Carrboro Farmers' Market Business Plan
Creators: name: Kujawa, Emily
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2012

description: The Carrboro Farmers’ Market (CFM, or Market) vision is a community of: thriving, innovative local producers; informed, healthy community members; and secure, protected farmland. The CFM is committed to working toward its mission of creating and sustaining a vibrant and innovative market that supports local farmers and artisans, while extending the benefits of local food to the greater community. Key to achieving this mission are increasing vendor sales and increasing the Market’s capacity to conduct community outreach. However, the Market has reached physical capacity and is not accepting new vendors. As a result, no new farmers’ can grow their businesses by selling at the CFM, nor can the Market generate more revenue through vendor fees. This situation, combined with the fact that the CFM cannot access certain funding sources because it is not a 501(c)3 organization, means that the Market has maximized all current revenue sources and does not have financial resources to grow. In order to address this challenge, the CFM has identified five priority areas on which to focus over the next five years. All of these priorities aim to increase revenue and other resources to improve support for CFM vendors and community outreach efforts: 1) Diversify revenue streams to include sources that do not depend on the number of vendors or on the Market’s lack of 501(c)3 status. 2) Improve on-site infrastructure to encourage vendor and shopper attendance, which will increase sales. 3) Provide more educational opportunities for CFM customers and the community to increase purchasing, preparation, and consumption of local foods. 4) Increase community outreach and strengthen food assistance programs to generate more revenue from federal nutrition programs and enhance support from the current customer base. 5) Improve the CFM shopping experience to increase customer traffic and facilitate transactions during market hours. The CFM will address these priorities while also working to increase diversity of the CFM customer base by targeting four demographic groups in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community that are currently underrepresented in the CFM customer demographic profile: college students, older adults, low-income community members, and ethnically diverse community members. The marketing strategy over the next five years will focus on continuing to engage the existing customer base while strategically targeting these four demographic groups with tailored messaging through appropriate communications channels. The CFM will accomplish all of this using a variety of tactics that leverage existing assets, as well as by growing new partnerships throughout the community. At the end of five years, CFM vendors will see increased sales leading to greater financial security, business viability, and increased ability to innovate. CFM shoppers will be better informed about the impact of their food choices on the local economy, their own health, and the environment, and will also use the CFM as a way to access fresh, healthy food. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro community will have more opportunities for different groups of community members to interact, sharing their diverse cultures and perspectives and creating a richer community tapestry. All this work will be funded through a combination of revenue streams that include vendor fees, apparel sales, sponsorships, and other revenue sources generated through a non-profit arm of the CFM. Projected costs to achieve these priorities are $90,000-$113,000 per year over the next five years.