10 replies to this topic

[jav]

Hi all,

A little advice on something different this time ! Selling my premium Sausage !!!!!

Have been producing our very own sausage of late, and selling plenty to family and friends.
But need to get in to the restaurant business and find it very hard indeed.

We are producing 4 different flavours -
Premium Pork
Pork and Apple
Pork and Cider
Chilli and Garlic

So far have been having fantastic feedback from friends and family, and quite a lot of repeat orders.
But would be a lot easier to deliver bulk purchases to restaurants or maybe a pub or two.

So far nothing ! I think there seems to be so many of us doing the same thing.

I think I market it right, and charge £6 per kg which I think is a fair price.

Any advice appreciated

thanks Ruth

[KChally]

Hi Ruth,

Sorry to be negative but dont bother. We tried this avenue a few years ago, they all seemed very interested and were keen on the ethics side. We delivered once to a couple of them, one pub and one high class restaurant then never heard anything again. They dont want to pay the price so they go to a wholesaler for the c...p ones (sausages i mean) some of them (chefs) even make their own.

You need to make sure you are actually charging enough for your premium sausages and stick to your guns. We have found the only real way to sell your fantastic produce and make a fair price is to sell it direct to the public yourself. Doing it this way means you dont have to sell at wholesale prices either, you make all the profit. Get yourself on a Farmers Market. Which area are you in if you dont mind me asking?

KChally

[GOSlady]

hi we sell about 50kg of sausages per week at 3 farmers markets , restaurants are a waste of time . they dont pay on time and they dont want to pay full price . we charge £15 kg for our all meat sausages . my other half is a chef and does make some if the best susages in the world . well i think so . anyway we have regular customers who are happy to pay the price as they love the sauages so much . we are more expensive than most of traders at the market but what is the point if you are not making any money . so stick to your guns hold out for the best price you can . maybe look at internet sales . we also know a farmer who sells about 70kg of sausages to local people in and around his village . Maybe you could link up with a box scheme in the area .

Hi all,

A little advice on something different this time ! Selling my premium Sausage !!!!!

Have been producing our very own sausage of late, and selling plenty to family and friends.
But need to get in to the restaurant business and find it very hard indeed.

We are producing 4 different flavours -
Premium Pork
Pork and Apple
Pork and Cider
Chilli and Garlic

So far have been having fantastic feedback from friends and family, and quite a lot of repeat orders.
But would be a lot easier to deliver bulk purchases to restaurants or maybe a pub or two.

So far nothing ! I think there seems to be so many of us doing the same thing.

I think I market it right, and charge £6 per kg which I think is a fair price.

Any advice appreciated

thanks Ruth

[Piglet]

Hello Ruth - I would also agree with Kchalley and GOSlady - I make sausages having attended courses, etc and lots of practice. WE have considered every route of sale and have decided that the only way is to sell them direct yourself. We are hoping to take this one stage further by holding an annual festival at our farm and selling them at the festival - breakfasts, sausage in baps, etc - that way you get about £5 per sausage rather than selling them uncooked. If you can build up a good local customer base who appreciate good food rather than supermarket bangers - then that is the way to go.

I haven't had much success at farmers markets and I find it a bit of a hassle. I expect it is because I have been trading at out door events selling and catering for 20 years now and I am a bit fed up of the whole market trading scene but for someone starting out it is very exciting and a great way to get the word out about your produce.

Are you registered with envirnomental health or do you get a butcher to make them up for you? Piglet

[GOSlady]

i would agree that farmers markets are very hard work we have had 3 people man stalls for us on and off and they all find it to much like hard work and give up after a couple of goes . Good point about selling things cooked . we have another friend who has a catering van and does all the local show and events making good money in the summer . we are very slow in the summer as we do game as well and the winter is our best time . you can also look at a slow food market . not as hard to get on as Farmers markets . plus a lot of the traders we know do food fayre . they dont work for us but for some people they are great .

