.The Market Makers

For local entrepreneurs, farmers' markets are launchpads to food-industry stardom.

Early one morning four years ago, Alison Barakat plucked a swingy blue wig from her extensive collection and slipped into a kitsch 1950s pink housedress. She loaded her car with mouthwatering desserts popular in her native Australia and sped off to the Danville farmers’ market. It was there that Bakesale Betty, a throwback oven-lovin’ housewife, was born. Customers ate up Barakat’s campy act — and her predominantly organic goodies. Six months later she quit her job as a Chez Panisse line cook to devote herself full-time to farmers’ markets. She’s still a market regular — but Barakat and her husband now oversee two dozen employees and a buzzing bakery in Oakland’s Temescal district that serves not just sweets, but chicken sandwiches that have gained a cult following. Bakesale Betty has become a star.

She’s not alone. A steady parade of local entrepreneurs have made farmers’ markets their business incubators. With the markets growing in popularity — their numbers more than doubled nationally from 1994 to 2004 — more would-be Bettys are getting their goods to the masses. But don’t think it’s that easy. “It’s all about networking,” says Vince Scalise, a senior manager for the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association, which operates 43 Bay Area markets. “You bump into a lot of people; you can have a lot of doors open up for you. What other way do you have other than knocking on doors of grocery stores?”

Yet Scalise estimates that 40 percent of the non-agricultural businesses drop out within a year. Most people who request vendor applications never submit them, he says. Perhaps it’s because their kitchens must be certified by local health departments. Or that they need liability insurance in case a customer gets sick. “They think they can sell tamales, salsas, or jam that they make at home,” Scalise says. “But it’s not a hobby. You’ve got to sell a lot of cookies to make it worth your while.”

Or monkeybread. Southern Oven Foods Inc. founder Patricia Griffith was a stay-at-home mom in 2002 when she decided to contribute to her kids’ savings fund by hawking the semisweet, buttery rolls her grandmother used to make at the Concord farmers’ market. “I gave it to a friend and her lip hit the floor when she tasted it,” she says. “That’s when I thought, ‘I really might be onto something!'”

Griffith aimed high from the start. “Getting your stuff in front of thousands of people seven days a week is the goal, you know?” she says. A year later, she began pushing to get her bread into local supermarkets. A handful took her up on it, and she soon added cakes and pies. Then she dropped out of the farmers’ markets and opened a restaurant in Walnut Creek simply because she needed a bigger commercial kitchen. “Unfortunately the place came with a front-end, and my lease required that I be open,” she says, laughing. She has since closed that restaurant, and now works out of a commercial kitchen in Antioch.

Then, in May, the big leagues came calling. After one Diablo Foods store failed to keep Griffith’s Texas Chocolate Cake in stock, a loyal customer contacted her to ask why it was so hard to get. “She asked how she could help me expand, and I told her she could write letters to bakery buyers,” Griffith recalls. “The day the buyer at Whole Foods got this woman’s letter, she called me and said, ‘I have to taste this chocolate cake and whatever else you have. Please bring it in.’ That’s unheard of!” Within a few weeks she’d signed up with one of the nation’s biggest distributors.

“The farmers’ markets were key to my success,” Griffith says. “You get the type of target market that cares about good-quality food. They don’t mind paying extra. They like working with small, authentic businesses. And they tell people when they find something they like. Word-of-mouth marketing really is the best kind.”

Trouble is, not just anyone can go set up a table. Typically, there’s only one vendor for a given type of non-agricultural product. “We want to keep the integrity of each market, keep it balanced,” explains Lesley Stiles, a spokeswoman for Contra Costa Certified Farmers’ Markets. “As a result we often have a waiting list for the bigger markets, but we encourage vendors to start out at the smaller ones.”

But everyone starts small. Five years ago, James Freeman sold coffee adjacent to Megan Ray’s cake stall at Berkeley’s Saturday market. Today you can sip Oakland-based Blue Bottle Coffee at Chez Panisse and Sketch Ice Cream. Guess where he made those contacts? “It’s not like I have some guy in Dockers at a desk making cold calls,” he says. “They’ll try it at the farmers’ market and want to serve it.”

