Home-Produced Wares : Farmers Market a Modern-Day Bazaar for Small Vendors

“Hello, ladies,” Sami Mattox calls out to passersby drawn by the tantalizing aroma from a skillet of sizzling chicken breasts, onions and peppers. “You thought you were smelling my chicken, didn’t you?” Mattox pauses, then smiles. “The spices are what you were smelling.”

Mattox launches into her sales pitch for the home-ground herbs and spices she sells for $4.95 a bottle.

“It’s salt-free and all natural,” Mattox continues as she shakes a sample of one mixture into the palms of two potential customers, who sniff and taste.

“Five dollars a bottle?” one woman asks.

“Yes, ma’am, and there are no fillers,” Mattox replies--but she has lost the sale.

Her next prospect, though, buys one bottle of “Table Tasty,” a salt substitute. The buyer adds her purchase to a nearly full child’s wagon--a makeshift shopping cart for the day.

Mattox is one of two dozen vendors offering their wares midweek at the Tustin Certified Farmers Market, which opened in February. What they have in common is that all have grown, caught, baked or mixed the goods they are selling.

Though the business is called a farmers market, the goods for sale include not only fresh produce but also flowers, shellfish, freshly baked bread and pastries, and potted herbs. The Tustin site is one of four certified farmers markets --the others are in Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and Fullerton --with two more in the works for Orange and Irvine.

“They seem to be popular,” said Mary Lou Lorenzini, a Farm Bureau employee who manages three of the markets. “People like the freshness, and they like being able to hand-select the produce.”

Shoppers also appear to enjoy the old-fashioned way of sealing a deal: Almost every vendor invites potential buyers to sample while they browse. One vendor, for example, cut open some citrus to display the inside of the fruit. Hand-written signs declared, “Fresh!” and “Sweet!”

Jane Jakes, who was shopping at the market for the first time last week, said she heard about it from her son. He cooks as a hobby and visits both the Costa Mesa and Tustin market days, Jakes said.

“He’s in a wheelchair and doesn’t get out much,” she said. “This is a friendly, sociable place for him--and he likes the strawberries.”

The market in Tustin is simply a dirt lot. Each Wednesday morning, trucks and vans pull in, and vendors unfold tables and tarpaulins. A steel-drum player hired by the Farm Bureau sets up under two oversized beach umbrellas, and the market opens for business at 10 a.m.

The original certified farmers markets in Orange County opened at the fairgrounds in Costa Mesa and Fullerton 13 years ago. The Huntington Beach location has been in business for three years.

Lorenzini has a waiting list of 25 vendors seeking space at the new Tustin market. Vendors as much as shoppers enjoy the face-to-face exchanges, she said, and farmers appreciate an opportunity “to come directly to market, without the middleman.”

One such farmer is Paul Kitagawa, who supervises specialty crops such as artichokes and celery for Kitagawa & Sons, the Coachella Valley farm that has has been in his family for three generations.

During the winter months, when produce is not grown in colder parts of the country, the Kitagawas sell white corn, bell peppers and squash to grocery-store chains. During warm weather they go to farmers markets, typically driving 2,000 miles in a week.

The Kitagawa stand in Tustin was offering broccoli, desert artichokes, Maui-type onions, strawberries, edible squash flowers and fresh garlic last week. Offering a wide variety of produce is more profitable, Kitagawa said, than devoting all of one’s space to a single item.

And tailoring the product mix to the community pays off, too, Kitagawa said. At the farmers market in Costa Mesa, for example, he offers eggplants and chickpeas to appeal to the tastes of the large Middle Eastern population there.

Keeping an eye on the calendar can increase sales too. Most vendors last week brought extra goods for the final market day before Easter.

Don Bishop, baker for the At’sa My Bread stand, said he brought more cookies than usual and 100 bags of scones. Fifty had sold by the time the morning rush was over, and he was expecting to sell the rest at lunchtime.

“With vegetables, you can pack them up and sell them somewhere else,” Bishop said. “Whatever I don’t sell goes to the Catholic services center in the morning.”

Bishop, who learned his craft years ago as a baker in the Army, rises at 1 a.m., six mornings a week. He bakes until 6 a.m., then drives from his home in Rancho Cucamonga to market. That schedule, he said, keeps him from seeing his six children as much as he would like.

But Bishop says he likes his job, especially exchanging opinions and jokes with his customers. “It’s like being a bartender,” he said. “What I hear a lot is about women who have lost their husbands. There are a lot of ladies here alone.”

Where the Markets Are

Costa Mesa: Orange County Fairgrounds, Fairview Road and Arlington Drive, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursdays

Huntington Beach: Main Street and Orange Avenue, 2 to 6 p.m. Fridays, March through November

Tustin: El Camino Real and 3rd Street, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays

Fullerton: Woodcrest Park, Orangethorpe and Richman avenues, 9:30 to 2:20 p.m Wednesdays

HOW TO SELL AT A FARMERS MARKET

* Certification: Required from agricultural authorities in the county where the product is raised or made. Everything sold must be grown, baked or, in the case of seafood, caught by the seller. Produce cannot be bought from a wholesale outlet and resold. Before issuing a certificate, an investigation is conducted to make sure the seller is the actual producer.

* Canned, baked goods: Canned goods like olives or preserves must be grown by the seller and processed according to regulations. Baked goods, however, can be prepared with store-bought flour and other ingredients.

* Fees: Orange County does not charge for certification. Other counties may charge a small fee. Once a vendor has been certified, he or she can contact individual market managers for more information.

* Certificate information: John Ellis, Orange County Agricultural Commission, (714) 447-7114.

* Health permit: Each market has a permit from the Orange County Environmental Health Division and is inspected regularly. Sellers of fresh fish, baked goods and canned goods are required to undergo additional inspection of their equipment and production premises and must obtain an individual permit. For those selling pre-packaged food, permits cost $50 for a 90-day permit and $88 to $90 for a year.

* Permit information: Bill Ford, Orange County Environmental Health Division, (714) 667-3600.

* Basic equipment: Truck or van, display tables.

* Cost to rent space: Varies from market to market, generally 5% to 7.5% of revenue.

* Daily sales: $250 to $1,000 for each vendor.

Advice

* Offer a variety of items for sale.

* Tailor your wares to the tastes of the local community.

* Bring lots of dollar bills to make change.

Quote

“You’ve got to stay with it, be here every week, or people will buy from someone else.” --Sami Mattox, herb and spice vendor

Researched by JANICE L. JONES / Los Angeles Times