Sorry it has taken me so long to post a post sale update. After I left the sale I went to the Habitat for Humanity house I have worked on to paint for a couple hours and when I got home I crashed. Yesterday was a good day, both in terms of making a profit and learning a lot. There was not as much traffic as I had hoped, but for the number of people sales were quite high. The mailman even made a purchase. So in the end I walked away no only covering all my costs, but making a profit. I don’t have an exact total yet as I left some items to sell after my departure and have not heard if there were any additional sales. But more importantly I was able to learn a ton. First of all, I discovered a few problems. The sun and heat are something I am going to have to contend with. This mixture creates condensation in the plastic bags I use for packing and that caused a couple problems. I had but paper labels inside the bags and the moisture smeared the ink. That one can be easily solved by placing the labels outside of the bag. But it also just makes the food look bad. So one thought is to only put out a few items out and keep the rest in coolers. Second, I was able to see what items sold and did not sell. The banana bread and Congo bars went very well. The Amish Bread and Brownies did not. I am not too sad that the brownies did not go, they are expensive to make and the only thing I made with nuts, so with out them I will be nut free. At least until zucchini is in season and I start making my zucchini bread. I also noticed that the mini loaves of bread went much faster then the regular sized one, so next time I will make more of the small loaves. I also had a lot of positive feed back on the food and the packing. Over all it was great day and took a lot of valuable lessons from it, and a bit of money. :)
P.S. I was recently made aware that you were unable to make a comment unless you had a google account. I fixed that problem now, and you can now leave an anonymous message if you don't have an account.
3 comments:
Hey Erinn - Looks like things are going great with your recent sale! I had an idea for the Amish bread - I wonder if you changed the name you would see more interest? I vaguely know what Amish bread is, but many people don't, and I bet people are more likely to buy something if they know what it is or if it sounds too good to pass up. Also with Congo bars - I have never heard Blondies called that before?
Just some thoughts - It's hard to know what appeals to people, but packaaging is important!
Good luck on future sales!
Shana
Congrats on your first sale!
I'm a muffin freak and expecially muffin tops - wonder if they would sell? If you don't have the pans you may borrow mine and try them out.
Where is your next sale? Grand Haven has a Farmer's market Wed & Sat mornings - check it out on their website.
Marilew
Shana - I think there are two things that I have thought of, but didn't do on Saturday that will help more then changing the name - giving samples out - my Mom brought a loaf in to work this work and I already have orders for 4 - 5 loaves when the next batch is ready, and coming up with creative descriptions - I did that this winter for a charity auction - for example my brownies, something along the lines of "Rich chocolate fudge like brownies covered with chocolate pieces and walnuts smothered in creamy caramel." That was off the top of my head - but you get the idea - I had hoped to have them for Saturday, but didn't get a chance to finish them.
Marilew – I have looked into muffins and done some experimenting with them, but so far I have not found a recipe I love. I will continue to work on it, but initially I wanted to stick to things I know well. I have regular muffin pans, but if you have the muffin top pans, I may take you up on the offer to borrow them.
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