Aggrevated at Farmers Market customers complaining about prices

[D'Angelo N Va.]

I know the feeling....UGHHHHH!!!! People ask me all the time, why should I buy eggs from you for $2., when the store has 18 count on sale for 1.50....I expect to pay more at the farmers market. people always complain, they think this is the age of the "Jetsons" t.v. cartoon. you push a button and bam, there is food. they want to get paid for their time, but they don't think about the farmer's time.

 

[33yardbirds]

Let them go to the grocery store and buy the chemical laced, shot full of steroid birds! You can't reason with IDIOTS. What you have is worth nothing, what they have is worth a million dollars. Don't stress over it. If you think your price is fair stay with it.

 

[TimG]

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I think of it as the customers that are supporting their local community by shopping at a farmers' market rather than at the supermarket. You're not going to develop happy and loyal customers if you act like you are doing them a favor by selling them your products.

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The customer doesn't care how much it costs you to produce your product. They care about the quality of the product and the price they have to pay.

That having been said, you produce you birds for $8.50 and you're selling them for $17.50. I suppose 100+% markup is common, but from my point of view it doesn't help your case that you're selling a reasonably priced bird.

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How is it that you have demonstrated you care for them? By producing a product, taking it to market, and selling it at a profit? That's just business.

When someone compares your chickens to the $5 cooked chicken at the supermarket, politely tell them that they are comparing apples and oranges. You may start a dialog that helps them understand the differences. More likely they aren't interested and will move along.

Tim

 

[Peruvian]

I agree with the posters that suggest that you need to educate your consumers. When you buy insurance (assuming you are not an agent), you don't know why one policy costs much more than another until someone tells you. You need to do the same for your product. You know your chicken is different than the $5 cooked bird in the store, explain to the customers how it is. Photos of your farm, what type of feed they are given, how they are housed, etc. will allow you to explain to customers why your product is worth more than $.99/lb.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Tim I could't agree more, you have to sell yourself and your product. Soon enough these people will be thanking you for being at the farmers market. However when first starting it's not that easy, make sure everything you're doing is representing you and your farm.

Take pictures and show them... do research on-line.... eatwild.com has some good stuff. Flyers are good, these work great to get their attention. As some people will pick up a flyer say hi and walk away, most will read the flyer and come to you next week and order/buy. Be creative.... farmers have sought after the lifestyle of being left alone in the country. That was then and this is now, farmers now have to market their own products to stay afloat and becoming people friendly / business minded is key. Customers are always right no matter how dumb the question may be. If you try to talk to them and they don't want to hear what you have to say.... then I usually let them go. But to chalk it up as a failure try to find better ways to market your products. Just keep in mind that visual is everything at a farmers market it doesn't matter how good or bad your product may be.

 

[SmittenChicken]

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I think "apples and oranges" is a great way to describe it to someone like that. Hopefully they will listen and learn something, maybe they won't.
Personally, I've stopped eating chicken except for the $12 farmers' market ones (which are small, but I'm happy to pay it). It makes me feel good to know I'm buying a chicken that got to be... well, a chicken. When I can talk to the owner about how he convinces his Cornish X to free-range by putting their food up, that makes the higher price more than worth it to me.

Hopefully all your customers will appreciate what they're getting - an animal that got to scratch in the dirt and follow its instincts, and have a relatively good life. Ever since I started raising chickens, that's been a big deal to me. But I've also seen a few comments even on BYC to the tune of "my chickens are pets, why would I eat them when I can get one cooked at Walmart for $5", so I guess some people will just never make the connection. Don't let 'em get you down. But do talk to your customers and try to explain the value.

 

[BlackBart]

I'd tell them go and buy a Walmart chicken. Its a free country. At least with your chickens you know what it was fed and it will taste like a chicken is supposed to.

$3.50 a pound is the going rate around here for home raised commercial meat birds. Heritage type birds that free range are approx $4.50-$5.00 per pound.

 

[scubaforlife]

That having been said, you produce you birds for $8.50 and you're selling them for $17.50. I suppose 100+% markup is common, but from my point of view it doesn't help your case that you're selling a reasonably priced bird.

My time is worth something, my $8.50 calculation is pure variable cost with no thought to my own time. You raise birds so that means you understand the time/labor of brooding and growing, not to mention building tractors, booders, coops, fences, transporting to processing, what have you.

 

[fiberart57]

I wish I could find someone in Western Colorado that sold home grown birds for $3.50 a pound. Sounds like a bargain to me.

Mary

 

[TyrannosaurusChix]

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I totally understand. Although i must say i dont have enough money in my bank account to buy locally raised chickens. i thought about doing it myself but even that is too costly.

I am happy with my eggs and dont lose sleep over all the chickens illnever process though lol.

I agree maybe make an educational poster about how your chickens werent in small cages or given antibiotics or somesuch or other. do you grow yours organic? if so then the price you are selling them at are reasonable.