5 Popular Baked Goods – Farmers Market Pies

Pies are always popular at Farmers Markets. Pies can take many different forms. Read on to find out how to make money at Farmers Markets by selling pies. If there was ever any doubt about the popularity of pies then take a look at the latest Food Network Star finalist. One was a Pie Man!!! Now he had a great personality but the main thing that he had going for him was the concept of making and  selling pies!

OK so the definition of a pie is?? Well to me a pie is a crust and a top with some form of “goodie” in the middle. (But there are many different types of pies as I show you below.)

This goodie could be sweet and yummy like a strawberry pie or maybe even savoury like a meat pie.

There really is no limit to the Pies that you could make and then take to a farmers market.

Pies that I have seen being sold at Farmers Markets include:

1. Louisiana Fried Meat Pies. These are like a turnover. 1 piece of pastry with a spicy filling of meat or crawfish etc. they are similar to a Mexican Empanada.

2. Ice box pies. Basic but yummy, tasty,

3. Pot Pies. These are a pie with a top and bottom crust. A meat or chicken filling. Baked and best served hot.

4. Fruit pies. Single piece of dough rolled over like a turnover. Fried or baked with peach, apple or any other fruit..

5. Apple/ Cherry/ etc etc pies just like your grandma and mother made. Bake them and take them to market. Have some small ones too= as people like to eat as they walk around the market.

Some tips:

You are always going to be more efficient by making in bulk. Don’t just make ONE pie. Make at least 2 or 3 of each. Freeze your filling if you need to but this will save you time.

Be realistic with your pricing.

Be prepared to name your ingredients. Customers at Farmers market want to know whats in the baked goods. Gives you credibility as the baker too. Talk shop with the bakers.

Have some form of box or cover to provide for the customer to take their pie home in.

Samples are good. So make some smaller pies that you can cut up for samples.Give discounts if customers buy more than one.Ask the customers what they want. Some will have a favourite pie that they want but can’t make. Become their pie maker!

Keep them on ice or at least in ice chests.

5 Popular Baked Goods – Farmers Market Cakes

Best Baked Goods at Farmers Markets – CAKES

What are the Best Baked Goods to sell at the Farmers Market?  What is popular at your Farmers Market may not be at mine. The secret to finding out is to be flexible and experiment. Here is Part 3 in the blog about how to find the 5 Popular Baked Goods to take to the Farmers’ Market.

Cakes are one of the best baked goods to sell at Farmers’ Markets. They sell basically in 2 ways. By the slice or as a whole cake.

A great vendor near me one year had it nailled.

Cake by the slice is a great product. I recently set up for a whole season right near a lady who sold the most wonderful slices of a cheesy pound cake. The taste was incredible. She sold slices for $1.00 and had them pre-wrapped. Everyone can afford a $1.00 slice of home made cake. Then she had whole cakes for sale for around $10. These were bundt cakes, not iced and I am sure she was able to make plenty of them and a nice profit.

She specialized in the one variety of cake. Now of course you could make a number of different types. Different flavors. Maybe even have samples and take orders. However, remember that most customers at the Farmers Market want to buy NOW not next week.

Of course the other problem with making cakes for the Farmers Market is that it might be HOT where you are and there is nothing worse than HOT cake. Invest in some ice chests to keep your cakes and samples cool and it will pay off in the long run.

Tips:

  • Keep samples wrapped or under cover as flies and other insects could soon ruin a good day of sales.
  • Set up next to the guy that sells coffee
  • Be prepared to take orders. Have specialty prices in mind.
  • Give samples. Small.
  • Always try to upsell. 3 slices for $2.50 or similar.
  • Try to not take any home. Better to sell at a reduced price at the end of the market or trade with another vendor for other products.

Sell drinks at the Farmers Market

Farmers Market Drinks

At a farmers market drinks can be a popular product. We had a lot of success for a couple of years selling drinks. Like any line of products you will need to do some farmers market research first. Yes, go to a market and see what is being sold. Ask some questions and find out if you are ALLOWED to sell drinks at the farmers market.

Sodas at the Farmers Market

We would buy the drinks at SAMS Club or even Walmart in bulk. 12 and 24 packs and then drag an ice chest along filled with as much ice as we could manage. The drinks were incredibly cold. We iced them down immediately and made sure that we had at least a half dozen of each variety on ice before market opened. Plenty of iced water was also popular. All drinks were sold for $1. This made it easy for us to keep track. We did make exception to this and sold some energy drinks for $2. These were reasonably popular but were more expensive to buy and therefore to sell. Another thing we did was to just sell drinks that we liked ourselves. 