[pigman]

I charge £7.99 per kilo - sell from the farm and at local parish craft fairs that only cost a low donation to attend.

Sell direct and up your prices a little !! some good replies above

[jav]

Hi all

Thank you for all the replies very helpfull as always.

We are in the swansea area without giving to much away. we get a butcher make up the sausage for us.

Have decided to keep to individuals and try and build up a client base. been busy so far going great.

Let's hope it continues but hard work !


Do any of you pay for packing, what type do you think best without paying a lot.

My butcher charges 40p to pack each pound - but will put them up to compensate that price

Jav

[che]

Hi Jav

We have invested in a small snack wagon and it trades on a layby on a busy local road. This maximises our return on products and what better way for customers to test our products.
Only problem is it commits you to 5mornings per week to establish your pitch but is a useful regular income.

[GOSlady]

Hi all

Thank you for all the replies very helpfull as always.

We are in the swansea area without giving to much away. we get a butcher make up the sausage for us.

Have decided to keep to individuals and try and build up a client base. been busy so far going great.

Let's hope it continues but hard work !


Do any of you pay for packing, what type do you think best without paying a lot.

My butcher charges 40p to pack each pound - but will put them up to compensate that price

Jav

Just back from the farmers market very slow as it is August and a lot of people are away . sold 15kg of sauages . we use paper at the market for the sauages .however an over wrapper is a good low cost option for packing, we use it for other products and it works well . not as hateful as the Vac pack . please dont do that .
we got our second hand for £ . MKIngredient Supplies are great for trays , packs and all other options Based in Exeter . great to deal with and will deliver free . I am sure they must come to your area . tel : 01395 234970

We are trying to come up with a non VAC pack option for Bacon but i think we are going to have to take the slicer to the market as we just cant find a pack we like and works . Any ideas any one .

[Cornish Gems]

Having followed various threads regarding selling one's pork/sausages/whatever, we went to a regular market which sells pigs and were very pleased to discover that a gilt and her piglets, IF they looked well bred, made a tidy sum. But a gilt and her miss-matched litter of piglets all of which looked different did not do so well. So we have decided that we are going to carry on breeding gilts, letting them farrow and when the piglets look big enough take the whole family to market.

We believe we have stated elsewhere that we are not permitted to refer to our pigs as GOS although they look like them, but neither did the auctioneer - he just referred to the pigs as gilt, sow, boar, sow and her litter and as we are using pure-bred registered semen we think that we may be onto a winner here. Watch the spaces in our diary!

[KChally]

When we do farmers markets we sell sausages, bacon, gammon, pork (chops, joints, loins belly etc) black pudding, pate made from the liver, pork pies, roast ham, dry cured ham in fact anything we can think of that can be made from our pigs. We do many flavoured sausages aswell as just pork sausages. We have discovered that we have to be very resourceful and to increase value we provide a BBQ and sell to the public hot food at some markets/events. Doing this increases profit from sausages, hamburgers three fold.

Presentation of your products is exceptionally important and we are now considering employing someone to come up with some branding for our products, as we have just done it ourselves previously.

Dont worry, we have all the relevant food hygiene/insurance certs and are registered with E.H

Pigman, if you are selling pedigree meat I think your prices are too low. GOSlady what a fantastic price you are getting for yours, I wish I could sell at that price. You are right, August is usually a quiet month, lets hope it gets better next month.

Piglet, we agree, the best and most profitable way to sell is directly yourself to the public. We can also chat to them and educate some of them about where their food comes from. In fact we have taken to printing off our meat certificates from the BPA each time we do a market, taking it with us and explaining to the public what it is ie proves that the meat on the table is from this pig. Hopefully this will encourage the public to ask other "pork producers" "is this from your own pigs or bought in". You wouldnt believe the number of charletans we come across at markets who are conning the public. (Sorry, have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about this at the moment).

KChally