— Cathy McConnell

There are three things that I'm going to suggest to you aside from, from the sort of legal side of it. Uh, and I'm not saying that you have to be an L L C, I'm thinking that maybe you need to have food handlers insurance, as well as the safe serve managers, food managers, uh, certificate. So when you go to cater or when you go to show your food at a farmer's market, everyone will always ask you for those documents. So it's very important to have those. And then, you know, we can think on a grand scale and make a big business plan, or you can start out small in my suggestion to many people is to always, um, go to a, uh, a, uh, farmer's market manager and speak to them. Maybe there's a farmer's market in your community. Bring some samples of what it is that you make and, uh, see if you can get on their calendar. And remember that if you are at an outdoor farmer's market, you also need to have a tent. Um, and that you need to have a table and, um, signage and ingredients and everything else like that. But start out small and, um, I'm going to send Patrick when we're done and then I'll make sure we post it. Uh, I do have a really good reference for you that's not filled with, you know, 85 pages of, of what to do. I say this also, um, start, start sort of, uh, developing a conduit with your friends and neighbors. Give them a sample of what you make. Let them leave a little note saying, you know, these will be available to purchase, or I can do personal or private orders for you. I, I think that you have to also make sure that whatever it is that you're making is a good fit for a population. And case in point, one of my very good friends owned a restaurant for 25 years, and during the pandemic, the restaurant had to close and she and her husband quickly, quickly, quickly shifted gears. And now they are sort of like, um, farmer's market mavens. They are at a farmer's market every single day, and they sell empanadas and they sell soup because it was a unique product. There aren't too many people making empanadas and also vegan ones at that and delicious vegan soups. So think about your product and how it'll fit, who will like it, and also take into consideration cost and other things like that.