Coffee HOT and Iced

One of my market friends roasts coffee beans and then sells the whole bean roasted coffee in bags or he will have it freshly ground for sale also.

As a bonus he sells hot and iced coffee. its fresh, its natural tastes great. He has value added to his product and he has a great price too.

By buying his coffee beans in bulk he is able to buy cheaper and therefore make more profit. We all like profit!

Tea Hot and Iced

Is there any beverage with greater profit margin than Iced Tea? Make it by the gallon in advance. Have plenty of ice. Have some pre-prepared sweet and unsweetened for sale at the next Farmers’ Market.

Lemonades

Lemonade is a favorite at farmers’ markets in the summer. Make your lemonade with a premix but add some fresh lemon pieces to give it that authenticity and some added flavor. Plenty of ice and a bright colored plastic cup. We sold plenty of lemonade.

Smoothies

Friends at market decided one year to make smoothies. Fruit smoothies are so tasty and healthy that they fit right in with the Farmers’ Market theme. My friends kept it simple and did quite well by having a banana based smoothie with some orange juice and other fruits. Cut the fruit up on the spot or have it pre-prepared, add some of whatever your farmers market customer wants and into the blender.

The smoothies were walking out the door at $2-$3 each.

(By the way they bought the bananas cheap at Walmart when they were about to throw them out.)

Juices

Everyone these days is health conscious and seem to be getting more so. Healthy juices are a great product  to sell at the farmers’ market. I would try to have them freshly juiced.

  • Have fruit on display.
  • Let the customer choose what to juice.
  • Maybe make smoothies also.
  • Add some ice to bulk it out and put a chill on it.

YUM and $$$

Come back for more ideas of how to be a success at the weekly farmers’ market.

Sell Jellies and Jams at the Farmers’ market.

Selling Jams and Jellies is easy but there is plenty of competition. To be successful you will need to stand out. Read below how to sell Jams and Jellies at a Farmers’ market! This is best practice!

Ben and Dot are friends of mine at the Local Shreveport and Natchitoches Farmers’ Markets and they excelled by being the best. They sold hundreds of jars a week. Here is how!

Home made jelly sells well at farmers market
Home made jelly sells well at farmers market
  • They used pure juice in their Jellies.
  • They made custom orders.
  • They had a HUGE variety of product. Over 100 different Jams/Jellies and canned goods.
  • They carried plenty of stock. Spares in the truck.
  • They often got their raw materials at a reduced or nil price thus lowering their costs.
  • Good presentation.
  • Knowledgeable about their products.
  • Award winning produce.
  • Reliable vendors.
  • Good neighbour vendors.

I am not going to tell you how to make Jams and Jellies as that is beyond the scope of this article. What I am going to tell you is that to be a success at Selling Jams and Jellies at the Farmers’ Market you will need to be able to tick off a large number of the above points.

Be prepared. Have plenty of stock. Have not just good product BUT excellent product.

Offer discounts. If someone buys a 12 case of Jellies then give them a discount.

Maybe have a Loyalty Card system. Buy 10 get one free type of thing.

Offer a refund for the return of the jars. This will lower your costs and bring the customers back… win win!

Have fun and make money by Selling Jams and Jellies at the Farmers’ Market.

29 ways to make money at the Farmers’ Market

Sometimes the hardest thing is coming up with an idea of ways to make money at the farmers’ market..

Let me make that a little easier for you. Listed below are 29 ideas of items to sell or services to perform for fun and profit at your local farmers’ markets.

  • Canned goods
  • Jellies and jams
  • baked goods
  • prepared foods
  • beef jerky
  • sausage
  • fruit
  • vegetables
  • drinks
  • ice cream
  • home made anything
  • crafts and arts
  • jewelry
  • books
  • second hand goods
  • knife sharpener
  • glass blower
  • glass etching
  • stained glass
  • soaps and lotions and potions
  • dog cookies bakery
  • candles
  • pottery
  • woodcrafts
  • stained glass
  • quilting
  • basket making
  • solar power/ green power etc
  • musician
  • cut flowers

This is certainly not an exhaustive list of ways to make money at the Farmers’ Market. I will add to it as more items come to mind.

Cut flowers are a favorite at farmers market
Sell crafts at the farmers market
Berries are a great seller to make money at the farmers market
Produce for sale at Farmers market