Farmers Market Season is Over. How Do I Continue to Make Money as a Cottage Food Operator?
It’s fall. It’s definitely fall. I can tell because everything is pumpkin pie spiced. While I absolutely love the fall it signals that the end of farmer’s market season is around the corner. For Cottage Food Operators that depend on farmers markets as a sales channel, this can be a hard time. The end of farmers market season not only means the loss of income but also the loss of connection between bakers and their customers. Fortunately, Cottage Nosh has a solution that will enable Cottage Food Operators to keep their businesses going all year round.
Schedule Nosh Days
Nosh Days are one-day pop-ups (think one-day virtual farmer’s market just for you!) where your customers will place orders in advance and you will deliver them, and/or have your customers pick them up from you. Each Nosh Day can be unique. Every time you set up a Nosh Day you get to decide what listings you will include, whether you will allow pickups or deliveries, and several other details.
There are two different options for Nosh Days that I would like to talk to you about. You can schedule a Nosh Day with pickup at your home any time you want to! Yes, you read that correctly. Schedule a pop-up at your home, whether on your front porch, in your driveway, or in your garage.
You can also reach out to local businesses and ask if you can set up a Nosh Day at their location to hand off your baked goods to customers that have pre-ordered. Some companies will agree if they receive compensation other companies will be grateful that your Nosh Day is bringing foot traffic into their store.
I suggest trying all of the options listed above and see which ones work best for you. Whichever options you choose, be sure to talk about it often on social media, send out emails to your customers, make fliers to hang up on local bulletin boards (such as grocery stores and Starbucks).
Tip: If you create fliers, create them with little tear-off tabs along the bottom—each tab containing your business name, phone number, and link to your Cottage Nosh page.
Tip: For a detailed tutorial on how to set up a Nosh Day check out our blog post here.
Deanna is a baker, author, and all-around creative individual. She enjoys sleeping, coffee, watching the Food Network, and hugs. Her favorite nosh is anything sweet, from chocolate chip cookies to cheesecakes.