by Juliette Enfield, Extension Educator, Warren County
The market place is continually changing. The needs and
wants of a new generation of consumers can be surprising and unintuitive. Farmers
market customers want samples of fresh fruit and vegetables, and kids are more
likely to eat fresh apples if they are pre-sliced.
A consumer survey conducted by the University of Kentucky
found that farmers market shoppers desired samples of food more than other
possible services that a farmers market could offer, including debit card
acceptance and expanded market hours. The study also found that fifty five
percent of the customers who tried a sample purchased the sampled product that
day and another 17% planned to buy the
product in the future. Fruits and vegetables products were the top items that
people were willing to sample. If you are a vendor of fresh produce, you may
want to consider this marketing opportunity. Incorporating sampling into your
business routine may sound daunting, especially since samples should be
prepared in an approved, inspected facility or prepared at the market with an
approved washing facility. However, if you are able to attract new customers or
stimulate sales by offering samples, it might be worth the effort.
Also along the lines of cutting up fresh fruits and
vegetables, a study in Wayne County, New York found that kids are more likely
to eat apples if they are sliced. Cornell Cooperative Extension launched a
study to determine effective ways to boost local food consumption in middle
schools. By working with school Food Service Distributors, different techniques
for serving apples were tested. It was found that slicing the apples instead of
offering them whole resulted in a 73% increase in apple consumption. Food
Service Distributors reported that single serving packages were the most convenient
way to display the apple slices in lunch lines and in vending machines. One of
the researchers spoke at a conference recently about this study and a tool that
she discovered during her work in Wayne County. She recommended a kitchen tool
called a sectionizer, which cores and slices fresh fruit in one swift motion.
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A variety of peaches to sample at a farm retail store.
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Given the new research showing that children and adults
alike are looking for those freshly sliced fruits and vegetables, you may want
to consider a sectionizer for your marketing and packaging.
Produce samples should be kept at 41⁰F and covered. Speak to
your local food inspector about your set up in order to provide safe, fresh
samples of your fruit and vegetables. Your market may be interested in trying
pooled sampling, in which several samples from different vendors are prepared
and offered at one table in the market.
Sources for this blog:
Bourbeau,
Mary Lee, “Serving Up Sliced Apples: Wayne County, NY Schools, CornellCooperative Extension and Regional Food Bank Make It Happen”, eXtension (August 15, 2013), accessed
Nov 12, 2013
Timothy
Woods and Miranda Hileman, Best Practicesfor Sampling at Farmers Markets: A Practical Guide for Farmers Market Vendors, Extension
Publication 2012-19 (Department of Agricultural Economics, University of
Kentucky, 2012) accessed Nov 12, 2013
