Interested in becoming a stallholder?
JOIN US...
You want to sell your produce directly? Become a stallholder at the Waikato Farmers' Markets!
Being a stallholder at the Waikato Farmers' Markets comes with great benefits:
We provide the meeting point between producers and customers and help you sell directly for a relatively small fee (annual membership and weekly stall fee)
Enjoy the market community and your customers' appreciation (who will quickly become regulars), exchange ideas and build collaborations with like-minded growers and entrepreneurs
Use the market as a platform for reaching ambitious business goals, if that is your dream.
We have a number of stallholders who started with a tiny production and became large businesses in a short period of time, others enjoy staying small and manageable, focusing on the weekend sales of their part-time businesses.
Does this sound like something you want to get involved in? We hope so!
We are always looking for dedicated local growers (especially of fruit and vegetables) and entrepreneurs and would love to hear from you. There may not always be the space or opportunity for your product to be in the market, but we'd love to chat.
We are not currently accepting applications for sweet items (cakes, pastry, macarons, donuts, cookies etc) or ready to eat food stalls.
We do have criteria that needs to be met to keep our status as an authentic farmers' market:
LOCAL
All stallholders produce their goods within a 100 km radius around Hamilton. This is to ensure that we support the local economy and all produce is fresh. It also keeps the environmental impact low caused by the shipping of goods.
FOOD ONLY
As a true farmers' market we only sell food. The only exceptions are plants, flowers, soil and firewood.
We distinguish between primary and value-added products; primary meaning anything that has been grown by the stallholder, while value-added products are those that are produced by the stallholder from primary ingredients.
LOCAL PRODUCE FOR LOCAL PRODUCTS
In order to support the local agriculture economy, we ask all value-added producers to use local ingredients. This may at first seem impossible, but we believe that only by making this a requirement, we can get entrepreneurs to think outside the box and come up with new ideas that are innovative and sustainable!
Finding a sensible ratio of local and non-local ingredients in your products is a great start. Using free range eggs and free range meats is a requirement of our stallholders.
Local doesn't mean purchasing from your local supermarket. This could mean it comes from anywhere in NZ! Local means purchasing from other local businesses in our area or from other market stallholders.
NO ON-SELLING
As should be clear from the above, you are not allowed to sell anything that is not produced by you. The whole point of farmers' markets is the direct connection between producers and customers. This is what our customers expect and stallholders are regularly audited.
FOOD SAFETY
All stallholders are responsible to obtain their own food safety permits from their respective council. Fruit and vegetable producers enjoy some exemptions.
Please find where you fit in here.
MARKET APPLICATION DOCUMENTS
Check the eligibility flow chart click here) to see if you will fit with the markets.
Click here to read the market charter.
Read the application guidelines (before you complete an application form).
The Waikato Farmers' Markets are operated by a elected Committee. The market year runs from 1 July to 30 June.
Applications received will be reviewed and a decision will be communicated within 3 weeks of your application date.
WE ARE NOT CURRENTLY ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR SWEET ITEMS
(CAKES, PASTRY, MACARONS, DONUTS, COOKIES ETC) OR ANY READY TO EAT/HOT FOOD ITEMS/FOOD TRUCKS OR CARAVANS.
