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Farmers Markets

5K views 60 replies 12 participants last post by  Dartmoor Coffee 
#1 ·
Hi All

Was hoping to tap into some experiences of those who sell their roasted coffee at farmers markets (or similar). Do you bring bags of pre-ground with you? If so - what assumptions do you make about the grind setting? Or do you grind to order? (assuming you have access to power) Or do you only sell whole-bean?

Or maybe you have purchased your coffee at a market and have some insights.

I am doing a few charity pop-up events over the next few weeks - providing coffee-to-go. But also have the opportunity to sell my beans. So I was thinking of taking whole-beans, in 250gm bags sealed in cheap food-grade plastic bags, along with my bag grinder (Mahlkonig Guatemala) and heat sealer. Then for those who want pre-ground I can grind to order, at the desired setting, into a valve bag and then heat-seal. That way I'm not left sitting with unsold pre-ground coffee. What do you think?
 
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#3 ·
That's a tricky one without hind site/experience (of your actual venues)...

What is the "overhead" of coping with grinding "on-demand" vs the "risk" of losing through wastage?

Presumably (as you are also selling drinks) you will have the grinder there already - so no overhead there (unless you were thinking a different grinder - so that you don't muck up your drink making settings by grinding a (single) bag of beans for filter!!) but the bags/sealing kit/space for them :-(
( at least - Loss of display space/carrying stock for the area required for sealing kit and space to use it).

How many bags of "ground" are you likely to sell....
If only one or two then almost certainly not worth the effort to cater for it (except in customer "disappointment"..... )
If dozens/more - Obviously more viable (but begs the question of having that many bags pre-ground and just selling them.

As long as the overhead to cope with it is minimal/low enough then I agree with HDAV - wider market...... but 20 minutes additional set up, issues with "work flow" and/or just no-sales..... quickly affects your bottom line....

As an example I used to do Wedding Fairs (for bespoke Hats & Fascinators etc).
So basically "nothing" to sell/recoup costs immediately....

But we found we could scatter various bits & bobs (jewellery, pre-made "simple" Hats etc) around the stall - at (almost) ZERO overhead.... So if we sold ANYTHING it was a plus (and if we didn't Meh! the stall looked better)

Obviously we didn't have any issues with "staleness" - but we did end up actually doing little bespoke bits (adding feathers etc) to the pre-made stuff on a "Yep pay us up front and come back later" basis - and that required glue-guns, cutting, sinamay, stock of feathers etc as well as 1/2 decent area to do the work)...

When we 1st went we didn't do anything bespoke on site - but the demand (and the willingness to pay) made it worth adapting our model...

Basically - Give it a go (with any of your options) and see how it works out and then adapt with iteration.....
 
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#5 ·
Grind to order here as the bags can be resealed. I take a Compak R120 as it gets through 25g per second.

Prefer it the EK43 I previously used. Not light though!
 
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#6 ·
Thanks all for your thoughts and experiences. I've decided to go down the track of taking along whole beans and grinding to order. First day is tomorrow - then again on Saturday. Funny you should mention being out in a field @HDAV - I'll be at a christmas tree farm! Outdoors - but in a marquee and with good access to power. I'll have the two grinders there @Drewster - one to grind coffee to order and the other dialled in for my espresso blend; as you say, it could be a bad idea to use the same grinder for both purposes! Working space is not an issue. I've done this event for the past three years doing the hot drinks - but this will be the first time selling the fresh coffee. I'll also have some flyers there with the website details. @Black Cat Coffee - are you taking your whole-beans already sealed in the valved retail packs? The problem of have an opened bag reliant on the press-seal is the reason I was thinking of taking them pre-weighed in a plain el-cheapo plastic bag and then sealing them into the retail bag once ground. Anyway - will have to see what the workflow is like. Hopefully there will be time to balance bean sales with drink making. At least someone else will be taking the orders and dealing with the payments!
 
