Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
ers might also operate a single stand in a cooperative venture. Besides raw
produce, you might offer preserves, honey, dried herbs, cookbooks, cider, or
other value-added products. Make sure that any consumable, value-added
products meet food preparation and safety regulations for your area.
As you can see, roadside marketing offers a lot of opportunities. Be cau-
tious, however. Local ordinances vary tremendously, so be sure that you will
be able to sell what you want where you want. In one county where I farmed,
for example, unless a roadside stand was located on a commercially zoned
site, it had to be on the farmer's property and carry only produce grown on
that farm.
As with U-pick operations, there are several things that you must get
right from the start for a roadside stand: location, location, and location. The
best stand in the world will not last long if it is isolated and there is little
customer traffic. Main, heavily traveled highways are best.
Roadside stands provide excellent opportunities for creative marketing.
When I lived in upstate New York, my family loved going to a roadside stand
that put on a large Halloween display every fall. The owners would create the
agricultural version of a wax museum with hundreds of figures made from
pumpkins, squash, apples, cornstalks, and other produce. There were pump-
kin marshals and pumpkin outlaws gunning it out on Main Street. Pumpkin
and cornstalk witches flew through the treetops. Squash children played on
the lawn. I know the family that owned the stand had a lot of fun putting
on the show, and customers came back year after year to enjoy it, putting
late-season dollars into the farmer's pocket. The owners realized they wer-
en't selling pumpkins and squash — those products were available from other
sources closer to town. These entrepreneurs were selling fun and memories.
