suggestions for stuff SADers will eat (at a market stall...)????? thanks :)

[kaybee]

hi all,

hoping y'all can help... im running a vegan market stall at 2 weekly markets... we started off doing herbs and salads and smoothies last year, which is the stuff that i really want to do...but it wasnt paying for itself, and the health inspectors kitchen requirements were too stringent for a home kitchen to be suitable for veg and salad prep...the reality is that people prefer junk...come to the market looking for cookies and stuff more than anything else....so now we've turned mostly to vegan cookies with some veg sandwiches etc. But I'd like to add back in some healthier stuff, but its got to be stuff that will sell.... the date nut torte sells, and raisins/walnuts brownies sell... any other ideas of inexpensive, easy, tasty things (sweet or savory) that will appeal to SAD eaters tastebuds and be attractive or curious enough for them to buy? Ive just got a new kitchen sorted so going to set up the dehydrator and do fruit rollups, which people liked before, and maybe kale chips if i can find packaging for them. tried flax crackers last year and they werent a hit. i cant do the salads at the moment even though i have the proper kitchen, because there was only half a space available for me at the market so i have very little room and they take up too much space.

also, im pretty limited by ingredients here... most nuts are expensive and rancid, raw dates are pretty much impossible to get, and are too expensive, given that most people that come to the market dont care if their food is organic or raw. raw chocolate is way out of budget, as again, people arent generally looking for raw food so thus arent going to pay more for raw chocolate vs cooked etc.

suggestions much appreciated...I really want to get some healthier stuff going again.

ideas? :/

thanks!
kaybee

[MysticTree]

I've done a lot of markets and to be honest I think it's asking a lot for confirmed SAD eaters to buy RAW food. It's a tricky one because I totally understand that you want to bring these raw foods to people. I think raw Phudge and maybe cup cakes - check out The Tofu Guru on youtube for a fab-looking cupcake recipe. She's not a raw fooder but she did a bunch of vids on raw foods.

Then I guess just don't advertise them heavily as raw when you sell them - except of course to raw fooders!

[kaybee]

ok sure ill check out tofu guru lol. yep, i hear ya on the not advertising heavily as raw...im actually not even advertising my stuff as vegan right now, except on FB, and if people ask. there is still a stereotype here attached to vegan food that if its vegan something must be "missing". so they are going along eating my vegan cookies and that is just fine with me. but ideally id like to offer food more in line with my commitment to health...except that if i dont make a profit i cant keep the stall going...so, for now, its vegan junk if thats what sells ;p (because the vegan aspect is whats most important to me)

maybe a chocolate avocado pie too...but again then we are getting into expense for things like nuts/dates crust that raw fooders would pay extra for but sad eaters wouldnt...

the other problem is that if im making junk food and selling junk food...i end up also EATING junk food....and then i FEEL like junk hahah
UGH

[MysticTree]

I used to sell wild foods that I had foraged for and those can attract quite a premium. How are youur foraging skills? Also ... does the stall have an electricity supply? You might do juices and/or smoothies. Even SAD eaters understand those.

[kaybee]

yep, i used to do a wild greens salad cos thats the kind of stuff i LOVE doing and i didnt mind having the leftovers to eat.. but the amoutn of time it took to pick it and prepare it versus what you got for it just wasnt feasible. also, it was great when wild broadleaf garlic was in season to bulk it out, and sea beet, but i cant guarantee if the sea beet im foraging is from a clean location or not, its impossible to tell. we will have electricity at market soon, and had thought about smoothies and banana ice cream with my solostar juicer (actually got the hand crank too) but there are the hassles of how to wash blender and stuff...its ou7tdoor market. i agree smoothies woudl be GREAT. but not sure about the noise beign a problem, and the washing is a real issue too. we tried selling them in bottles, along with juiced tea and nettle tea but mostly lost money from unsold product and price of bottles :/ theres also the space limitation problem. right now i have a space the size of a card table. its very little space. trying to sort out some sort of tiers or something for shelving. but it is so cramped. market is held outside in very small parking lot. great location, but no more available spaces :/

for the heck of it i will ask the health inspectors what woudl be required for smoothies at market but i know there are stricter regs when you are preparing food at market vs just selling it.

last year we did pure fruit popsicles too but there was the problem of keeping them cold. even with electricity im not sure what kind of thing woudl be required to keep them cold. ive seen mini fridges but not mini freezers. coolers didnt do the job. juice pops are great for getting good food into kids, as are fruit rollups.

the other big problem is that people dont want to pay more for less amount of something, even if it is more nutrient dense. ie. small nut and raisn "brownie" versus big baked good for same price...