#9 ·
I now take 2 machines, 2 grinders plus a hot water urn for teas / Americanos. 1 on each machine plus 1 doing sales / payments / bag grinding which seems to work well. Good luck
 
#10 ·
Market went absolutely crazy busy over the weekend. To elaborate a bit further - this pop-up was at an outdoor Christmas Tree market. First day open was on Thursday - so this was the first full weekend. The market opened at 9am on the Saturday and by that time there was a queue of cars a mile and a half long waiting for the gates to open. It started with a bang and didn't let up for the next 8 hours. This was the 3rd Christmas I have been there and this year was absolutely nuts! Doing the drinks kept me busy almost the whole time; managed to sell two bags of beans during the market and one as a follow-up online sale. Had a lot of good conversations with locals who seemed to be "into" their coffee and seemed genuinely interested in trying a local roaster (ie me!). Plenty of my business cards went flying out so time will tell if they bear fruit. Thanks for all the comments and good advice.

One additional question if anyone has some insights ... how do you keep your milk (frothing) jug clean? Do you have a pitcher-rinser connected up? More than one jug? Or just keep washing it out when you have a "quiet" moment?
 
#11 ·
Market went absolutely crazy busy over the weekend. To elaborate a bit further - this pop-up was at an outdoor Christmas Tree market. First day open was on Thursday - so this was the first full weekend. The market opened at 9am on the Saturday and by that time there was a queue of cars a mile and a half long waiting for the gates to open. It started with a bang and didn't let up for the next 8 hours. This was the 3rd Christmas I have been there and this year was absolutely nuts! Doing the drinks kept me busy almost the whole time; managed to sell two bags of beans during the market and one as a follow-up online sale. Had a lot of good conversations with locals who seemed to be "into" their coffee and seemed genuinely interested in trying a local roaster (ie me!). Plenty of my business cards went flying out so time will tell if they bear fruit. Thanks for all the comments and good advice.

One additional question if anyone has some insights ... how do you keep your milk (frothing) jug clean? Do you have a pitcher-rinser connected up? More than one jug? Or just keep washing it out when you have a "quiet" moment?
Which market were you at? I live pretty close to Egham so might check it out. And could I have a link to your website or something? I'd also like to try a local roaster

Thanks
 
#12 · (Edited by Moderator)
Glad it went well for you. I tend to go equipped to these markets with around 5-6 jugs and keep non dairy, hot chocolate and non dairy hot chocolate all marked and separate. The EHO are hot on these things. I have a buddy that washes and rotates things for me and does little bits like adds water to cups for americanos, keeps all the bits and bobs topped up.

It of course depends how busy the market it as to how you work it. I have done ones where I literally did not move away from the machine for 6+ hours and had a queue of 6-8 drinks the whole time. It would not be possible to do that without someone supporting you and doing the odd jobs. I sleep well after those events I can tell you.
 
#13 ·
The pop-up is for the PTA at my wife's school (they're selling mince pies/cup-cakes/cookies etc) and it's one of their big fund raisers. I get a bit of help with bits and pieces but they were stretched as well. A bit different from previous too in the whole covid-secure way of operating. I guess everyone was a little under-prepared for the sheer volume of sales!

I will plan on having a few more jugs there next week so that they can be washed out on rotation.

Know what you mean about the sleep - 9 3/4 hours for me on Saturday night!
 
#15 ·
A fascinating tread. Please keep coming back and post some more; i'm very curious about selling coffee beans at a local market. Selling hot drinks sounds like a challenge and a half, and i'm not equipped to handle the workflow and don't think i'll be anytime soon. All very interesting, nevertheless!
 
#16 ·
I've booked up, covid allowing, 6 markets this year. Certainly a lot to think about. @RDC8 did you take whole beans and grind onsite? I've asked the person in charge about noise. My hope is to get a lot of pre-printed empty labels where I just write on the information as sold. Grind on site direct into bag and seal. Hoping to also take some brewing equipment like V60, AeroPress to sell. How did you find it? Did you take your commercial scales?

