I have found in the past I did not have time or energy to do anymore than the fruit and veggies. In Indiana, we do not need a permit for home based baking and such for most farmers markets.

Marla

The only VAP products we sell are honey and apple cider. Both are good sellers, especially when we are giving samples. You have to be careful when pricing and know all your costs - ingredients, packaging, special equipment needed, labor - in order to price in a way that makes money but does not price you out of the market. We have some "nitche" products we sell that others in the market don't have. The problem is that since most are not too common you have to take time to push first sales. However, once people get an idea of what to do with a given product sales usually pick up. Case in point - last year we tried Peach Tomatoes for the first time. They are rather different, about the size of a ping pong ball, yellow and fuzzy on the outside. They taste quite good. People had no idea what to think of them. We gave out some samples, sent a few freebies with our regular customers and by the end of the year people were asking for them by name. We'll grow them again this year in larger quantity and make a judgement in the fall if they warrent continuing. We try one or two new items each year just to keep things fresh (purple tomatillos are one item this year). Sometimes they work out, sometimes not.

Another way we try to stand out is display. In the fall we set up quite a large display of pumpkins, winter squash, gourds and the like. It is pretty eye catching and brings people over. Yes it takes a little more time to set up and transport but if it boosts sales (and it does) it is worth it.

Tom

I sell 17 different varieties of jams and jellies.

My specialty is Pepper Jellies.

Here is a picture at an early market last year.

I keep adding varieties at customer request, Sand Plum, Elderberry, Strawberry, and Peach to name a few.

I charge $5.50 a jar, this is up 50 cents and this year I can't keep up with demand. I am making jellies every week to every other week. It has taken 4 years to get to this point. Value added isn't like early tomatoes, You have to build your customer base and reputation.

Jay

I started making jellies about 5 years ago and then last fall, I decided that was going to be my winter project. I joined a winter market here in town (KC) and I made jams and jellies that were unusual. I didn't have much luck at first but it's like Jay said, it takes time to build up customer recognition (base and reputation). Your product has to be good tasting and pretty. We have some marketing techniques we use such as tying a piece of colorful cloth with a colored ribbon on the top of the jar. I know that sounds weird but what it does is draw the people to our table and then they start asking questions. My biggest seller this summer has been mango jam and pineapple jam. I've also done well with banana jam, apple pie filling jam, carrot cake jam and banana nutbread jam. Now, the marmalades have picked up. We've been selling lime, tangerine, grapefruit and mixed citrus marmalades. I've already had repeat customers and we are doing ok on sales at the outdoor market as well. We haven't sold tons of product but I can see where this is going and like Jay, I've had requests for other flavors from satisfied clients. I also offer a money-back guarantee and we sincerely WANT feedback. We DO NOT want to sell an inferior product. I wait for fruit to go on sale or I'll find it for free or reduced prices through friends with access to orchards or someone who has too many berries. I'm getting red and black raspberries right now for a very decent price. We had a sale on peaches a few weeks ago for $10 for 10 lbs and my neighborhood store had mangos for 50c each. I bought 36!. Now, I've got several different hot pepper jellies. Not as many as Jay but people LOVE them. Another thing I tell people about our jams and jellies is how they can be used with meat, fish and poultry. Or how some of them like apple pie filling jam or banana jam are great with ice cream or waffles. One of my biggests costs is jars. I am new at this but am still not finding jars at a decent wholesale price. I know it will take more time and research but during growing season, I don't have much time to research. I'm out in the field every night after my 40-hour per week job and we're heading into overtime here soon. If anyone knows where I can get a great deal on jars, please let me know. Sorry for being so wordy here but we think our Value-Added business is going to do us proud.

I seen pint jars at Walmart for less than $8/doz. Otherwise, yard sales and thrift stores are your best bets for cheap jars.

I may be starting back up doing jellies, since I'm at a market that allows without a certified kitchen.

