Local, fresh & Flourishing
NEW GLASGOW FARMERS MARKET
STRATEGIC PLAN
July, 2016
Executive Summary: The New Glasgow Farmers Market is a non-profit co-operative organization dedicated to providing a venue for local agricultural producers and artisans to market their products to the Pictou County region.
Mission Statement:
The New Glasgow Farmers Market is a non-profit cooperative organization whose mandate is to support local growers and producers by providing a low risk venue that will help promote their products and give exposure for their business.
Our goals are:
1) to Provide local products to residents and visitors, and
2) to Educate the public on the economic, social and health
benefits of supporting local producers through the NGFM.
Strategic Analysis:
The New Glasgow Farmers Market has a number of strengths within the community:
The New Glasgow Farmers Market also has some weaknesses to overcome:
The opportunities that are available to the NGFM:
* Family-centered activities
* 2nd Market day or alternate use e.g. midweek dinner
* Increase Primary Producers
The threats that must be considered:
Opportunities to achieve this year:
Opportunities to achieve within 5 years:
* outdoor stage
* community garden
* parking lot entrance
* picnic area/boardwalk
We do/will do the following to maximize the lifetime value of our customers:
Support our vendors by providing educational opportunities, marketing support, etc.
Provide opportunities for feedback and be responsive to such feedback
Continue to expand to meet the needs of the customers
We have or will forge partnerships with the following organizations:
Pictou County Food Coalition
Pictou County Health Services
Department of Agriculture
Select Nova Scotia
Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia
DEANS
Key Performance Indicators
The following are the Key Performance Indicators that we will measure and include in our dashboard:
* Attendance numbers
* General sales trends per vendor
* Table Fees per week
* Membership Fees
* Vendor numbers, track consistency (regularity)
Other Indicators to Track On an Irregular Basis:
* Survey of Customers: What are they buying, how much are they spending?
* Tracking Regular Customers and Attendees: Why do they come?
The managers weekly emails to vendors and members should quantify and report these Dashboard indicators.
Operations and Projects
One to two years:
Volunteer recruitment
Barriers
Wayfinder signs
Outdoor picnic area
Pathway and signage to and from downtown
More educational projects
Links with festivals and downtown activities
On site signage
Artisan demos
Five years:
Parking Lot reconfiguration
Landscaping
Community garden
Performance stage
Entrance reconfiguration
Food Bank/donation programme
Chef demos
Bag programme (market bags in bulk for all vendors)
Increased building use
Marketing Plan Existing:
Assess Cost and Effectiveness
Existing:
Radio
Rack Cards
Newspaper
TNG Public Announcements
New:
Customer email list — request emails
Newsletter — distributed through email, other means?
CKEC phone promotions
Free community avenues: Church and other bake sales at Market
Church bulletin ads
School Newsletters/liaison
Encourage more Primary Producers
Promote FM to more growers
FM Mascot
The frameworks below can be expanded to use for any project or endeavor the Cooperative wishes to undertake. This allows for multiple volunteers to work on various aspects of a project, and allows for a complete report on the status of each project.
Operations Plan
Marketing Plan
Products/Services:
Places/Distribution/Methods
Marketing Partners
Summary:
The New Glasgow Farmers Market is ideally suited to increase the number of primary producers and provide many more products and services to Pictou County residents and visitors.
The Board and its Membership should carefully assess the direction it wants to go
and strike working committees to research and follow-up on information gathering,
cost analysis, and other details of projects to move forward into an exciting future.
The careful selection of staff and volunteers will assist these strategic decisions.