Flower Farming Business Models: Farmer's Markets
When you first started thinking about flower farming, you probably thought about setting up a stall at a farmer’s market.
We certainly did.
It’s probably one of the first ways most people think of as far as selling flowers.
In fact, it’s so ingrained into the collective consciousness that we still get the very well-intentioned suggestion from non-flower farmers that we should sell our flowers at a farmer’s market.
We don’t sell our flowers at a farmer’s market anymore (and I’ll get into why we don’t later on in the post) but many flower farmers have found great success with farmer’s (or growers) markets, both in terms of making gross profits as well as building a loyal customer base that will come rain or shine to purchase flowers from them.
It’s pretty phenomenal actually - we met some flower farmers who have been selling at farmer’s markets longer than we’ve been alive - the OG flower farmers so to speak - and they have been able to provide for themselves very well by coming to the markets week after week, year after year.
Advantages of Farmer’s Markets
One of the things I like about farmer’s market is the fact that the customers are right there.
Like, literally right in front of your face.
How many places can you setup shop and have hundreds (if not thousands!) of potential customers pass in front of your place of business in the course of a couple of hours?
And not only that, people are primed to be there and to buy. They may not have necessarily come out to the farmer’s market to purchase goat cheese or a hand-woven alpaca hat or a mixed bouquet of flowers, but when you’re there, you want to have a good time- and that includes buying flowers. Think of those people coming to the market as customers who have already been screened and primed for sales.
Secondly, farmer’s markets are great because they require a minimal commitment as far as infrastructure and maintenance. You’re not renting a portion of a consignment shop, you’re not paying rent on a brick and mortar store, you’re not having to perform maintenance and manage a staff - you just show up, make your sales, and then you leave. This is great because it allows you to focus on growing and selling, and that’s it.
Third, farmer’s markets are a great way to get to know the community. Especially if you’re new to town (or to the growing scene at least) this can be a great way to not only meet new people, but for other people to meet you. Even other vendors at the market getting to know you can be advantageous - we found that we got business referred to us from other vendors who liked us and believed in what we were doing.
Fourth, the visibility of being at a farmer’s market means that you’re getting your face and your name and your brand out there. It may take a while to see the results of this, but it is a good thing to be able to be visible to so many people.
More importantly, sales at the farmer’s markets are simple. Easy. Quick.
No invoices, no back and forth emails and texting at all hours of the night, it’s a quick and simple transaction. Buy this arrangement, take the arrangement home and enjoy. See you next week. If people don’t want to buy, then they don’t. And if they like what you have to offer, they’ll buy it. It’s really is as easy as that.
Disadvantages of Farmer’s Markets
We stopped selling at farmer’s markets for a couple reasons.
First of all, we were one of four farms selling flowers. This sort of competition was not conducive to anyone, least of all us, because it ended up making it impossible for anyone to really establish a brand for selling flowers and draw customers to the market. We blamed the management for not running it properly, but were unfortunately at the mercy of that management.
(Incidentally, we were also competing with people selling dyed mums purchased from retail stores and passing it off as “locally grown”. When we informed the management about it, they refused to do anything. So we left. Just remember, if you’re not running the show, you are subject to the decisions of the people that are).
Secondly, there was a lot of waste associated with selling at a market. What product you don’t sell is wasted - the materials are only good for giving away or the compost pile, since their vase life will be extremely low after sitting at market all day. It broke my heart to dump buckets and buckets of our flowers on the compost pile, not only because I cared about our materials but because I could just see the wasted potential just sitting there, rotting away.
Third, going to market is an ordeal. We would spend all Friday cutting and bunching and making premade bouquets, then would spend the entire Saturday preparing, driving, setting up, selling, cleaning up and recovering from the whole ordeal. It was exhausting to make very little income as a result.
And fourth, sales were never that great for us. Again, it had to do a lot with the market we were at and the management, but I believe that there are much better venues for flower sales that are easier and more profitable. You may be able to run a successful market (and there are plenty of people who do) but we found that other ways of earning income off our flowers were just more suitable for us.
