Farmer’s markets prove the perfect launch pad for food business startups.

by Joanne O’Sullivan . photos by Matt Rose

Farmer’s market season is upon us. This month, farmers from around the region will be rolling into markets with the first fresh produce of spring. But some patrons may be surprised to find much more than that among the tables and trucks: how about crepes, authentic Bavarian pretzels or tempeh made with local soybeans (who knew there even were local soybeans)?

Community support for local agriculture is strong in Western North Carolina, and the markets have been popular for years. Sales at Asheville’s downtown City Market were up 18 percent in 2010, says Maggie Cramer of Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, and this year, the market expects an average of some 50 vendors a week. With extras like live music, local farmer’s markets are an appealing atmosphere for buyers—and for sellers who may not be ready to launch a brick-and-mortar store. For some startups, farmer’s markets are also a way to test customers’ reactions. Which means the markets now have a whole lot more to offer than baby bok choy.

When friends suggested to Cecilia Marchesini that she sell empanadas at the North Asheville tailgate market, she balked. “I thought it was crazy,” says the Argentinean-born restaurateur and former owner of Café Soleil in Asheville. “Empanadas are a foreign food hardly anybody has ever heard of. Why would people buy them at the farmer’s market?” In her first year, she might have sold ten empanadas at each market. Now, in her fourth season, she sells 60 in just a few hours. In addition to the North Asheville market, Marchesini will cook empanadas and crepes at downtown Asheville’s Wednesday tailgate market near the French Broad Food Co-Op. (She also makes them in her truck at the Wedge Brewery on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays).

“The markets are probably the best thing we could have done for business,” says Sarah Yancey of Smiling Hara Tempeh. An African dance instructor, Yancey never expected to get into the food business. But after her partner Chad Oliphant showed her how to make tempeh at home in a shoebox incubator, she realized that (a) she had never tasted such fresh tempeh before and (b) there was no local tempeh supplier in vegetarian-friendly Asheville. Thus, there seemed a niche to be filled.

Yancey makes Smiling Hara’s tempeh in the Blue Ridge Food Ventures kitchen at A-B Tech with organic soybeans from Peaceful Valley Farms in Old Fort. She makes soy-free varieties from black beans and adzuki beans. Less than two years after starting the business, Smiling Hara has accounts with 25 local restaurants and employs seven, four of whom help sell the product at farmer’s markets. “They’re a great way to meet customers,” she says.

A Western North Carolina farmer’s market may seem like an unlikely place for pretzels, but for Laura Jensen and her partner Erhard Schoeffmann of Beulah’s Bavarian Pretzels, it seems like a pretty good fit. The two started making pretzels last fall after moving to Asheville from New York City, where Jensen had sold pretzels at the farmer’s market in Union Square. A native of Germany, Schoeffmann could never quite find American pretzels equal to the ones he’d enjoyed back home, so he started making his own. The couple named their pretzel business after their American bulldog Beulah—a willing taster of early recipes—and sold them at farmer’s markets last fall. They got such a positive response that they’ve continued selling through the winter to local bars and on the patio at Earth Fare in Westgate. Beulah’s (also produced at the Blue Ridge Food Venture kitchen) uses organic flour from Lindley Mills near Chapel Hill and salt from a local company, Selina Naturally. Sounds like fresh local food businesses are cropping up all over.

For a listing of area tailgate markets, go to Appalachain Sustainable Agriculture Project’s Local Food Guide at www.buyappalachian.org. The 2011 print version will be released May 7 at the Highland Brewing Company. For more on Smiling Hara Tempeh, go to www.smilingharatempeh.com. For Beulah’s Bavarian pretzels, check www.beulahsbavarian.com.