[MysticTree]

if the juice you are doing is just citrus for example then you would probably only have to wash it occasionally.

[kaybee]

hmm. yeah i guess thats true for citrus...i was thinking more along the lines of smoothies though... i have a solostar that makes good juice but it takes a long time. smoothies could be great, but..yeah the washing problem, unless you did only one kind but usually people want to choose what goes in

[MysticTree]

it's a pain isn't it! Hope you find a good way through the mire.

[November Blue]

Personally (and please don't take this the wrong way) I think you're barking up the wrong tree. Plenty of my SAD friends & family are willing to try my food - if it's free. No way are any of them willing to buy it - that goes for any Vegan food, now just raw. I think you have to know your target market and if you're running a Vegan booth, your target market is Vegans, not SAD eaters. Sure, you'll get some who are willing to try some things because they know they need to eat healthier or they're trying, but I don't think it's going to pay off in the long run.

What is the aim of this market booth? Is it to make money or to educate....or both? How about offering information on the Vegan & raw food lifestyles, have brochures for them to take with them, have them sign up for an emailing list if you have a website & newsletter.

I would stick to the smoothies (if they're allowed), cookies, brownies, granola and some of the other "basics" and offer information and consultation (if you're comfortable with that).

If I'm understanding you correctly, you have the proper kitchen for making salads now? When you say you don't have enough space is that for MAKING the salads or you don't have enough space to display them? Can you pre-make them and keep some in a cooler under your table and have one or two out on display? I would do fruit salads too - everyone loves a good fruit salad.

[MysticTree]

your target market is Vegans, not SAD eaters.

I totally agree with what Blue said although if you can run to offering tasters then you will pull in sad eaters also ... if the food is delicious.

What about gazpacho or melon soup if the weather is hot. Do you have facilities for keeping things cold?

[ReneeH]

Hi Kaybee! I make Raw Meals for everyone and sell them through www.TruMeals.com (click on Detox). My target audience is everyone. If I limit myself to offering my food to just Vegans, I'm gonna get limited results. Raw food is for Everyone (pun intended)! Even SAD eaters order from me. I don't limit myself to offering my food to just Vegans or Raw Foodists. Most of us here were former SAD eaters. I think you should present your Food in a way that appeals to everyone. You never know where someone is in their Raw journey.

Also, don't assume everyone just wants to see "junk" being offered! Perhaps someone will see your food and think how refreshing it is that you are offering something different. Think outside the box! Dare to offer (even to SAD eaters) something they've never had before. Dare to be different! Things may seem slow at first, but word will get around about you! If you're the only one who is doing what you're doing, people will come...

The Date Nut Torte sells well for me too. When you tried to sell the Flax Crackers, how did you present them? Alone? If yes, try making Alissa's Mock Salmon Pate with the Garlic Ginger ones, or make the Banana Flax Crackers and and put some Almond Butter on it with slices of Srrawberries and drizzle with Agave! Presentation is everything when you are targeting everyone. If it catches the eye, even people who would normally turn down Raw Food will be willing to give it a try! :)

[kaybee]

hey, thanks all,

november blue--im doing it as a vegan stall because ethically, its the only kind of stall im willing to run. i dont actually advertise it or label it as vegan though at the moment, as vegan is still seen as weird and not mainstream here. the things im selling are selling well (vegan junk basically), but id like to give people the opportunity for healthier options too. the target audience is really everyone, not vegans, because there arent enough vegans around. for me, i figure if people are eating vegan food, even if they dont know its vegan, thats less animal products being bought and used, so im happy with that for now. i like the idea about providing info and pamphlets etc! but maybe hold off until i am a little more established. the idea now is to draw people in with the attractive and tasty food, without them writing it off without trying it becuase they see that its vegan. probably depends on where i am too..if i went to a market in galway or limerick then then there is more familiarity with veganism there.