Also, for the cheaper priced fruit, check with the grocery stores for their 'over-ripes'. Usually they will cut you a deal, and the fruit is still good.

Marla

We started with jams and jellies even before we were able to sell fresh produce. The margin is greater on the fresh produce, no doubt, but people are drawn in by the jams and jellies. As others have done, we affix a piece of gingham fabric to the lids via ribbon, and since starting this practice, our sales have doubled (there are pictures on the attached link below).

We sell half-pint jars (15.7 to 16.5 oz. by weight) of 10-15 varieties (depending on our ability to keep them in stock) for $3.50, and four special seasonal offerings for $5.00 a jar. All of our jams are made with Kansas-grown produce (we're located in Southeast Kansas) and this also helps, as people have increasingly jumped on the "locavore" bandwagon. Others were talking of unusual varieties--mint jelly has sold way better than I expected, and we have three different pepper jellies that sell really well.

Not to get too specific (although as others have noted, it is necessary to note the costs of creating the value-added goods), but each jar of most of our jams or jellies costs from $1.10 to $1.40 to make, not including labor. We've gotten to where we can make up to 20 jars in an hour by having several batches going at once, then processing them in our pressure canner. Strawberry jam is an exception, as it costs closer to $2.30 per jar, but it is necessary to both make it and sell it at $3.50 for us, because it is an early-season jam, and it creates a strong customer base.

We do baked goods as well (brunch cakes, muffins with Kansas fruit, specialty breads), but after the packaging and the input costs, we're lucky if we get a 25% margin. We use Kansas flour with those as well. Baked goods are tricky, as you have to bring the precise right amount--you risk making customers angry if you sell out too early, but if you take a bunch home with you, that's a lot of lost money because you can't take them to the market the next week. In Kansas you do not have to have a license for jams and jellies, or for baked goods that do not need to stay refrigerated (so no cream pies, cheesecakes, etc.).

On another note, my wife's handmade jewelry has sold really well so far in 2011...don't know if you can count that as value-added, though! :)

Hope this helps! Good luck in your endeavors!

-TK

Here is a link that might be useful: Photos of jams and jellies

You can pruchase jars by the pallet in many places. I buy widemouth pints and quarts and 1/2 pint jelly jars. I sell the jars at 3x what i pay for them and they are still a lot cheaper than any local stor [anout 1/2) i make low sugar or no sugar jams, which are not canned but frozen. I do strawberry, blackberry and sour cherry. I buy my pectin wholesale. I buy my blackberries from a local grower. I have a small crew that picks strawberries i pay $6 a gallon. berries are cleaned as picked then washed and ground at once. The biggest berries go in 1 galon containers and sell for $12. I do not grow the strawberris i pick from a larger grower. I buy my cherries from Michigan, sour cheries pitted and frozen. my jams sell for $5 a 1/2 pint. I grow a fine italian paste tomato and procees then to a tomato puree concentrate that sells for $8 a gallon again frozen.

Teauteau-

You have a good source for jars right there in Kansas City. I get all my jars from Infinity Packaging. I will post the link at the bottom. I use the 9 ounce jar with a one piece twist on lid. I prefer this look to the Ball jelly jars. It sets your product apart from others. It looks more professional, in my opinion.

You can buy them by the pallet or by less. Your order just has to be over $250. You can also pick up your orders in KC and not pay for shipping.

-TK

Nice variety of product, if it were me I would raise your prices. I started out around $3.50 four years ago and I am now up to $5.50 and I am selling more than I have ever sold before. Just a thought.

Jay

Here is a link that might be useful: Infinity Packaging

Wow! What great posts! Marla, we have a grocery store that sets a low price on bananas that are overripe. They're excellent for two types of banana butters I make and the price is dirt cheap.