Just looking at the required insurance you need to get as well. All adds up.

What did people do about marketing? Did you print banners for the front of the table or just have basic advertising?

Question did you all sell drinks - someone suggested that this wasn't possible without additional health checks? I was thinking about not selling capo's, latte ,etc., but brewing in a V60, Chemex, etc. so that customers can taste the flavour of the coffee? Have asked our local EHO.

Thanks - got 6 weeks and best if I roast the weekend before.
 
#17 ·
@Dartmoor Coffee

I have so far completed two markets; each quite different so will give an overview of each market. Market A was a "typical" producers market in the local town. No power supply; Market B (referred to in the thread above) was to support a school fund-raising activity selling refreshments in a large Christmas Tree market. Power was supplied

did you take whole beans and grind onsite?
Market A: I took a range of 250gm bags for the pre-ground. Grind setting as suitable for cafetiere. I also took whole beans weighed (250gm) and sealed in plastic bags. These were inexpensive food-grade clear plastic bags that I buy 100 at a time. When a customer wanted whole bean I popped the entire plastic bag, unopened, into a paper bag.

Market B:I took only whole beans weighed (250gm) and sealed in plastic bags (as above). I was able to grind onsite and then re-seal into "proper" valved bags. A grinder isn't that noisy!

lot of pre-printed empty labels where I just write on the information as sold
Market A: All bags were pre-labeled for the ground coffee. However, for whole bean I applied labels to the paper bags as needed when sold.

Market B: only took pre-printed labels and wrote details on them as and when needed.

did you all sell drinks
Market A: didn't sell drinks, but gave away samples an small 3oz cups (pre-covid!!). I brewed coffee onsite using cafetiere. Brought-in the water in 2x5l airpots and then decanted the brewed coffee into 2l vacuum jugs.

Market B; At this market the primary purpose was to sell drinks; no extra health checks asked for (but good basic hygiene practices being followed). Your market organisers may need to see that you have completed a food hygiene course.

Hopefully you will have help on the stall; it is almost impossible to brew drinks, engage with customers, handle the money exchange etc just by yourself. Without the drinks side, one person should be able to manage.

Did you print banners for the front of the table or just have basic advertising?
Just some basic advertising on the table at both markets. However, I plan on getting a vinyl banner for future markets to hang across the gazebo to make the stand more visible. Some traders at Market A used the roll-up banners and struggled with them when the wind came up.

best if I roast the weekend before.
Yes - that is what I did. Although you will probably end up needing to explain that the coffee is still fresh and may even need a further 5 days to rest before using!

Have asked our local EHO
This is sensible :)
 
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#18 ·
Hi @RDC8, Many thanks for your thoughts and detailed explanation. Very kind of you.

Thankfully all my markets are inside so no wind problems. I'm looking at getting a sumup card payment (wifi only) - not sure 3G is worth it. All markets will have electric, wifi and stand.

Think I will pre-roast a week before and take down whole beans. I am planning at getting basic labels produced by a professional company and then write on the coffee, weight and other bits as orders come in. If I am going to sell drinks then will have to consider also pre-grinding some beans for making drinks, and also buy in recyclable cups.

May I ask about quantities of coffee you took. I was thinking of taken some roasted coffee of all my beans (5 types), but don't know how much of each I should take - 2 / 3kg so giving a total of 10 to 15 kgs? Might have a lot left over? Guess if I do 3 roasts of each coffee so giving about 2.2 to 2.4 kg of each.

Will look into banners.

Thanks

Phil.
 
#21 ·
@Dartmoor Coffee

I guess if you take whole beans and grind to order then your financial risk from un-sold product is minimised. If you have unsold pre-ground coffee then it's pretty much wasted.

In both markets I only took three different coffees; two single origins (quite different in flavour profiles) and a blend. The first was a relatively small market; so I had 25x 250gm bags in total and sold 23. Was quite happy! (however, there was no market fee as it was a local council initiative, so no real overheads!)

