Selling to Ethnic Groups at Farmers' Markets

An interview with Steve Salts, author of "Around the World at Farmers. Market: A Handbook for Small-Scale Grower-Vendors of Ethnic and Heirloom Vegetables, Herbs, and Fruits," 1999, Hagoth Press

 Salts: Yes and no. It’s certainly not a top dollar market like selling to trendy yuppies, but it’s definitely not bottom either. You’ve just got to be prepared to haggle. Most American farmers don’t like haggling - it runs against most Americans’ grain. Yet most ethnic groups just don’t like having a set price. I usually set a price at high-middle, and I’m willing to dicker down to middle or low-middle.

 I tried an experiment at a farmers’ market once. I set a price ridiculously low on some cucumbers and yard-long beans, almost giving them away. Some ethnic customers still wouldn’t buy it, because I wouldn’t dicker! The next week I set the price high, and they dickered down and ended up paying twice what they would have gotten it for the week before! It’s not so much the price they get it for, it just runs against their cultural grain to pay the asking price.

Salts: Customer loyalty, volume, and consistency. Once ethnic customers find that you’ve got what they want, and that you are nice to them and cater to their culture, they will come back week after week, and year after year. Selling to ethnic folks may not be for everyone. You have to enjoy dealing with peoples from other cultures.

I’ve found ethnic groups to be a great niche market for me because there’s very little competition. I may not be getting the price that some other sellers are getting selling to the yuppies, but my ethnic customers are a lot more stable. Yuppies can be very trendy, but the Chinese, the Indians, the Arabs and the Vietnamese have been buying the same vegetables for thousands of years. Ethnic customers aren’t so much into food preservation, like canning - but many do make preserves such as kimchee or pesto or chutneys or pickles that take large quantities of produce and herbs. They also eat a lot more fruits and vegetables and they’re a lot more accustomed to cooking from scratch. Even college students from other countries cook from scratch, believe it or not - it’s not all phoned-in pizza. And then there are traditional banquets for holidays and weddings and the like that take LOTS of traditional veggies. The tradition in their countries is shopping at open-air markets. They don’t want their produce all wrapped up in plastic.

Salts: You not only need to grow the crops the peoples are used to, but to cater to their cultures. The social part is VERY important. You’re selling a service and experience - not just veggies. It’s the ultimate relationship marketing. We try to offer a social experience to our ethnic customers - greeting them in their native languages, asking their advice on ethnic cuisine, learning something of the geography and customs of their homelands, etc. I try to find out what their holidays are and have special items in stock when their holidays are coming.

Basically, just talk with them: "Are you from India? What part of India?" They’re usually surprised anyone is asking them such a question, but they might say, "Andhra Pradesh." And I say, "Hyderabad?" And they just about fall on the ground: "Oh, you used to live in India?" Well no … but it all boils down to showing an interest in their culture.

A supermarket COULD try to compete with us on the product front - but can you see them doing it better on the social front? We have such an advantage! Small market grower-marketers can stop griping about unfair competition from factory farms. We just have to connect with customers who want to buy the "goods" in which we have a great comparative advantage. And those goods are not only great products but service and relationships.

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