so, the aim is both educational and also profit...i.e. i cant afford to do this as community service, i need it to pay for itself and pay my own bills too--but i want to educate and introduce people to vegan food at the same time. preferably also to some great tasting healthy vegan food too. hm.. i havent thought about an email list or newsletter...have just been trying to get the stall off the ground, but thats a great idea for the future, thanks

yep have plenty of room to MAKE the salads...display is the problem...the regulations are confusing...as i understand it, seems to be that you are allowed to sell things if they are out in a bowl and not prepacked, but if you prepack them then they are required to have been tested by a lab (at your expense) and have a use-by date on them. but if you dish them out from a bowl on the table you dont have to. go figure. ill look into it more though, because its true, maybe i could make space for a few cartons on the table. but there is no space for bowls and serving etc.

mystic tree--true on the tasters...ill rethink it...problem we had before though was that everyone came up cleareed the taster plates and walked away. they have a tendency to do that at our market. my friend does it now with her chocolates by offering the plate when they come up rather than leaving it on the table...but i wonder what i would do tasters of? perhaps raisin walnut brownies,and kale chips.... i wonder what else. ugh. space problems again.
cold soups is a good idea but again back to space problems. i have a catering grade cooler so yes coudl keep stuff cold

renee-- i agree i need to market the flax cracks better, even if its by getting fancier packaging ( i like those brown bags with the windows in them). the mock salmon pate with the flax cracks sounds good... and i love almond butter but was SO disappointed i spent a long time making some last week and teh nuts here are just crud quality. it tastes old and rancid even though i made it fresh. too bad becuase that does sound like a good display. yes, i totally want to present the food in a way that appeals to everyone, which is why im not marketing it as vegan unless people ask.

i thought SURE that fresh dates with almond butter woudl sell, but they got not even an inquiry. weird.

[November Blue]

I give you an A+ for effort & intention! :) Maybe it's just going to take a bit of market research and a lot of tenacity. I appreciate (and applaud) your intentions. I wish I had some better suggestions for types of food - I'm a simple eater, so I'm of no use there.

[LaniB]

I also think you should target everyone. I share my raw food with my coworkers and friends - they are neither raw nor vegan, but really enjoy them. Plus, why limit your potential income by targetting only vegans?

Staying away from nuts & dates since I know those are pricey for you - how about pesto pasta with zucchini noodles? Those are always a hit. People find onion bread addictive - if you can give away a few free samples, I'll bet you could sell some. How about raw macaroons?

[speltrong]

At my farmer's market, we have a stand called Alive! that makes the most incredible raw parfaits. We often go to the market with one of our carnivore friends, and he's always waiting in line just as anxious to buy a parfait as we are. The best part is you get to choose how your parfait is made and watch him make it. It's nine layers (four layers repeated twice): bottom layer is either sprouted buckwheat or oats with cinnamon and raw sweetener, next layer up is sliced bananas, next layer up is almond (or maybe cashew cream), next is fresh fruit compote of your choice (usually blueberries, strawberries, kiwi, or whatever's in season). Repeat those layers twice in a clear plastic cup and then top with raw coconut flakes. OMG, it's delish, and it looks SO pretty in the cup. There is always a line waiting for them at our market! He sells them for about $6 each.

[kaybee]

thanks november blue, yeah i HAVE to stick it out now since i just found a kitchen to use and had to have it basically re-done! basically my intent is that when i do have the table space to expand more (though there are 15 people on waiting list apparently...ugh), the profit from the vegan junk can help carry the less profitable healthier stuff, while still providing both.

