02 September 2010

Market Report – Your Food is Hot Edition

Many were called; only a few 3 were chosen. Last month we found 3 hearty eaters on Facebook willing to dine their way through Portland Farmers Market: So we sent our volunteers out with tokens, a survey form and the charge to gather information in order to establish goals and guidelines. Our volunteers had to eat 17 meals in 3 weeks from our Markets, in its own way  a form of competitive eating. Now that most of the heavy eating has been done, we are moving into phase 2 of our survey and would like your help and feedback on making your Markets better.

This Way Please

Reviews are fun, exciting and when done with style, fairness and elan – they are almost as fun as to read as going to a restaurant. Unfortunately, for this project we don’t need opinions as much as we need data points. For next year’s 2011 Market, we are working to establish criteria for our hot food vendors based on quality and seasonal food made with Market ingredients – the best way to do that is assess where we are now.

Below is a our survey form you can either download a Hot Food Survey PDF, fill it out and and drop it off at any Market info booth. Or copy and paste the text and email the results to me (dave@portlandfarmersmarket.org). You go out and taste the food at this week’s Markets or work from memory, just be fair. These are your Markets, take a few minutes to help shape our 2011 standards. While it might not be the elusive free lunch, we will award a totebag at random to a fortunate participant.

And speaking of Hot Food, after the official end of the season, in this case construction season, we have gathered all the PSU hot food vendors in one place. On the south block, in front of the Millar Library. There you will find Pine State, Salvadore Mollys, Enchanted Sun, Salumaeria di Carlo, Ces si bon, Zuppa, Via Chicago, Café Velo and newcomer last week LoveJoy Foods.

We hope you take a few minutes and help improve your markets by completing the Hot Food Survey.

Cut and paste below and email to dave@portlandfarmersmarket.org

Your Name:
Optional Email or phone

Market/Vendor:

Item:

Was your meal well prepared?
0=Inedible
1=Subpar
2=Average;
3=Good;
4=Very Good

Was the vendor (or staff) knowledgeable about food being served?

0=Knew little and lacked resources to answer
1=Unhelpful
2=Knew facts but info had to be extracted
3=Knew menu items and provenance
4=Volunteered info about menu, provenance and preparation (e.g, which items were local, veg, vegan, gluten free, etc.)

Did your food match expectations? (Quality, Size, Value, Price)
0=Did not meet any expectations
1= Met only some expectations (e.g, tasted good but undersized/overpriced)
2=Almost met expectations
3=Met expectations
4= Exceeded expectations

Did your meal contain Market items?
0=None
1=Contained vaguely seasonal ingredients
2= Items were local-ish (Oregon pears)
3=Contained one locally branded item (Hood River cherries)
4=Contained Market Vendor branded item (Grand Central Bread, Baird Orchards Cherries)
•Were there visible signs promoting local items?       Yes     No
• A sign naming specific Market Vendor or Farm?     Yes     No

Would you order another meal from this vendor again?
0=Never again
1=Slim chance
2=I might try a different item
3=Yes
4=I’m getting back in line, so I can try everything else

Please add any additional comments below