@article{Mariola_Schwieterman_Desonier-Lewis_2022, place={Ithaca, NY, USA}, title={What do local foods consumers want? Lessons from ten years at a local foods market}, volume={11}, url={https://foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/1082}, DOI={10.5304/jafscd.2022.113.011}, abstractNote={<p class="JBodyText">The local foods movement is now firmly en­trenched in the public imagination and as a feature of the larger food economy. With the most recent wave of local food retail markets now in its second decade, scholarly attention has turned to the fac­tors that correlate with success, yet we know very little about local food consumer purchasing pat­terns. In this study, we examine a comprehensive database of all food sales spanning ten years at a pioneering local food market in Wooster, Ohio. Analysis of over 1 million sales data points reveals a number of interesting trends: there are predict­able seasonal patterns in the rise and fall of sales at the market; there is a notable increase over time in the proportion of sales accounted for by takeaway foods produced in the market’s commercial kitchen; co-op members spend more on average per visit than nonmember customers. A success­ful market needs a balance between a small number of large-volume producers, who dominate sales with a handful of products, and a deep pool of smaller-volume producers, who bring a diversity of products to the market shelves. We conclude with a series of points that are of use to local food scholars, practitioners, and policy advocates.</p>}, number={3}, journal={Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development}, author={Mariola, Matthew and Schwieterman, Adam and Desonier-Lewis, Gillian}, year={2022}, month={Jun.}, pages={211–227} }