WOW the parfaits sound cool. maybe i should do up one and have my friends "test" it. the almond or cashew cream are just soaked almonds/cashews blended with sweetner, yeah? any chance you know what size cup they use? i wouldnt be able to prepare it at market i dont think...no space for that and i think there are regulations...although might be able to do it on a side table. will have to find out about regs...sometimes there are different regs for if you put food together at our market. how does he do the sprouted buckwheat and the oats? the oats are soaked or dried or... and...do people actually find sprouted buckwheat pleasant?its always tasted bland and starchy to me even with sweetner. is the buckwheat sprouted and dehydrated (crunchy) or soft? i wonder if they would sell if they were pre-made... what kind of sweetner? agave? hmm. this is somethign that might require free samples given away of though...wonder how i would do that. i like this idea though! its not too complicated and using mostly familiar ingredients!


onion bread might be a possiblity...though i have to admit i have a hate affair with my dehydrator...anything complicated ive made in it mostly ends up in the trash :(

and yes, zucc noodles with pesto, sundried tomatoes and marinated mushrooms is really nice...might try that at the market i have more space at....not sure if i could prepack it for the other market...again, restrictions.

[punpkin]

It's funny you said the flax crackers weren't a hit because they are the one sure thing that hits with people I know when I offer them dehydrated food. Kale chips are definitely a hit- quite frankly, a raw food desert shop is a dream of mine! If moms could see how could raw food deserts can be, as kids would love any tasty deserts, it would be the perfect in to exposing themselves to more of the raw food world. Not sure how well it would keep, but as a former chocolate pudding freak, I've made an avocado, cocoa powder (raw) and agave pudding that almost passes for the real thing!

[speltrong]

So, here's my impression of how each layer of the parfait is prepared:

Buckwheat: it's not crispy, but not soggy. Maybe just like it's been soaked for a bit? It definitely has a little crunch/chew to it. I don't believe there is any sweetener in the buckwheat because after it gets mixed with everything else in the parfait, it's plenty sweet. It adds great texture.

Oats: the oats are definitely soaked, and definitely mixed with cinnamon, and perhaps sweetener. It looks sort of like a cooked oatmeal, kinda gooey. But so tasty!

Banana: just sliced banana. Simple.

Fruit compote: he uses whatever fruit is in season and mixes it with sweetener. I'm not sure what kind of sweetener. Maybe agave or lucuma (sp)? Seems like if you use whatever is in season, you don't need much sweetener with it anyway.

Almond/Cashew cream: my guess is that this is soaked, blended nuts, mixed with sweetener, maybe some vanilla bean, and maybe a touch of lemon. I know it's super easy to find recipes for cashew cream, so you might try searching this message board.

Coconut flakes are just sprinkled on top.

It's served in clear plastic cups (and then of course he gives you a spoon to eat it with). if I had to guess, i'd say 6 or 8 ounces. Like, the kind of cups that you might get a drink it. The clear cups will be important for attracting a crowd, because seeing all the colorful layers is what draws people in. Sometimes when we walk up, he's got a few pre-made and waiting for people to buy, but we always like creating our own and having him make it right then (that way we can have the layers done exactly the way we want). There are plenty of people who buy the pre-made ones though.

Did that answer everything?

[speltrong]

and I think the key to success for the market where you can't prepare on site would be to have a really really good cooler, so you know everything is as fresh as when you prepared it. Our guy just has huge coleman coolers filled with ice, and he has buckets of the various components sitting in the ice to keep it fresh while he prepares everything. I don't see why it wouldn't work to make the parfaits and then nest them in ice until you sell them. Oh my gosh, they're so good. I can't wait until Sunday when I can go buy another. :-)

[LaniB]

I made some raw oatmeal cookies that were delicious. I found the recipe on the Rawmazing website - I'm sure those would be a big hit. I might need to make myself a new batch. :)

[kaybee]

hey! thanks for details. i decided yesterday i am gonna try and give this a go for this week and got a bunch of stuff. am going to try some samples on some people if i can get them pulled together today, then market is friday. im excited to have something to offer that is more fresh and healthy along with the other stuff. now, i think if i have the stuff all prepared and in bowls i probably can do them at the market...dont see how thats any different from spooning a salad into a container or the olive lady putting olives in bags from her bowls.... i soaked some buckwheat but was going to dehydrate it... now not sure if i should after reading what you put. was also going to do a granola to give people the option between the 2 bottom layers. thinking i will do a sunflower cream and one nut cream and give people choice (nut is tastier, but sunflower will save me a looooaaadd of money...). was going to mix apples and strawberries, and apples and kiwi, for the fruit layer choice, but yesterday got about 25 ripe peaches for less than 10 cents per peach so now thinking peaches and strawberries and apples and strawberries. dont have a lot of stall space with frontage but have a side table space usually that i could work on. hmmm. was worried that the buckwheat/granola woudl get soggy if i prepped them ahead but i guess if i used soaked non dehydrated buckwheat that wouldnt be an issue.... i could offer both dehydrated and undehydrated, but then you get into too many choices and it gets messy.... i got some half-pint plastic cups. not sure if thats big enough but the pint ones look too big for me to be able to fill affordably, especially with price of nuts.


