Market research part 3 - Lewes Farmers Market

Last Saturday was another sunny Saturday in Sussex and Melissa and I were up nice and early to visit the monthly market in nearby Lewes.  We parked up and took the short stroll down the lovely high street to the bottom of the hill where the market is held.  Once you hit the middle of the street the market is really buzzing - plenty of locals all eager to find some interesting local produce.  And there's some really good stuff here.  From pots of living herbs to the furriest goats cheese I've ever seen there's a really vibrant range of stalls and goods to buy.  There are a few bakery stalls selling different kinds of cakes and breads but I think if we can give our sweet treats a bit of a twist there could definitely be room for a us to have a successful stall.
So now that we're peachy keen to sign up I hope that they reply to my requests for an application form soon!

Market research part 2 - Brighton Farm Market & Brighton Street Market

Saturday was a gloriously sunny day down here in Brighton so Melissa and I decided to take a stroll along the seafront into town to check out the Brighton Farm Market that runs every Saturday in Brighton.  On the way there by accident we stumbled across the Brighton Street  Market right in the heart of the North Laines. 

The Brighton Street Market is a hotchpotch of different stalls selling everything from buttons to vintage clothes to antique furniture with a few food stalls thrown in for good measure.  It has a real ramshackle charm and would be a good place for us to start up a bakery stall as it's less intimidating than some of the other farmers' markets we've visited.  There are a couple of other stalls selling similar items such as brownies and muffins so we'd have to think of a way to make us stand out from the competition if we were to go for this one.  Before we left I sneakily clocked the number of different treats that were for sale at the stall most similar to the one we're planning - 13 - with an average price of around £1.50.

After a short detour to feed my flea market addiction we then made our way to Brighton Farm Market.  A much more structured affair than the previous market, and with plenty of exciting looking food stalls arranged around Diplocks Yard this is a real foodie's dream.  The stallholders have all really taken care to display their goods in an attractive and interesting way which is a great plan to get people to stop and take a look.  This was really a step up from the Brighton Street Market and something Melissa and I would love to aspire to. 

We spoke to the lovely lady behind Baked Bliss, who sells organic cakes and baked goods.  Her bakewell bars were too tempting so I bought one while Melissa eyed up the last huge slice of carrot cake.  And the bakewell bar was really really good.  Darn it!  And it was made with homemade jam using fruit from her garden.  Double darn it!  There goes my trump card as that was exactly one of my plans.  Hmmm if we decide (and are able) to get a stall at the Brighton Farm Market then she would be major competition.  It would be easier if she wasn't so nice to go with it!  While we were talking, again I clocked the number of items she was selling (13 again - it must be lucky for some) and spied a good tip that she keeps her tasting samples in a tin for people to try, rather than having them laid out at the front.  I like this idea because it means less lost profits and also encourages interaction with the customers making them more likely to buy.  I'll be stealing that idea!

We also picked up some delicious local cheese from The Cheezerie (I know we're unemployed and can't really afford it but my homemade biscuits were crying out for some cheese to be eaten with) and then decided we had better leave before we spent any more of our life savings on the lovely things available at the market :o)

Until next time, happy baking x

A bit of market research

My partner and I love a good market.  In fact on our recent travels to Asia I think I took more pictures of the produce at food markets than of any of the amazing sites we visited!  And as I enjoy a good pun we decided our market research should start by literally checking out our local farmers' market to suss out the competition.  As luck would have it the monthly Shoreham Farmers' Market was running the first Saturday after we arrived back so we made the pleasant 10 minute drive along the coast to see what it was all about. 

We got there nice and early and ready to go with notebook and pen in hand when we hit the start of the blue and white striped gazebos we were suddenly struck with a pang of fear.  What if there were already too many people doing the same thing we wanted to do?  What if they were much better than us?  Why would any of the stallholders want to answer our questions if it meant giving tips to the competition?  How do we write down their prices subtley without them noticing?! 

So we chickened out of talking to the first bakery stall and decided to talk to a local poultry farmer about his eggs instead.  We want to source our ingredients as locally as possible (and in any case, a minimum percentage of local ingredients is a requirement of some of the farmers' markets nearby) so this could be a good first box ticked.  But then we realised that we should have done a little more preparation when we didn't know the answers to simple questions like how many eggs do we need each week!  I've guessed at 30-40 so it will be interesting to see how far off I am when we do start trading...

One of the main things I'm struggling to gauge before we start is just how much produce we will need to bake.  There were some stall holders that seemed to have piles of pies or mountains of loaves of bread - there's no way we can compete on that scale using our domestic oven without working flat out 24/7!  So bread is definitely ruled out.  There were also two cake sellers whose creations looked absolutely delicious -A Taste Of Dreams who sell small and large cakes of all sorts and Teddy's Tearooms who sell cakes by the slice.  But seeing the numbers of cakes that they brought to market means it's also probably unrealistic for us to try and create from our home kitchen.

And then the fear struck again.  We've risked our regular income and spent our savings on a new kitchen that might just be too small to start the business from.  It's a bit late to realise that now.....

So instead our cunning plan is that we've decided to plump for sweet treats that can be baked in batches - think brownies, muffins, flapjacks, bakewell bars, biscuits...  although I'm still none the wiser as to how many we'll need to bake for market!