8:45 AM, Sunday, Summer Solstice, Westchester Farmers Market
I'm running a bit ahead of schedule on my market stall setup so I take the time to set a sales goal. I tell myself, "today I need to sell 10 cups of cacovu over ice to feel like a winner." Why 10? Feels kinda arbitrary, but we all need goals and I'm a human with 10 fingers, so why not 10. Works for the metric system, it'll work for me.
Market goes to 1:30, 4.5 hours to make this happen. Let’s go!
9:00 AM. Market opens and here comes the crowd. All streaming in eager to grab their weekly haul. All walk right past my tent. All of them. Am I invisible?
9:17 AM. First stall sale, "one baguette please." "Here you go, enjoy."
9:26 AM. A woman walks up, asks for a croissant, sees my cacovu display with a sample cup of cacovu maple over ice. "What is that,” she asks. I give her my spiel. She asks for samples. I give her one of each, cacovu puro (cacao + water), cacovu maple (maple-kissed) and cacovu Mama Vira (sweetly spiced). "I'll take a cup of the Mama Vira." Twenty-five minutes for sale #1. Mama Vira would be proud.
10:02 AM. A young family walks up. Turns out the dad has been reading up on the benefits of cacao and even did some experimenting with cacao at home. I caution him not to destroy his coffee equipment. "Don't try this at home." Tastes the maple, buys the maple. Two sales in.
10:20 AM. Another young family, order maple without sampling. I offer sample. They taste, "yep, I'll take that." Temps are rising, sales are too, slowwwly.
10:38 AM. Single woman samples puro because she drinks her coffee black. "It's good, but I'm not sure I can drink a whole one of that." Samples Mama Vira. Buys it. Four down. Feels like I'm en fuego.
Then crickets until a "duh" moment.
11:20 AM. Woman walks up with a smile on her face happy to see me at this market on this day. "Hey, got any bottles of your cacao drink? I got some for my son last time and he just loves it." "Sorry, I only have it over ice today." Frowny face. She tries the Mama Vira, "that's delicious, maybe next time."
I could have sold this repeat customer 2 bottles if I'd remembered to bring them. Sometimes operational excellence looks like remembering to pack some bottles in the truck.
11:31 AM. I start second-guessing myself. "What am I doing here on this beautiful day standing under a hot tent watching people walk by, not caring that I'm here? Is this worth it?"
11:43 AM. Man and his wife walk up with big smiles. Another wanna-be-repeat-buyer! He'd bought 500ml bottles previously. His wife says, "he can't stop talking about it at home." "Sorry, only cups over ice today." More disappointment and frowns. He promises to come back on their way out. I'm skeptical.
12:25 PM. He returns! Bought two cups of puro, no ice. Taped up the cup straw holes so they wouldn't leak on the way home. He promised to come back again. I promised to have bottles.
Just over an hour to go before market day ends and I need to sell 4 more cups. It's not looking good for the good guys (me, I'm the good guy in this story).
12:33 PM Young guy walks up, sees my sign and immediately asks to try Mama Vira. "Here you go." “I'll take it.” Done and done.
12:41 PM I meet Todd. He came for sourdough. He compliments my sourdough sales pitch. "I really like how you explained that." So I offer him a cacovu sample. I'm in full outside (literal) sales mode now. Start him with the puro. “That’s really good.” I ask if he likes sweet. “Yes” He asks for the maple. “Love it, I’ll take it.” "Wait, not yet." I insist he try Mama Vira first. He tries it, "that's the one!" Sold. Calls his wife from the market to tell her how much he loves it. "I'll bring some home for you to try." Thanks for cheering me up Todd.
12:55 PM Two older gentlemen walk up. They want some sourdough for dinner. They get a sourdough and an invitation to sample my creation. One likes bitter, the other doesn't. They try puro and Mama Vira respectively. Puro, no ice for sale #9.
Market closes at 1:30. I'm at nine sales. Just need one more for the thumb.
1:27 PM A last minute straggler is waiting for his grown kids to buy fruit at the next stall and wanders over to my tent. He sees my sign, "what's this?" I tell him. He wants to try it. "I drink my coffee black, no sugar in anything." "Puro is the one you want." Tries it. Buys it. Comes back for an extra straw, “I want my kids to taste it.” That's sales #10 folks with 3 minutes to spare. Woo hoo!
So that was the first half of my Father's Day. I was shooting my shot. On this day, I was 10 for 10.
Disclosure: I write these posts. AI helps me edit them.