Buying Local

This weekend I spent 5 hours at the Saratoga Farmers Market. I worked with a friend who is selling a coupon book, at first sales were very slow, but once people realized that they could save money and support the community, they were on board. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising- people trust their friends before they trust some stranger. There is a genuine concern within the community- people feel good supporting a cause. On Sunday I worked at an apple orchard making donuts. It was a similar crowd- people where there enjoying music and eating cider donuts and going apple picking. They were paying $7.50 for 12 donuts- and these donuts were small- but the demand was enormous. The donuts were hot, and very good- but cost the company practically nothing to produce. People kept on coming up to the donuts converyer belt and asking for free samples, and we either shooed them away or snuck them a donut. A way that they could be more efficient would be to add another cash register by the donuts machines. This would not only get people in and out faster, but it would get people in the heart of the store and make them want to purchase more things while they were waiting. So out of this weekend I got- People want to feel a part of something. Saratoga has a natural beauty that you can become drunk with- this inebriation can make you spend a lot of money. There is a large market to buy local- giving people an option online- to buy local- could open it up to more people and potentially create a lot of business.