TK-What beautiful product you have! I like your idea of Kansas grown or Kansas produced. Last year, I tried to buy only locally grown (in this case an orchard in Missouri) apples so I can market my apple butter as made with locally grown products. (The orchard was only 40 miles away and I could tell people where I bought my apples.) I use locally grown blackberries and raspberries. Next month, I will get locally grown peaches. It's great to be able to tell people this and people love to jump on this bandwagon as you said. I like the idea of so many people supporting local fruit production. I agree with Jay, I'd raise my prices. My 1/2 pints go for $4.00 and that's probably too low and the pints go for $6.00 and generally, I don't have trouble selling these. People seem to be interested in buying locally made and canned items. I have a friend at another market who makes pickles and other canned vegetables. Technically, we're supposed to have certified kitchen for that but there are lots of people doing it.

Jay, thank you very much for that link. I will look into it. It would be great to be able to get my jars locally. We have been trying to figure out how we could get away from the Ball jars because our labels look funky on them. Your product looks very nice too. You are truly amazing. I've learned a ton from you since I started reading your posts.

Marla, I've learned a lot from you too. I thought about garage sales but who has time...LOL!

One other thing. We also make a Kansas City Style Barbecue that has really taken off. I know I'm biased but it sure is good and we are getting repeat sales on this. Anyway, the reason I brought it up is, people are returning the jars! I think that is so cool! So, we are thinking about offering an incentive. If you return the jar, we'll give you a dime for the 1/2 pints or a 25c on the pints. So far, we've received 4 or 5 jars back!

Thanx for all the great ideas and posts!

Great posts everyone! Keep 'em coming! I'd love to hear more about weird veggies or other things. Does anyone grow amaranth or orach for greens?

One thing that's sad (to me) is seeing how many states allow home processing without a permit. I have to have my water tested as well as allow an inspection of my kitchen/house. Then I still can only make certain things, and apparently I have to list each and every item I hope to make/sell. Then there are weird rules--I can buy and repackage herbs and spices but not dry and resell my own herbs. I can make candy corn or "snack mix", but not granola. Can do jams/jelly but no pickles, salsa, relish. Go figure... Ugh--too many rules in NY!

I looked into buying jars bulk, but the shipping puts the jar price over the price of the local hardware store, so I'm looking at nearly $1 per jar. With the price of local berries, 8oz jams will have to sell around $5-6 unless I can get a better price from the local berry farm.

Right now I just wish the sun would come out so my flowers will bloom!

Keep the posts coming. I'd love to hear more.

Jay - thanks so much for the link! I've been trying to find a one-piece-lid option that rivals the prices of the plain-jane Ball lids. KC is an easy drive for us; much better to drive there instead of incur shipping costs over $100.

We've tried to go higher than $3.50 per half pint, but it seems impossible unless it is one of our higher-end seasonals. The minute we went to $4.00 last year, sales just stopped altogether. Must be a psychological thing, because our local economy is decently strong. We're going to have to raise prices next year, though, because our input prices (especially on sugar) have gone up five to ten cents per pound since the same time as last year.

@ Harvestingfilth: Very, very glad I don't live in NY :) Kansas is pretty hands-off, but it seems like everyone I talk to regarding what we can and can't sell (above and beyond jams, jellies, and baked goods) has given me a different answer. As far as weird veggies, haven't seen too much out of the ordinary around here--people seem to hesitate at buying Swiss chard, even. But I would guess NY is probably more progressive in that regard, too. Best of luck with your venture, and keep us posted!

-TK

Harvestingfilth - there are a lot of guys on the beekeeping forums that swear the best place to get jars is Big Lots (if you have them in your area). They find the store manager and tell them they want a quanity and ask for a deal. Most of the time they get a pretty good price. Just a thought.

Tom

About the jars I get, they are smooth and a 2 by 4 Avery label sticks very nice. You can pick them up in KC, it is really a neat experience. You go down in old warehouse caves to pick them up. Cave that is correct, very cool. They are huge. You drive down this winding road and enter the side of this hill. There are semi's driving in and out. My kids always want to come with us when we get them. The company has another logistics company that serves as their warehouse. You will have to pick them up by 4. That is when the warehouse closes.

