You’ll face many challenges as a mobile market operator, and some of the challenges you’ll face will be difficult to overcome on your own. Building strong relationships with people and organizations can help you tremendously. Not only in overcoming or resolving some of the challenges you’ll face, but also in gaining access to new opportunities that would otherwise be missed. Consider that each interaction you have with a potential or established site host, NGO, or government body is an opportunity to create a relationship.
It can often be challenging to shift into a “relationship building mode” when you are focused on other matters, emotions are running high, or you feel as though you are “hitting a brick wall” on matters that seem like they should be easily resolvable. Certainly, bureaucratic runarounds leave most people with little remaining patience. That-being-said, it’s important to exercise patience and keep one eye on the big picture at all times when engaging with partners. This is especially true when engaging with those who have the power to affect what your market can and can not do.
When you have the luxury to focus on “relationship building”, take some time to establish who your strategic partners could be. Some natural partnerships include the Food Policy Council, government departments that support food security and vulnerable populations, along with your host site partners. The Food Policy Council plays the role of understanding all the different government resources available to help you. As such, they are a valuable resource for quickly getting to the right contacts. Additionally, the Food Policy Council can offer insight into the local community and their needs. The Council’s mandate is to provide regional leadership around food issues through advice, support, and advocacy. With an agenda that aligns with yours, they are a natural and strong partnership for your mobile market that you should consider investing time in.
Government departments that are mandated to support food security and vulnerable populations are a natural partner for providing ongoing collaboration and funding. Identifying within your community the different ways in which partnering with government programs can make an impact will help provide a strong argument for collaborating on initiatives. For instance, you could leverage existing government programs that support your local seniors centers, ensuring the needs of seniors are met and their funding doesn’t get cut.
Your site hosts can be strategic partners as they can be your market’s strongest advocate and promoter. To get the most out of this relationship, it’s important to ensure you partner with like-minded hosts. If your missions align, advertising, recruiting, and spreading the word on your behalf will require little effort for your host site partner. Consider also that your site partner is a valuable resource for information and insights about the community — and they are a way for you to be warmly welcomed into the community.
Stories from the Road
Several years ago, we established a relationship with a health clinic that was located in our local mall. The staff at the clinic requested that we set up our mobile market in the mall parking lot, near the clinic entrance, so that it was easily accessible to the clinic’s staff and patients. This location was also close to a bus stop, so customers didn’t have to venture far in order to hop on public transit.
The staff introduced us to the mall’s management team and even helped facilitate the conversation so that we could obtain our site contract. And so, for several years, we enjoyed a rewarding relationship with the clinic staff helping us build our customer base by telling their patients about us, helping distribute schedules, and even posting pictures on their social media accounts.
Eventually, this market became one of our busiest. Then, the mall sold — and the new owners decided they no longer wanted a market parked in the lot. So, despite our best efforts, our active market was shut down.
When we returned to what was once a vibrant market site, we sat — deflated — looking around, and reflecting on the success of this market, the great run we had had, and the benefit it had provided to the community. We wondered where these customers had all gone now.
Then, we noticed a church just past the edge of the mall parking lot and a lightbulb went off. We approached the church and knocked on the door. A friendly pastor answered the door, smiling widely as he listened to our story of the rise and all of our market only yards away from the church. The pastor immediately recognized the opportunity. Encouraged by the potential to continue to help this community, he immediately encouraged us to park in the church’s parking lot. “I’ll tell my whole congregation!” he said enthusiastically.
When the health clinic staff heard the news, they too were thrilled. The market would remain in proximity to their clinic and remain accessible to their patients and the staff. The clinic continued to promote our market in the new location just as they had always done, and most customers barely noticed the change. Our strong partnerships, both old and new, had ensured that our market was back in action without having to start from scratch.
We encourage you to think creatively about the range of partnerships that you can build to help support your mobile market and its mission. Let us know what kinds of partnerships you have nurtured, how you established and nurtured these relationships, and how these partnerships have helped you reach your goals?