How to Start at a Farmer’s Market
To start at a farmer’s market, you’ll need to sign up first.
I’d recommend you get in contact with your local market manager. Generally speaking you’ll be able to find an email address (or other means of communication) on the market’s website or social media page.
The market manager generally will have you submit an application to be reviewed, and then will let you know if you’re able to be a part of the market. You’ll want to ask questions regarding if there are any other vendors that sell flowers - this will be important to your success at the market as I mentioned.
Generally speaking there is either a set fee for the season or a weekly fee to be present at the market and have a space available. There may also be other fees to be a vendor as well, so make sure you know that information when joining the market.
Ensure as well that you have all your applicable licenses too - some locales may require you to have an agricultural license or inspection in order to sell at a grower’s market.
To setup a good farmer’s market display, I would recommend investing in the following:
Plastic folding tables
A large tablecloth - we liked using a large canvas dropcloth
A canopy tent that is properly weighted
Collapsible chairs
Floral buckets
A chalkboard (or other means for displaying prices and advertising your name/brand)
A money box
A clipboard with a signup sheet to get on an email list
Business cards
I would also recommend setting up a website - or at least a Facebook page - that you can direct your customers to. Starting an email list wouldn’t be bad either to allow people to keep up with your farm on a weekly basis. You can also let them know if you’re going to be out of town or not at market for whatever reason - that will allow them to keep track of you.
If you’re going to be offering mixed bouquets, you’ll want to invest in some sleeves. You can either use plastic sleeves or use kraft paper sleeves - the kraft paper sleeves seem to be most popular among flower farmers due to the higher-end esthetic.
If you’re going to be offering mixed arrangements in containers like mason jars, you’ll want to invest not only in those containers but also a method of carrying them to market. We like using long and narrow boxes specially built for mason jar arrangements that allow us to transport them easily.
Harvesting and Designing for Market
Generally speaking, you’re going to want to harvest and design your bouquets and arrangements prior to market. We would usually bring material to make some bouquets at the market, but we generally made most of our arrangements ahead of time to ensure that we would have plenty of bouquets ready for sale.
We would cut and harvest on Thursday night and Friday morning, letting the material rest in the cooler until the evening after which we would create our bouquets and arrangements. It’s important to let those arrangements rest overnight too to ensure that everything is hydrated and ready to go.
Keep your arrangements in the cooler - you’ll want to ensure they are as fresh and cool as possible.
Succeeding with Farmer’s Markets
If you’re going to do a farmer’s market, there are a couple things to keep in mind to ensure your success. I’ve alluded to some of those already, but here’s a few.
Choose your market carefully
As I mentioned previously, one of the reasons why we left our farmer’s market was because it was not managed well, particularly when it came to flower vendors.
Ideally, you should pick a market that has no other vendors solely selling flowers. If there is already a designated flower farm or vendor selling flowers at least, I’d advise you to pick another market - it will make your life much easier and not piss off other growers.
You should also pick a market that has decent traffic. Good traffic with lots people interested in buying produce are important factors in choosing a market, but so long as you have a decent amount of foot traffic the opportunity is there.
Try and meet the market managers if you can and get a good feel for if they’re someone you like. If your gut tells you differently - don’t do it.
Abundance is key
One of the greatest keys to success with a market display - no matter vegetables or flowers or honey or soap - is the feeling of abundance. The more product you have present, the more compelled people will feel to purchase. It’s the reason why retail stores make big overflowing overstuffed displays, that feeling of abundance is key.
You can accomplish this by ensuring your stand and display is stuffed full. Bring as much material as you can to ensure that you always have a full display present. We had large mixed bouquets, three to a floral display bucket, fluffed out and appearing larger than life stacked on various levels around our display while mason jars rested atop wooden crates and filled out the area in front of us and more buckets of flowers were displayed on the back of the stall.