We travel up to Kansas City for Doctors Appointments every 6 months and we try to combine trips.

Jay

I used to buy my jars (years ago) from Big Lots, but I found that sometimes I got odd shaped jars.

My mother is the yard saler, one time she brought my a pickup truck load of jars without spending a dime, except gas for the truck. Over the years,I have collected hundreds of jars.

Marla

I just wanted to holler back at Jay to say thanx! I hooked up with Infinity Glass and made my first order of jars and lids. I've never been to the caves out in Lenexa before, so this was an experience. When I think of what the prices are for jars now, retail, I'm thanking my lucky stars and you Jay, for finding me a source that I can drive to and not pay shipping and the jars are perfect for what I need. Nothing fancy, just regular jelly jars. We bought two sizes with the same lid size. Our jelly and jam business has picked up and we have been successful with two types of barbecue sauce, Kansas City Style and our own version of a Cackalacky (Carolina)-Style barbecue sauce. We make unusual types of jams and jellies and we are developing a clientele which has been fun. There have also been some ruts like when my apple butter was too runny but hey...you live and learn and I would much rather people be up front and honest because I don't want to put out a substandard product. I enjoy knowing people are enjoying my stuff and recommending it to others. Anyway Jay and everyone else, thanx for the input and the ideas, suggestions, etc. Now, if I could just find lower prices on fruit. I've been getting some pretty good deals at Aldi's and some local growers (on occasion). I'm going to check with some of the wholesalers and see what I need to do to set up a small account. I can't deal with a truckload but I can with quantities larger than 10 or 20 lbs. Thanx again!

[quote]Does anyone grow amaranth or orach for greens?[/quote]

Our amaranth seed stock for next year will be ready to harvest in a week or two.

We will be marketing it next year. Everyone who tries it loves it - I have no doubt we will sell tons. I sold a few bunches of the baby leaves from the existing 'trees' last week. It is a lot more work pulling off the leaves than just harvesting the whole baby plant.

In the summer we picked them at about 15-20 cm. So far, I can't see the point in doing all of the work for bagged salad mixes so we are doing bunches of everything.

Thanks everyone--I'm still watching for more ideas now that the season is winding down and I'm trying to get ideas for next year. I got my kitchen ready (just in time for market to close down, but I can still do jams and jellies with fall fruits for holiday sales here and there), and the permit will be in hand for me to start up next spring. The season just got away from me as far as time to do more than my flowers and herbs.

I sold some amaranth (Hopi Red) as greens in bunches, and have used some of the tall flowering stems in bouquets. The side shoots would be great for salad mix if I had time to harvest it, too. It's a nice all purpose plant and I think we'll keep growing it. I may even dye some wool with it (it's a dye plant too).

For next year, we will be growing some garlic, and we are going to experiment with growing a few mushrooms, particularly now that we have some nice clean logs from all the Hurricane Irene debris. I also hope to do some candied/spiced nuts next year. Anything we can do to bring our weekly gross sales up.
Carrie

Carrie, over the winter, keep in mind that you will have alot of expenses for the value-added items.

I would collect recipes, jars (especially when they go on sales, that's now around here) and anything else that you might need for your ideas.

Gross sales are great, but net sales are your bottom dollar. If you have gross sales of 40,000 but after expenses, you only have 1,000---was it really worth the all the work for 1,000??? Your labor does not count into the expenses, that's the bad thing.

