What we worked on

After conferring at our all-team meeting, we decided it would be a good idea to get some on-the-ground experience with the market, to see for ourselves what areas could be improved upon. We have a lot of ideas about how to expand the reach of the farmer’s market, and more specifically we wanted to hear from vendors themselves how the operations and marketing could be improved.

What went well

We found the market vendors to be friendly, engaged, and happy to speak to us. We spent about an hour going among the different vendors to ask them about their experience at the Harvard market, what areas they would want to see improved, their sales revenue from the market, other markets they visit, and their history here. The responses we received were uniformly positive: the vendors felt that the market met their revenue targets, was managed well, and served the purpose they sought from being there.

What was challenging

Although it was good to see the vendors of the market so satisfied with their experience, our presence in the field didn’t help us to narrow our focus our project for improving the market. If the vendors had had specific concerns or areas they wanted to see changed, we would have had a more targeted direction for our efforts; but the feedback we received did not point out specific issues. The feedback we received at the market made us wonder whether the problem was not one that the market vendors or customers were experiencing, but something going on with operations and administration.

What’s up next

The three of us have an upcoming meeting with Margiana to discuss what we have gathered from attending the market, and our impressions of the vendors. We’d also like to learn more about the behind-the-scenes view of the market’s finances and standard operating procedures from speaking with her, and apply our project proposal.