In addition to his roastery, the former freelance clarinetist, who started out roasting beans at home on a perforated baking sheet, has a “garage kiosk” in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley. He still does Berkeley’s Tuesday market and sells at SF’s Ferry Plaza market on Saturdays. “I get calls from real-estate brokers saying, ‘The owner of my building thinks you’d be a great fit for this,’ and it inevitably ends up being four thousand square feet in the Financial District,” he says. “I’m waiting for just the right place.

Ray’s business has taken off, too. Her upscale cake boutique, Miette, was born at the Ferry Plaza building when the site reopened in 2003. She and partner Caitlin Williams (a former farmers’ market customer), now employ more than a dozen full-timers. “The farmers’ market way of life is hard, really exhausting,” Ray says. “We really wanted a roof over our heads and didn’t want to get soaking wet when it was raining.” Still, she knows those markets were a necessary step: “I think it’s almost impossible to start a business without an investor any other way.”

Sukhi Singh, founder of Hayward-based Sukhi’s Quick-N-Ezee Indian Foods, may just be the savviest entrepreneur ever to land in East Bay markets. Her multimillion-dollar company also stands out in that it didn’t turn to the markets until its third year of trading, in 1996 — and that the markets are still a major part of her business.

In her first two years, the teacher-turned-chef had finagled her curry pastes and chutneys into numerous stores and corporate cafeterias, but the orders were inconsistent. Customers didn’t seem to know what to do with her products, and in-store demonstrations proved too time-consuming. So Singh suggested to her husband that they try a farmers’ market in Corte Madera. “We had to buy a yearlong license for $250, which seemed like a risk at the time,” she says. “He was quite worried.”

Their primary concern — one she now laughs about — was that shoppers wouldn’t want to sample spicy Indian food at a morning market. “We sold $350 of products in one day,” she recalls. “It was so exciting! I thought, if I can do fifteen markets a week, if I can just make $10,000 a month, I’d be so happy!” Now the company sells in more than thirty markets every week, each of which typically nets a $500 profit. “I realized early on that farmers’ markets allowed for the most effortless growth,” she explains. “I didn’t have to write invoices and wait for the money to come in.” And since customers don’t care about fancy labels or packaging, she can test-market new products there with little initial investment. Shoppers’ suggestions have proved invaluable: “If a customer at a market is asking for something, customers at a store will ask for it, too,” Singh says.

These markets, which have helped fuel the company’s astronomical growth, now account for just a quarter of its earnings. Sukhi’s Quick-N-Ezee is in nearly every food market sector and serves hundreds of colleges and universities, corporate accounts, and grocery stores across the country. Whole Foods brought Sukhi’s on board after a company bigwig sampled it at a San Rafael farmers’ market. “Sukhi’s is amazing,” says Tina Friedman, the chain’s prepared foods coordinator for Northern California. “It’s the most successful new product line we’ve introduced in the last year.” Hundreds of Wild Oats stores also carry the line, and two hundred Safeways began stocking it in early June.

“Farmers’ markets are a great place for us to find emerging trends,” says Friedman, who explains that department heads at each store are encouraged to buy 10 percent of their goods from local suppliers. “They’re given quite a bit of freedom as long as it meets our quality criteria.”

Not everyone who rents a farmers’ market stall dreams of nationwide distribution, though. Bakesale Betty is perfectly content donning her trademark wig and getting to know the locals as they gab and gobble. “Five years ago I never would have imagined myself in this spot,” Barakat says. “As for the future, I don’t want to rule anything out.”

