Give it Away: Why Sampling Increases Food Sales

Someone who designs couture aprons wouldn't consider it good business sense to give one away every week. As a home baker who sells at farmers markets in central Ohio, I give away my products every week. Since my modest beginnings in 2007, I've learned the best way to sell food is to let people taste it.

Cottage food operators aren't the only companies that follow this mantra. Major grocers and warehouse stores regularly offer food samples to their customers. Around here, we jokingly refer to visits to Costco as competitive sampling - during a weekend shopping trip, customers can find up to 15 different sampling stations offering everything from cheese to applesauce to ravioli.

Here are a few things I've learned when offering samples of my products.

Not every taster will buy

There's a sweet man who visits my table every week. He eats a piece of bread or dips a pretzel into a sample of Garlic-Dill Dip, winks at me and says "You need to make your samples bigger." He has never purchased anything from us.

For our business, we average a sale to about 50 percent of people who sample our products. To put it into perspective, I usually offer three types of bread at each market cutting one-half of a loaf for each. I charge $2 for a loaf of Farmhouse White Bread, meaning I sacrificed $1 for those samples. If 30 people taste it and 15 people buy it, I turned that $1 into gross sales of $30.

Change the samples from week to week

Our product line includes a variety of fruit spreads and dip mixes. I rotate the flavors every week to let the customers taste as many of our products as possible. I bring along stick pretzels to taste the dips and spreads in case someone doesn't like the idea of dip on bread.

Because of its low-cost and high-profit margin, we sample our Farmhouse White Bread at every market. However, we fill the other two wells with a rotation including seasonal breads and special features.

Be prepared with ample inventory

It's counterproductive to offer a sample of an item without having any to sell. If we're sampling Strawberry ButterJam, we make sure we have at least three cases available. I'd rather load any leftovers into the truck than run out fifteen minutes after the opening bell.

Food safety when sampling

We've invested in sampling trays that have an opaque lid and a freezable bowl for temperature-sensitive items. Our dips are made by combining our blend of spices with mayonnaise and sour cream - a sure problem in the heat of summer. We also check the temperature of the dip with an instant-read thermometer to keep our customers safe. If the temperature gets too high, we pull it from the table.

We carry disposable food-grade gloves in case we need to refill our samples, offer toothpicks for customers to get a piece of bread, use small disposable spoons for spreading the dips and keep a trash container nearby.

Sampling to children

Farmers markets are family events. I've enjoyed watching babies in slings grow into active toddlers but I keep a watchful eye on the sample tray. I keep the samples far enough from the front of the table and covered with a lid to keep little fingers out.

I'm aware of the common nut allergies and can quickly tell a parent that the item contains walnuts. I've learned it's better to ask if the child has any allergies and can give the parent peace of mind.

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