and one set of rules for farmers markets? In this episode we're talking with Dr. Kim Hutchison and Meredith Ledlie Johnson about how the Virginia Farmers Market Association has done just that. Bringing in multiple stakeholders helped create consist...

Defining farmers markets starts with one common thread: the presence of farme rs, selling to shoppers. From there all bets are off and protocols and structure can vary widely.  This week we're looking back to a conversation with farmer Jake Johannes from the Sacred Sun Cooperative. He shares how the Brookside Farmers Market in Kansas City, Missouri is organized as an almost all-volunteer market. F...

We're wrapping up this month's Marketing Methods series with a reminder that  social media is just one way to create loyal shoppers for your farmers market operation, and not necessarily the best one. Nowadays rules and  algorithms and reach seem to change daily, at the whim of the platforms. Email newsletters let you control your list and your timing, and personalize your outreach to build connec...

Is anyone else going all in on the Spring cleaning vibes? It's a great time to do a refresh, or even just a review of your market business website. We've been saying this a lot lately, but we'll say it again: have you made it easy for your customers to find you? Is your location front and center? Your website is an opportunity for you to tell potential shoppers not only where you are, but who you...

Marketing is just one of a market manager's or vendor's full time jobs. So a cooperative effort that benefits multiple markets is invaluable. Add in centralized sales of gift certificates redeemable region-wide and everyone will be harvesting a bumper crop of additional income. Maine Federation of Farmers Markets director Jimmy DeBiasi joined us last year to explain selling employers on using mark...

Once folks experience your farmers market or market business you know they'll be hooked. How you get them there the first time, and how you remind them to come back until they form a habit, that's the marketing magic. We're kicking off this month's Marketing Methods series with a look at which social media platforms will most effectively get the word out about your market. Where you're posting, wh...

In the last of this month's series sharing farmers market stories, we catch up with Sina War about all the latest ways she's supporting our community. A multipotentialite, she's worn a lot of hats in our industry. She's been a hands-on farmers market manager and developed a food product made from peppers she grew herself. At the Minnesota Farmers Market Association she's shared recipes on local TV...

For our annual Live from InTents episode, Tent Talk producer Leandra Hays sat down earlier this month with almost 30 attendees of the hundreds at the national Farmers Market Conference in San Diego. They shared what keeps them going and what rewards them in the face of farmers market challenges. Tune in to hear all about it.  

Lisa Herlinger is a trained chef turned entrepreneur who launched her gourmet ice cream sandwich company at the Portland Farmers Market back in 2004. More than two decades later, it's a thriving business with wholesale grocery and convenience store distribution, spreading joy and dominating frozen novelty aisles nationwide. Tune in to hear about Ruby Jewel's growth as we share: Lisa's commitment t...

Michael Clark is a third generation family farmer who grew up working at farmers markets and on the farm. Over the years JR (for Joe Rodriguez) Organics, his family's business, has expanded to include more than a dozen weekly farmers markets, a robust CSA program and wholesale customers. Mike manages sales and production and still works at several markets a week himself. Listen in as he explains:...

Wrapping up our Recruit and Retain series, we come back to what makes it all come together: shoppers. Remember, we heard from Corinna Smith earlier this month that increasing market attendance is great, but what's critical is   how many of those attendees are buying something at the market. Are they filling those shopping bags and baskets? Then retaining farmers and vendors is a slam dunk. That in...

Every farmers market manager knows that curating a well-balanced market is both an art and a science. Whether you're running a seasoned market or developing a brand new event, recruiting and vetting vendors that fit the needs of your individual community is key. Keeping things balanced so that everyone profits is essential. Maintaining long-term, mutually respectful relationships with each of your...

By any reasonable definition, it's not a farmers market without farmers. Uniquely positioned to foster relationships between consumers and the people that grow their food, farmers markets help farmers thrive financially and feel encouraged and supported by their communities. Let farmers know about the advantages of selling direct, make them feel valued and help them develop sales skills and they'l...

The team that helps you sell vegetables or granola at your farmers market booth makes all the difference in your income. The staff that sets up and manages the market makes the job productive and satisfying or just a whole lot of work. Learning to recruit the right people will make your market business more successful and just more fun. Creating systems to keep the band together are just as import...