1.4 Your Mobile Market Brand
In addition to the practicalities of managing your mobile market business, it’s important to recognize that your brand will require attention.
Safeguard your customer’s dignity and self-respect by framing your venture as a farmer’s market on wheels - a wellness program. While it might sound counter-intuitive, giving food away will ultimately result in the perception that your market is a program for the poor. The reality is that many people will shy away from using your market if this is your brand. Even if you are charging very little money for your products, a nominal amount will be more palatable to your customers, and it will enable you to place an emphasis on the food, the celebration flavors, and making healthy choices.
Intentionally working on creating a culture that celebrates food and good health can be an essential ingredient that makes your venture sustainable, but the work to create and sustain this brand rests with you and your team. Model the culture you want your market to demonstrate. The celebratory voice you establish for your market should be embraced and instilled in all members of your team.
Bring positive energy by including creative initiatives such as food tastings, seasonal features, and recipe ideas. Showcase the diversity of food, the seasonality of food, and the culinary aspect of food. You could feature a local chef as part of the fundraising event. You could partner with health authorities to provide flu shots, health checks, or food assistance sign-up. Bringing wellness in a variety of forms can bring hope to your communities and show that you are listening and responding to those you serve.
Create a welcoming environment at your market stop with music - maybe even some local talent. Greet everyone with a smile and engage your customers in conversations that create a friendly experience and build relationships.
TIP: Start a conversation with
“What are we cooking tonight?” or
“You should try X; it’s in season”.Check out our Procurement & Merchandising module to dive deep on customer engagement.
To truly make an impact, your mobile market should be more than just a means of accessing nutritious food. Your market is an opportunity to change a community’s perceptions around food and wellness. To help you think about the kind of impact you want to make with your mobile market venture, we invite you to set aside some time to complete the following activity.
Activity: Envisioning the Social Opportunity
Instructions: If you have already spent some time thinking about the purpose of your mobile market and the social goals you are hoping to achieve, you already have a head-start on this activity.
The following questions are intended to help you create a vision statement for your mobile market by taking stock of what you currently know about your community and its needs. Not to be confused with a mission statement, which is intended to explain how your goals will be achieved. A vision statement is your opportunity to describe the bigger-picture impact of your day-to-day work. It gives you permission to describe what you want for the future of your community and your market, so dream big!
A good vision statement should be clear, concise, with a high-level focus; it should be realistic but also inspiring. Ideally, your vision statement will be a single sentence that is aspirational and inspirational and can be used internally and externally to help focus your team on what matters most.
Use the following questions to help guide your vision statement. If you already have a vision statement, you can use these questions to test the completeness and relevance of your current vision statement for your mobile market: Download the Vision worksheet
- The Story: Where do you see your mobile market venture in 3-5 years?
- The Impacts: What key goals will be achieved by this time for your community?
- The Drivers: What motivates you to keep your business running?
- The Challenges: What obstacles are stopping you from achieving your goals?
- Your Perspective: Describe what achieving your vision looks and feels like for you and your team.
- The Community’s Perspective: Describe what achieving your vision looks and feels like for the community you plan to/currently serve.
- The Outcome: What is your desired end-goal? How does this align with the needs of your community?