Calabasas Farmers Market Form

The produce comes from the exact same wholesale places everyone else gets theirs from. If you go to the Wholesale Produce Market near Jack London Square at 5 am, you will see all the Chinatown market owners and/or their employees loading crates of produce into their vans & trucks. The only difference is the labor costs and the profit markup. A major chain supermarket has to pay unionized produce handlers $14 to $25 per hour plus overtime & benefits and still expect to turn a big profit for shareholders. The average pay those elderly immigrant women receive for doing the same work in a Chinatown market is usually below minimum wage with no overtime pay for working 9 to 12 hours a day/ 7 days a week. Some mom & pop Chinatown businesses are able to get away with paying less than the minimum wage because they have arrangements with their employees to pay them a portion of their salary in cash in return for reporting fewer hours than the hours actually worked. Many of these immigrants do not have the language skills to seek employment anywhere else, so they have to go along with it.  Chinatown grocery markets also face stiff competition from the all the other Chinatown markets selling the same produce on the same block so they are forced to operate at a substantially slimmer profit margin just to stay in business. Chinese people by nature, are notorious penny-pinchers when it comes to shopping for anything so if you are selling produce and you don't have the absolute lowest prices, you won't survive in Chinatown.

Very likely, yes.But to be sure, you can observe the traffic at the market for a while to see how many samples the $1 vendor gives out versus those who offer them for free.Asking people to pay for something changes the dynamics … even if it is just 25 cents, the thought and act of paying for something creates friction. Friction results in fewer leads. Fewer leads results in fewer sales.Now, there may be business strategies that work better when you quickly disqualify prospects by asking them to pay something, but I can’t see that working with a low cost item at a farmers market.

First step, have a product. As a NY farm kid I've seen people selling everything you can imagine edible or not at regional markets, but vegetables, dairy, and eggs are the most popular. Selling meat has its own set of extra concerns for safe storage but does well if you can maintain supply.In order to become a vendor, you generally need to purchase a booth or table permit from the market organizers. If you can't find the organizers' information ask a booth owner, they're generally happy to help as more variety at the market brings more customers.Fees vary from a signature so they know to make space, to several hundred dollars a week at big well established markets. Agreements vary either week to week or seasonal or annual.Some markets are at a premium for space and have a waiting list of prospective vendors.It varies a LOT from market to market, but it's generally not very hard.

Yes

Making a custom location on Instagram is actually quite easy and gives you an advantage to other businesses because it allows you to drive traffic via location.First off, Facebook owns Instagram; therefore, any location listed on Facebook also appears on Instagram. So you are going to need to create a business location on Facebook.So let’s dive into how to create a business location on Instagram.Make sure that you have enabled location services through the Facebook App or in your phone settings. If you are using an iPhone, select “Settings” → “Account Settings” → “Location” → “While Using The App”You need to create a Facebook check-in status. You do this by making a status and type the name of what you want your location to be called. For example “Growth Hustlers HQ”. Scroll to the bottom of the options and select “Add Custom Location” then tap on it!Now that you’ve created a custom location you need to describe it. It will ask you to choose which category describes your location, which you will answer “Business”.After choosing a category Facebook will ask you to choose a location. You can either choose “I’m currently here” or you can search for a location that you want to create for your business.Finally, publish your status. Congratulations! You have just created a custom location to be used on Facebook and Instagram.Now you are able to tag your business or a custom location on Instagram.If you have any questions about Social Media Marketing for businesses feel free to check out GrowthHustlers.com where you can find tons of resources about growing your Instagram following.