hmmm. ill check out oatmeal cookie recipe too...but people usually want sugar laden cookies here :/

[speltrong]

that is great! Let us know how it goes. Also,when we go to buy our parfaits on Sunday, I will ask our guy for more details about how he prepares the buckwheat and oats. And I have to say, I think granola is a FANTASTIC idea, yum! Good luck!

[T-Bird]

guacamole and salsa!!!! raw humus using the zuchini!!!

[kaybee]

hey thanks. i made granola (though not raw :/ ) and also have some soaked buckwheat, and some dehydrated plain buckwheat, and some dehydrated agave/cinnamon buckwheat. i am gonna take it to a friends tomorrow to test what they think...im still not a fan of the buckwheat neither wet nor dehydrated so i think i need other opinions lol. also hoping i can get away with sunflower cream or at least sunflower cream as one of 2 options because the cashews and almonds are so.dang.expensive. but the sunflower has a slight bitterness to me that isnt cut by adding sweetner. i think i need to feed someone else and see what they think because i am too demanding of my food and hard on the recipes and tastes...too much of a perfectionist lol.

T Bird--unfort we did guac once and sold a bit of it but not enough for the work that went in, or to cover the cost of ingredients :/ same with the zucc hummus, we sold a bit of it, (last summer) but also found that it tasted off the next day. not like it was rotten, just not as pleasant. seemed like it only tasted good on the day it was made. maybe guac and salsa with flax crackers... i dont know. its so hard with EVERYTHINGto know what will sell and whatever doesnt ends up being a loss :/ even from week to week things change (i am sick of sprouted lentil salad. we had sprouted lentil salad coming out our ears last summer. sometimes it sold, sometime NOT!) we went through a stage of doing all sorts of dips and spreads last summer and finally ditched it because it was too unreliable if it would sell or not. :/ there are 2 other people doing hummus at market, one who is very well established so that kind of affects us

[speltrong]

let me know what your friends think! I am definitely going to ask our farmer's market guy on Sunday how he does the buckwheat and the granola and the cashew/almond cream, and I will give you a full report. What a fun little mission for our weekend! And hey, if you are looking for a raw granola recipe, there is a FANTASTIC recipe in the Cafe Gratitude cookbook. My husband makes it all the time and can't get enough of it, but it has kind of expensive ingredients.. I want to say it's soaked buckwheat that gets ground up in a food processor, dates (also ground up), shredded apple, almonds (not ground up, just whole), coconut, vanilla, agave.. and then he sometimes adds whatever sounds good to him. It was off-the-hook good when we added in whole blueberries! If you're interested, I can give you the whole recipe.. hopefully that doesn't violate copyright rules, heh.

[speltrong]

Okay, so I went to the farmer's market today and took a picture of the parfaits! Interestingly, in the last week, he changed the size of cup he puts the parfaits in to a smaller cup, still charging $6 each, which I'm still totally fine with paying. This week he added raisins, but didn't do two full layers of everything. I asked him how he does the buckwheat.. he said he soaks it for about a day in about twice as much water as buckwheat. Then he drains it, and keeps rinsing it and draining it two or three times a day. He said depending on the weather, it takes a day and a half or more.. when he's in Marin where it's a bit warmer, he said they sprout in about a day and a half, but it takes longer when he's in San Francisco. Basically, you want little tails on them. He said the longer you let the tails grow, the grassier it tastes, so he usually sticks to short little tails. Anyway, here is the picture I took of the parfaits in the new cups he had this week:
8795