Marketing Expeditions

The next week I drove to Linda Vista, Alliant University outside of Poway, UTC (University Town Center) La Jolla & North Park to scout out their markets.  I filled out a checklist for each along with some extra notes:

Linda Vista:    Only 6-8 booths with plenty of room.  Cheap prices ($3 average- about half price of OB vendors).  A lot of Asian & Mexican Hot Foods with Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs (TJ Dogs) appearing to be the most popular.

Alliant U:    86'd (market has been cancelled for good)

UTC:    16-18 tents total, with a bigger selection of Hot Foods (Pizza, Oriental, New Orleans food) & mad samples.  I talked to Brian (Market Manager).  Fee = 10% of Gross & he said on a good day most hot food vendors will pull in $200-500 in gross sales.    

North Park:    Only 4 food Hot Food tents.  Market is mostly Produce & Condiments (2 tents with Cheese samples).  Average Price range of around $4-6.  Good vibe overall with good Live Music.  Similar to Kearny Mesa Friday lunch Market. 

The next day I went back out to scope out La Mesa & Southeast SD.

La Mesa:    Nice area with 6-8 Hot Food tents serving Pasties (an Upper Peninsula Michigan savory treat), Fish Tacos & Italian Meatball Subs.  There were also Coffee & Cupcake Trucks set up next to each other.  Average price around $6.

SE San Diego (Market St.):*    Brand NEW start up market (this was week 2).  Only 2 tents.  Met the managers:  Paul (Sausage) & Chad (Non-Profit Veggies).  Got biz card, they said I could set up next week for only $10/week, runs through November, Fridays 3-7pm.  "It's hit or miss on tents/customers," they said.  *Would be a good Practice Market to get my feet wet.