Vending in person can be a lot of work: prepping, baking, loading and unloading the car, setting up, being on your feet all day…it’s no easy task! Depending on your business, you may be wondering if markets are even worth the effort.
Truthfully, that answer depends on your menus, customers, and local community, but through talking with the thousands of chefs on Hotplate, we’ve come up with a few points to consider before applying to vend at a holiday market.
Vendor fees
Almost any market you vend out will require you to pay some sort vendor fee, whether that’s for your booth space, application, or parking. Before applying to any market, consider the fee and think practically about how many items you’d have to sell to make that money back. Remember that you’re also going to have expenses for ingredients, packaging, hired help, gas, and more.
Add up all of your expected expenses for the market, including the vendor fees, and think realistically about how much you’d have to sell before you’d actually make a profit. If that number is very high and you’re worried about selling out, you risk actually losing money by attending the market.
Market attendance and marketing
The primary draw of vending at a market is that the customers come to you. However, it’s up to the market organizers to advertise and draw crowds to the event. You’ll want to choose markets that have consistent high attendance and a loyal following.
Many organizers create Instagram or Facebook pages for their markets where you can see photos or recaps of previous events. Other advertising for the market, like physical posters, flyers, or email blasts are also a good sign because it means the organizers are committed to drawing a crowd to the market.
Do your research and form an educated guess about the kind of market you’re joining – will you have customers there?
Types of customers
While checking out the social media pages or advertising for the event, it’s also a good idea to look into the kinds of customers they’re targeting. Are these the kinds of people who would be interested in your product?
For example, we heard from a baker that agreed to join a vendor market at a pet adoption event. She told us that everyone came up to her table and asked “are these for dogs or for cats?”. When she told them they were for humans, they walked away – she didn’t sell a single baked good that day! That’s an example of a market where the audience didn’t match up with her ideal customer.
Other vendors in your category
If possible, check out the other vendors that will be at the market you plan to attend. If there are several booths selling a similar item to yours, you’ll be competing with them for customers. We suggest you opt for markets where you will be the only one, or one of only a few, selling your kind of product.
Beyond profits: markets help acquire new customers
While considering your potential profit is important when deciding whether or not to vend at a market, you should also think about the exposure you’ll have to new customers.
Holiday markets are a great opportunity to invite people to join your Hotplate SMS list and follow your social media pages. This may not be an instant monetary advantage, but getting new people into your customer ecosystem can mean big profits down the line.
If you’re just starting out your business, markets like this can be a great way to capture a lot of potential customers at once!
The bottom line
It’s hard to give a one-size-fits-all answer about whether or not a holiday market is worth it for you business. Instead, we recommend that you always do your research about the event, and do some quick math to understand the potential profits you could gain. After that, it’s up to you to make a decision on whether its worth the effort!