And every time a bouquet or arrangement would sell, we would place a new one in its place, magically replenishing the abundance. This kept people interested and buying!
Color is important
We originally grew a lot of beautiful flowers our first year. Coral Fountain amaranthus, Queen Red Lime zinnias, white cosmos, ammi, blush colored Cafe au Lait dahlias - all flowers that were dusty, muddy, muted colors.
And people passed over them without a second glance.
But then we started bringing different flowers. Cranberry purple cosmos, deep blue bachelor buttons, yellow sunflowers, brightly colored zinnias and red gomphrena. And you know what? We got a lot more attention, and a lot more sales.
People liked the brightly colored flowers. They were eye-catching, with the screaming, saturated bold colors that you could see from a mile away, and it seems more than anything else the people at the farmer’s market loved color, no matter the flower.
Floral designers and brides and grooms loved the blush and white and mint-green color combinations, but the brightly rainbow colored flowers were our best sellers at the farmer’s market. Keep this in mind as you plan your crops.
Convenience is important too
One of the biggest ways to ensure that you have a smooth farmer’s market is to ensure that everything is convenient for the customer.
You want them to be able to see your flowers, decide that they want to purchase them and make the purchase happen - within a few minutes ideally, even if they’ve never visited your stand before - or purchased anything at the farmer’s market before!
You can accomplish this by ensuring a few things:
Make sure that your prices are clearly visible. That can be tags or stickers on the bouquets or arrangements, a chalkboard showing off the pricing, or little signs tucked in and among the display. You don’t want customers double-guessing the prices - they’ll decide it’s not worth the effort and move on.
Price your arrangements as evenly as possible. We usually just choose $10 and $20 arrangements to make pricing easy. Ensure that you have enough money to make change.
Offer a credit card machine or digital payment service if you can. A Stripe or Square card reader is a good one to have, and you can even offer Apple pay or Venmo if you’re feeling it.
Offer premade arrangements in easy-to-carry containers. Mason jars are perfect for this, since they can also sit in a car cupholder for the ride home. Alternatively, you can have bouquets ready to go with the ends wrapped in plastic or another water source to make it easy for your customers to transport. Just don’t use plastic cups - they’re very prone to tipping and give your flowers a very low-rent feel.
Feel free to answer questions and chat with your customers - this is important for building up a loyal fanbase - but also ensure that if you have someone who is wanting to make a purchase (i.e. has money or their wallet out, or has an arrangement in hand) that you politely excuse yourself and attend to the person who is wanting to make a purchase, then return to your conversation after that.
If there are multiple people at your display, ensure that you designate roles for everyone. One person owns the cash box and takes money while another person hands out the products and keeps things stocked and organized, or if there are more of you then someone else can take on the role of making bouquets on the spot or other roles as needed.
Be Engaging
While you’re at the market, it’s best to be as engaging as possible.
This means standing up, saying hello, striking up a conversation with people. It can be hard for people who are introverts, but I promise you that it is well worth the effort.
If you can get someone to approach your display, you’re already halfway there! Get them talking about something - the weather, the market, if there’s a holiday coming up, how cute their dog is, the giant bag of chard they’re carrying - anything to engage with them.
We’ve found that making arrangements at the market works well to get the attention of people. The swishing and rustling of leaves, the trembling of flowers like poppies and dahlias as you put them together, the scent of herbs and tuberose and lilies - these are all things that will catch the attention of people, and they will drawn in to see what you are doing.
Remember that our medium is mostly visual - so the more you can do that catches the eye of your customer, the better.
Skip the make-your-own-bouquet option
I know that this might make me a bit unpopular, but I don’t really like to offer a make-your-own-bouquet option.
I’ve never understood how people host make-your-custom-bouquets at a farmer’s market - the amount of time and concentration and calculations for the bouquet would be far too time-consuming for us.
We will occasionally offer large focal flowers like sunflowers and dahlias as single stems, but generally they sell much better if bundled into arrangements or bouquets (and are much more profitable sold that way too). Inevitably I think you would find that make-your-own bouquets would leave you with a lot of foliage and filler leftover.
