The Homegrown Vendor Blog

Your food vendor brand story is the honest answer to "Why do you make this?" Learn how to find it, write it, and put it everywhere customers will see it.

You do not need a marketing budget to grow your food business. You need a phone, a sign-up sheet, and the discipline to show up consistently on two channels. These free marketing tactics are built for small vendors who sell at markets, from home, or online.

Selling out at the farmers market is not about luck. It is a system you build by tracking your numbers, adjusting production, using pre-orders, and creating demand before market day starts.

A comprehensive guide to the unwritten social rules of farmers markets — covering setup etiquette, vendor-to-vendor relationships, pricing and competition norms, customer interaction, market manager dynamics, and end-of-day expectations that every new vendor should know before their first market day.

A plain-language guide to MEHKO (Microenterprise Home Kitchen Operation) laws — what they allow, how they differ from cottage food, which states have them, and what it takes to get a MEHKO permit.

A step-by-step sampling strategy for farmers market vendors — covering permits, portion sizes, booth setup, cost-per-sample math, food safety, and creative tactics like cross-vendor partnerships that turn $8 to $15 in samples into dozens of extra sales.

A step-by-step guide for new vendors applying to sell at a farmers market — what the application process looks like, what documents you need, how to write a product description that stands out, when to apply, and how to build a track record that gets you into better markets.

A practical guide for handmade soap, candle, and craft makers who want to sell at farmers markets — why non-food items don't need food permits, FDA cosmetic labeling rules for soap, cost-plus pricing for handmade goods, booth display strategies that engage the senses, and how to find markets that accept non-food vendors.

A practical guide for home growers who want to sell cultivated mushrooms locally — why cultivated mushrooms don't need cottage food permits (they're fresh produce), startup costs of $200-$800, pricing for 50-70% margins, best-selling varieties like oyster and lion's mane, and how to land farmers market and restaurant accounts.