Selling and marketing
DeKalb Farmers Market Bakery: How to Sell Your Bakes
You will know what to ask, what to bake, and how to get paid before you set up a bakery table at a DeKalb farmers market.
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The market is the easy part to get wrong, because the answer changes from one market to the next and even from one season to the next. Do the phone call first. Then bake.
What to remember
- Call the market manager before you buy a single bag of flour. - A short menu of four to six items beats a table with twenty. - Set your table so a mom with a stroller can shop it one handed. - Have card payments ready, not just cash in a tin. - Get every market rule in writing so you are not guessing at 6 a.m.
Ask the market manager these questions first
Every market runs its own rules for home bakers, so the details that matter are the ones the manager gives you directly. Call or email and ask:
- What dates are open for a bakery vendor, and what does a table cost?
- Do I need a cottage food label, a permit, or a food handler card?
- How many bakers already sell there, and what do they make?
- What time can I set up, and where do I unload my car?
- Do you take a cut of my sales, or is it a flat table fee?
- Is there electricity, shade, or a covered spot?
- What happens on a rainy Saturday?
Write the answers into one note on your phone. If the manager says the bakery spots are full, ask to be first on the list when someone drops out, and ask when next season’s applications open.
Bake a short menu that travels well
Six items done well beats twenty done rushed. Pick bakes that hold up in a cooler and on a table for a few hours, like bars, quick breads, cookies, muffins, hand pies, or cinnamon rolls. Then cut the list to four or six, with one item in two sizes, such as a single cookie and a box of six. Give people one obvious reason to walk over: the thing you make better than anyone else at that market.
Before you plan the menu, confirm what your kitchen is allowed to sell. Our cottage food approved list walks through how to check.
Set up a table people can shop from one handed
Keep the table at a height people can reach without bending, put your prices where they can be read from a few steps back, and leave one clear spot for paying. Nothing on the table should need an explanation from you, because you will be talking to someone else when the next person walks up.
If you want the full picture, start with what you need and what it costs and then borrow from these display ideas that sell.
Take money without chasing it
Cash only loses sales. Have card payments ready, plus Venmo, Cash App, and Zelle, and keep a small cash box for change.
Your first Saturday, step by step
Ask the market manager
Call or email and get the dates, the table fee, the setup time, and what they require from a home baker. Ask for it in writing.
Check what you may sell
Confirm your state and county cottage food rules and the market’s own list before you plan a single bake.
Pick four to six items
Choose bakes that travel well and that you can make the same way every week, then cut the rest of the list.
Set your prices
Add up ingredients, packaging, your table fee, and your time, then pick a price you can say out loud without flinching.
Build your table and your sign
Set the table at a height people can reach, put prices where they can be read from a few steps away, and give people one clear reason to stop.
Set up how you get paid
Have card payments, your payment apps, and a cash box ready, and test all of it before you leave the house.
Turn one Saturday into the next
The bakers who last at a market are the ones who take orders for the following week before they pack up. A customer who loved your cinnamon rolls will buy six next time if you make it easy.
If you are still deciding how to take orders and get paid, our guide to a home baking business app compares the options in plain terms.
Before your first Saturday
Pack the night before: labels, bags, boxes, tape, a pen, a towel, a trash bag, hand sanitizer, a jacket, water, and snacks for you. Bring more than you think you need of your best seller and less of everything else. Then write down what sold out and what came home with you. That note is your menu for the next market.
Market rules, permits, and cottage food rules are set by your state, county, and city, and they change. This guide is not legal advice. Confirm everything with the market manager and your local health department before you sell.