Also had some small promotional fliers directing people to my website for the full range of coffee. The conversations are important, even if there is no direct/immediate sale. I also used two discount codes on the flyer - one for offering no delivery charge if they picked up at the next market, and one code with a 15% discount. The pick-up code never got used as subsequent markets were cancelled thanks to covid!! But the 15% off has been used a number of times by different people; helps to gauge how/where you are building a profile.

If you will be grinding to order, then you might want to reconsider using pre-ground for making drinks; At the first market I had no access to electricity so had no choice but to bring pre-ground; I was making up samples in a cafetiere (as in the earlier post above).

Hope this is helpful
 
#23 ·
@RDC8 You could use a leisure battery and sine wave inverter to run the grinder if no electricity. These can even run a Compak R120. @Dartmoor Coffee are you talking about making espressos or batch / pour over.
 
#25 ·
Makes sense. Tried V60 for a few weeks but with only 2 of us took too long compared to espresso based drinks.

If it gets a bit quieter post lockdown may bring it back. Not huge demand though or for batch brew. Seems in the US batch brew has a larger following.
 
#27 ·
Know people use Moccamaster so perhaps I can fill up at the beginning.
That's our plan. Other than a bit of intervention at the start of the brew it manages itself for the most part so we can speak to customers more and brew less. And with the thermal flask it does keep the coffee at a decent temperature for 20 to 30mins, indoors at least.
 
#28 ·
Any espresso is going to be faster than V60 - quite often you'd just get a single order not 3 - 4 cups. I initially used an L1 with a Vesuvius but the Decent replaced the Londinium. This week got another Decent on the forum so 3 on the go now. They are dialled in using a lever profile which means that all use the same grind so only need one grinder, a Mythos One CP ( plus a Niche for Decaf). R120 is the bag grinder and a hot water urn for Americanos/Teas

Moccamaster a good call though. It makes a good brew. Like all thermos though I find if it hangs around too long the taste is affected.
 
#31 ·
Hi @CJV8, Which one did you go for in the end? How many cups does it hold? Is it just a fancy filter coffee maker? Are they worth the money since looking at new and they are expensive compared to other filter makers. What do they do so differently that makes them a worthwhile investments.
It's the KBGT we have, just the standard Moccamster but with the thermal carafe.

It can brew up to 1.2 litres (or 10 cups as they claim), however as our intention is to serve small samples only we'll be brewing a lot less than that so the coffee remains fresher. We got a second carafe to help with that.

It's effectively a simple automated filter brewer. It's not at all clever or programmable, it just brews filter coffee repeatedly, at least in my experience. I was very skeptical when we got it but have come to love it, and use it a few times a week over my V60.

As for what they do differently, I think that's really just the temperature consistency during brewing. Shop around a bit, we got our brewer and the second carafe for just over £200, and a few boxes of filters for another tenner. From what I've read they're good and reliable too which is always a plus.
 
#32 ·
HI @RDC8 and @CJV8, Thanks. Right I have a Moccamaster to make drinks with. Seems to work well. Planning to roast this Tuesday / Wednesday ready for the market 24th April. Gives a good 10 days so coffee is at the prime. Still not fully sure about quantity to roast. Might do 3 or 4 coffee and just over 2kgs of each.

For drinks may I enquire what you did about milk / sugar. Did you purchase a load of sugar sachets:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silverspoon-Sugar-Sachets/273059409020?hash=item3f939bec7c:g:ZmYAAOSwKNhaoS0x&var=572307822025

and milk portions:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Milk-Portions-All-Optional-Varieties-Millac-Lakeland-Soya-Lakeland-Sticks/283058509902?hash=item41e79a184e:g:RQUAAOSwq4RdgPUM

Think this is the safest way of providing milk without needing a fridge unit.

With that will get takeaway cups, lids and wooden sticks.

Thanks

Phil.
 
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