Are you a cook, maker, or entertainer looking for somewhere to introduce yourself or your products?
We have weekly farmers markets, night markets, wellness events, & pop-ups.
We work with cities, hospitals, universities, & non profit organizations to create fun events with local people. All of our events vary in size, from 5 vendors to 50+. We hope the vendor information below will help you navigate your next steps.
Have you done events & are ready to join immediately?
So, you are a new vendor…
First off – you will need equipment!
The below list represents the basic equipment needs to be a vendor at a community event or farmers market:
*Food vendors will have specific equipment needed to prepare & storage food*
CANOPIES
- 10′ x 10′ fire retardant canopy. Don’t skimp on a cheap canopy, you want something that can withstand the inevitable wind & rain you will encounter at outdoor events.
Our Favorite Brands: Caravan Canopy & California Palm
- Canopy weights (example from Amazon here). These are placed on the canopy legs as a security measure for inclement weather.
Our Advice: Keep the canopy weights on you at all times, as most canopies can only withstand up to 15MPH winds. When the canopy takes wind & lifts, it can pose a serious risks to those nearby. If you pick a canopy not from the above 2 brands, ensure it has framing in the middle so that you can reach up and grab something when the canopy is fully open.
TABLES & DISPLAYS
- Tables & Displays. Typical tables are foldable 6 FT tables available at Home Depot, Walmart, or on Amazon.
Our Favorite Brands: Office Star & Lifetime
- Banners, signs, & flyers. Market your company! Let folks know what you’re doing. Use a local printer if you can, but vistaprint.com is a smart newsletter to subscribe to for occasional 40% off deals.
Our Advice: Keep it simple at first & make sure your banners include necessary info required sometimes of food & farm vendors. As your experience grows, you can add marketing materials as needed.
ELECTRONICS
- Battery-powered lights & power stations will be required at most events. If a night market, lights are required, and if you need electricity, you will need to provide your own. Although some night markets have electricity, generators are typically restricted to food vendors only to limit noise & air pollution from generators.
Our Favorite Brands: Jackery
- POS (Point of Sale) & Prices. Don’t forget to price all your items, feature a menu, and then have a reliable point-of-sale system you can use to charge people’s credit cards. Setting up Venmo & Zelle is smart too. If you have an iPhone, look into the possible TAP features available to take payments on your phone. Square is great as they have a range of equipment to choose from, and their price points are low for the simpler products. For any of these products, its a quick & easy sync on your phone if you already do mobile banking. Stay away from PayPal though, as they have a horrible refund policy for sellers.
Our Advice: Square
All our markets are permitted, and you need to be too!
There’s a few things we need from you to get started & to make sure you are doing everything in compliance with federal, state, & local – laws & regulations.
That all sounds serious, but it’s EASY! The first thing you need to have is a resellers permit for the State of California – which is super simple.
Here’s the information for a few local offices where you can handle:
| Address | Phone | |
|---|---|---|
| 12750 Center Court Drive South, Suite 400 Cerritos, CA 90703-8594 | 1-562-356-1102 | CerritosInquiries@cdtfa.ca.gov |
| 5901 Green Valley Circle, Suite 200 Culver City, CA 90230-6948 | 1-213-712-1210 | CulverCityInquiries@cdtfa.ca.gov |
| 505 North Brand Blvd, Suite 700 Glendale, CA 91203-3946 | 1-818-543-4900 | GlendaleInquiries@cdtfa.ca.gov |
| 16715 Von Karman Ave, Suite 200 Irvine, CA 92606-2414 | 1-949-440-3473 | IrvineInquiries@cdtfa.ca.gov |
Cick here to use their online registration system: https://onlineservices.cdtfa.ca.gov/_/
If you have completed your resellers permit & you are not serving food, then proceed with submitting an online application
Do you want to sell your food?
If you do ANY preparation outside of the market, then you need to have an approved & permitted home kitchen, shared kitchen, food commissary, or restaurant.
PACKAGED FOOD VENDORS
A Cottage Permit can be secured to make packaged food from your home kitchen.
How to Secure a Cottage Permit to make Packaged Food
1) Obtain a California Food Manager Certification
2) Submit your Registration to the County of Los Angeles, Department of Public Health.
3) Prepare your home kitchen for a possible inspection by your county’s Department of Public Health.
4) You did it! Now you will get your MEHKO permit (Micro-Enterprise Home Kitchen Operation) permit!
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/eh/business/home-based-cottage-food.htm
Please review the Market Regulations for details on expectations, rules, & requirements when attending any VenaVer Event.
Vendor Applications
Submit your application online, by completing the form below, or by downloading our application & submitting to hello@venaver.org
Did something happen at the market that needs to be reported? Whether you are a vendor, customer, or community member – this feedback is always helpful to us.
click here to submit issues to VenaVer Events.