I figured out even my table organization, when I was doing jellies, to make everything I could most efficient.
Marla

Marla,
Thanks for the reply. I'm already 'working' all the short cuts I know for canning since I do a lot for my own family. I have a very large stash of jars, mostly picked up in my travels when I find them on sale, flea markets, yard sales, thrift stores. I keep adding and stashing :)

We've had a few successful small business ventures, so I understand gross sales vs. the bottom line. It's unfortunate, but I've come to understand that when I do something I love to do, I can't expect to be paid as much for my time. That's the price you pay for not being a slave to somebody else's rules, and I think it's mostly worthwhile. The other thing is that we don't expect to make much profit for the first few years while we are learning what our new market customers want, and personally while we are building infrastructure on our property as our budget permits.

That said, a lot of what we consider "value added" are the small steps our family has taken to make our microfarm more productive--deer fence, planting rows of berries and other fruits, expanding the range of things we're trying to grow and being creative about maximum use of the space we have, etc. In addition to selling products grown specifically for market plus our excess produce, we're expanding our own food base to keep from dependence on the grocery store. (Adding mushrooms, garlic this fall, chickens next spring...then hopefully bees). These are value added benefits that can't be measured as easily in dollars, but are precious nonetheless (as I'm sure most farmers would agree).

We're also enjoying becoming more involved in our community, which is another "value added" benefit. I'm sure there are others, but this is moving too far off the original value added topic, so I'll stop blabbing now.

Carrie

I found that pricing some of the ingredients that I used off of the farm was hard to find. Wild plums, as an example, what should I price the pounds of fruit, since, I can't find them on the store shelves. things like that was some of the hardest things to do.

All new jars, were expensive, but needed to retail. I would have much preferred using some of my extras, but that wasn't allowed. Getting some good labels that didn't run and wasn't outrageously priced were also some of the things that was difficult. Nowadays, it's easier with good ink and clipart programs. Like I said I used to sell jelly, and now am considering it again.

Marla

Jay Jay Jay...
I am impressed with your wonderful jam's
I have just started making jam this season with
extra left overs. What would it take to get one
of your jalapeno mint jam recipes, hot n mild?
Maybe I can barter or swap something..... if yours
is selling and already tried and tested it must be
worth something for your recipe....
I don't post much on this forum, but greatly enjoy
the posts from others....
back to jay's jam.... I am overstocked with jalapeno
and ceyenne peppers hanging in my kitchen drying some
still fresh in the fridge. so if its too secret to
give up your recipe here catch up with me here
kadabra@hughes.net miles and miles from Kansas by the
way.... LOL rainy and cold moving in by the end of the
week here in Michigan we have had very unseasonal warmth
this week, lovin every minute of it though the fall colors
are at their peak, sunny bright cheerful...looking forward
to hearing from jamer jay :)

Our Rosedale Farmers Market in Kansas City, KS, ended September 25th. We had a barbecue and country line dancing demonstration and lessons, a massage table and the various vendors. I had all my jams and jellies and barbecue sauce. We have two products for barbecue sauce, Kansas City-style which was naturally a big hit here and Cackalacky (Carolina)-style. I have a rather large line of jams and jellies. I just bring different kinds and I'm still getting a feel for people's favorites. I've managed to sell a little bit of everything though. Our marmalades did well. We have lime, grapefruit and tangerine. Mango jam was a huge hit and I did well with a banana butter. Apple butter is really popular here but a lot of my specialty jams were very popular such as tomato basil, strawberry balsamic, apricot and Marmalada Nektarinia (a Greek nectarine jam recipe). Pepper jellies are also very popular and I sold lots of cranberry jalape񯬠prickly pear serrano, blueberry jalape񯬠strawberry serrano and jalape񯮠Also sold jellies like basil jelly and mint jelly. I'm going to experiment with some other herbal jellies. These are great to use with meats, poultry and fish. Always be prepared to talk about your wares. People love it and I have convinced more than a few to buy my stuff when they just stopped to look. I'll be doing a winter market this year. As I had started one last year. I'm going back to Infinity here in Kansas City to pick up my second load of jars so, the value added sales are going well. Plus, I love making the stuff. It's always an adventure. Nice to have at the market too b/c it draws people to your table.