Give success time to grow
Generally speaking from what we’ve found talking with other growers, it takes a while to grow a successful market business.
Although you may have a few customers who will always buy from you on a whim, your real money (and stability) comes from repeat customers who love your flowers and will come back week after week. These are the die-hard customers that you want, the ones who will support you no matter what flowers you provide because they love you, love your business and believe in what you are doing.
But these are also the customers that have to be won over. They may appear suspicious, ask a lot of questions and check out the flowers first before buying. They may ask questions about the varieties of flowers, the expected vase life, questions about your farm, how long you’ve been growing and so on. It’s important that you don’t get offended - take this as an opportunity to win over a customer by answering their questions and impress them with your story.
The best customers are also the ones that are referred from other customers. Your customers that are loyal to you will setup other people to be good customers by giving them an expectation for your flowers - “They’re fresh and smell so beautiful!” or “Their flowers are locally grown and last forever” are the types of business endorsements that you can’t buy.
Again, this does take time - sometimes years - but once you win over the loyalty of customers, they will stick with you for life.
Never Undercut Prices
If you don’t know what to charge for your flowers, you probably shouldn’t be selling at a farmer’s market.
Kidding. But seriously, you should be charging a good amount for the flowers and materials in your arrangements.
The standard florist markup is 3x what your overhead cost of the materials is, and you shouldn’t really be going lower than that. If you do, you’re going to cause a problem not just with other growers but also florists as well.
Farmer’s markets unfortunately have a reputation for being underpriced, so make sure that you can stand by your prices. If people ask why your prices are higher than the competition? Just explain why your flowers are the best - they are fresh, of the best variety and quality, are grown organically or sustainably - and the right customers will understand and purchase accordingly.
Planting for a Farmer’s Market
As I mentioned previously, colors are the most important part of the flowers at a farmer’s market with the bolder, saturated, and brighter the better.
It’s also the perfect venue for all the flowers that are commonly recognized by people. Anything that looks like a daisy - calendula, zinnias, dahlias, sunflowers, mums, oxeye daisies, rudbeckia - these are all great flowers to have as the focal flowers in arrangements. Herbs and grains and other edible items are a great addition to arrangements that also fit the vibe of the market.
You’ll also want to ensure that many of your flowers are long lasting. This seems to be a very important characteristic for many of our market customers - they want an arrangement that will last a long time, usually 5-7 days.
The good news is that as long as its colorful and doesn’t look too weedy, you’ll likely have great success. Some recommendations include:
Amaranthus
Ammi
Bachelor Buttons
Basil
Broomcorn
Calendula
Celosia (Cockscomb / Wheat / Brain)
Cleome
Cosmos
Dahlias
Daucus
Echinacea
Gomphrena
Grasses and Grains
Larkspur
Marigolds
Mint
Nigella
Ox eye daisies
Rosemary
Sunflowers
Sweet peas
Tithonia (Mexican sunflower)
Zinnias
I hope this helps you with setting up a successful farmer’s market venture!
Although we don’t sell at a grower’s market anymore, I do have to admit that it was just so much fun to be there - the energy is good, you get to meet other artisans and growers, and it’s just a great way to meet people and be part of your community.
In addition, you may find that being a farmer’s market leads to many more opportunities. There are other flower farmers who started their wedding work/design businesses from being at a farmer’s market and meeting their first bride. There are other flower farmers who found themselves in an opportunity to work with other artists and creators that led to successful events and networking.
Even if you don’t stay at a farmer’s market long term, it can still be invaluable just for the exposure and getting yourself integrated into the community. And you can also use a farmer’s market as just one outlet to sell your flowers - bundled with other income streams, it can be part of a larger effort to evaluate the best ways for your farm to make money.
Wishing you all luck with your farmer’s market adventures!
If you’re interested in learning about other business models for flower farmers, check out the following posts:
Flower Farming Business Models: The CSA Subscription