Never, but don't be afraid.By "safe" I assume that you mean a combination of your ability to make the product free of claims of infringement, your ability to exclude other from using it and your ability to prevent others from patenting the same thing.  I also assume that you are filing in the United States.  If not, this answer may not fit.Don't worry about copyists.It is true that people are free to make copies of your product today, tomorrow and every day in the future until the patent issues.  I think a supermajority of my clients worry that as soon as their idea escapes their lips everyone will start copying it.  Yet, that virtually never happens.  Why?If you sell your product widely (assuming it's unique and people want it) then you will sell at the highest price the market is willing to pay at the quantity which corresponds to the best per unit profit.  If someone else wants to come into the market the quantity will increase and the price will fall (that is the law of demand).  The second mover will have to consider whether it is profitable to sell at this new lower price, not whether it is profitable to sell at your monopolist price.  If this new price is below its cost curve, the second mover will not enter the marketplace.  Until an economy of scale is signNowed, no one will want to enter the marketplace."But what about really big companies," most clients who have never worked for a big company ask, "can't they make my product for much less than me?"  Yes, but they won't.  Here, the problem isn't variable cost, but rather that new products are only viable if they are able to cover their share of the massive overhead large companies have.  If the contribution margin is less than 40% (it probably is) they will pass.  Inventors often confuse copying with independent inventorship.  The former requires a transmission of your invention to the copyist, which the copyist then copies.  This is like a copy machine.  Independent inventorship occurs when two people are trying to solve the same problem at the same time.  It is still rare that this occurs, but it does happen.  In my last thousand cases I have seen one instance of copying and maybe half a dozen cases of independent inventorship.  This is not something to worry about.You can't do anything about infringementA patent is a right to exclude, not a right to make and use your invention.  If a portion of your device is covered by another patent, you may be infringing that patent even though you have a patent on your own device.Let's say you  have a patent on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and that you are going to a patent infringement picnic.  You see the following:A peanut butter sandwich - no jelly no infringement.A peanut butter, jelly and ice cream sandwich - you find this impressive, and you speak to the assignee to learn that it has patent on this sandwich.  Nonetheless, it still infringes because there is peanut butter, jelly and sandwich.Filing and publishing your application with thwart a subsequent or simultaneous inventorA patent requires novelty and non-obvious over that which currently exists.  Novelty means that you cannot patent something that is available to the public.  Non-obvious prevents you from patenting something that is not available to the public but the public could figure out how to make your product given what is available and the skill in your field.Publishing your application creates a searchable prior art reference for a patent examiner to easily reject a later filed application.  Of course, the sales I advised you to make above could do the same thing, but the patent examiner may not have access to those and you might have a situation where the subsequent filer gets a patent that is not enforceable.Publication carries risk as well (most notably making life easier for copyists).  To figure out the best system to handle these risks requires a much more detailed assessment of your business.  If you PM me I can try to help you.

We've begun to offer electronic payment as an option at farmers' markets through PayPal. The response of customers has been favorable. Fees run 2.7% and the cost of the smart phone is not insignNow, though this use should help justify the phone as a business expense. We feel that a subset of our customers make more and larger purchases because they can use plastic to pay.

Farmers can usually command their best prices at a Farmers' Market. Studies indicate that farmers' market vendors receive between 40%-70% more for their products at market than selling them through wholesale outlets. Attracting customers is a function of the market and farmers.

Booth rental fees vary but expect to pay an average of $500 per six-month season. Some markets allow you to rent a spot weekly for approximately $20. Booths are about 10-by-10 feet; you can choose your spot on a first-come, first-served basis.

Booth rental fees vary but expect to pay an average of $500 per six-month season. Some markets allow you to rent a spot weekly for approximately $20. Booths are about 10-by-10 feet; you can choose your spot on a first-come, first-served basis.

Visit Markets Beforehand. One of the biggest factors in your farmers market success is the actual market. ... Learn the Rules. Every market has its own set of rules. ... Start Small. ... Find a Unique Niche. ... Differentiate Your Products. ... Do a Dry Run. ... Keep Detailed Checklists. ... Remember the Essentials.

Food at farmers' market is always more expensive, right? Myth. According to this study by NOVA, comparisons of conventionally raised produce \u2014 on average \u2014 are priced the same at supermarkets and farmers markets alike. ... Turns out farmers' markets are actually cheaper (again, on average) than at the grocery store.