Four Scores
Amid the East Bay’s embarrassment of farmers’ markets, a few truly stand out.
By Nora Sohnen

The East Bay now boasts roughly fifty farmers’ markets, so you’ll find one in just about every community. Kensington, in fact, is launching a year-round market Sunday, June 25 (10 a.m.-2 p.m.) with a grand opening bash July 9. Meanwhile a few lucky towns – Berkeley, Fremont, Martinez, Oakland, and Walnut Creek – boast several markets each week. In the event your town isn’t so lucky, here are a few must-shops. Remember that crops are still recovering from this year’s heavy rains, so some items will show up a bit later than usual. Strawberries remain luscious; blueberries and cherries are still available; nectarines, peaches, and apricots (and hybrids like apriums and pluots) will be around a bit longer; and be on the lookout for the real summer bounty of tomatoes, melons, bell peppers, and corn.

Grand Lake Farmers’ Market, Oakland
It’s hard to believe this market is only about five years old, because it’s so clearly a neighborhood institution. Although there’s a fair amount of produce – some of it organic – you get the feeling people come here more for the social scene, the awesome kids’ entertainment (“jump house,” face painters, balloons, musicians), and the great selection of prepared foods: Afghan, Himalayan, Thai, Indian, vegan Mexican, rotisserie chicken, gyros – you name it. There’s always a crowd at the Oaklandish booth. This market feels like the new Oakland: multi-ethnic, conscious, hip, and young. The average age is probably around four. Saturdays, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. year-round. Lakepark Way at Grand Ave., Oakland. MarinCountyFarmersMarkets.org/oakland.htm

Berkeley Farmers’ Markets
There are three markets in the town where eating local began, and though they’re all run by the Ecology Center, each has its own particular charm. At the Thursday market in North Berkeley, there’s no need to ask whether the farmers meet your standards. All vendors are fully organic, which is pretty rare even in these circles. Of course, this makes the Gourmet Ghetto market the priciest – surprise, surprise. Saturday’s market downtown is the biggest and probably the most social. Sure, it’s about the produce – 60 to 80 percent of which is organic, says the Ecology Center’s Kirk Lumpkin – but you’ll probably bump in to someone you know while listening to the panpipe band and sampling Ahmad Dalvi’s delectable pistachios. Finally, South Berkeley’s Tuesday market has some truly great vendors – like Lucero Organic Farms, Blue Bottle Coffee, and Cultured (raw organic sauerkraut) – but without the crowds and difficult parking of the Saturday market. Take your pick; you really can’t go wrong. All markets year-round.
Saturdays 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Center St. at MLK Jr. Way; Tuesdays 2-7 p.m., Derby St. at MLK Jr. Way; Thursdays 3-7 p.m., Shattuck Ave. at Rose St. EcologyCenter.org/bfm
Fremont/Irvington District Farmers’ Market
This sizeable, bustling market feels a world away from its Berkeley counterparts, closer to Manila than to Moraga. Afghans, Pakistanis, Chinese, and Salvadorans shop for the best deals on yu choy, jalapeños, and bitter melon leaves. Look for itlog na maalat, bright pink salted duck eggs – a Filipino delicacy. Prices are low, organic isn’t much of a concern, and marketgoers aren’t hoping to socialize so much as stock up for the week. There are plenty of kids, but they’re more likely to be helping mom and dad carry the vegetables than demanding balloon animals and throwing tantrums. However, kettle corn apparently transcends cultural differences. Sundays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. year-round. Bay St. at Fremont Blvd., Fremont. MarinCountyFarmersMarkets.org/irvington.htm

Brentwood Certified Farmers’ Market
While other markets’ products hail from far-flung places like Thermal (near Palm Springs) and Caruthers (southeast of Fresno), most of the vendors at this summertime Thursday market come from just down the road – Byron, Knightsen, and Brentwood proper. This region is famous for its stone fruit, and home to the renowned Frog Hollow Farms. But the frogs have plenty of competitors. Taste the cherries from fourth-generation Ronald Nunn’s farms – “Nunn Better” – or the white peaches from Arata Fruit. Get here early enough, and you might snag one of Gran’ma Lillie’s sweet potato pies. Thursdays 4-8 p.m. through September 28 in Downtown City Park, 2nd and Maple sts., Brentwood. (There won’t be a market July 6, as the town will be preparing for Cornfest – another local food event that’s not to be missed.) PCFMA.com

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