A 'rare' photo of both of us together at a JamBusters! vending venue. Usually George is behind the camera. This shot was taken just before the start of the February 16, 2019 'Mainly For Women Trade Show' in Oliver, BC.
February was a pretty crazy month for JamBusters! Not only was I putting in extra time in the kitchen to prepare for a new event mid-month, I kept adding new items to our inventory. I guess George is right when he says we are continuing to evolve even though we have been doing this for the past five years. Let me see if I can give you a general review of the shortest month of the year.
New Products
There were a few new items I’ve added to the JamBusters! offerings. Mostly these came about in an effort to round out the inventory for the mid-month event we attended but I also wanted to create some unusual products with an interesting visual. One of them is a Red Chili Pepper Jelly. In it I made use of something called ‘chili threads’ and also inserted a whole chili pepper in each jar. The idea is that over time, those jars will get progressively hotter as the heat from the threads and pepper begins to ‘marry’ with all the other flavours in the jelly.
I also added something called Banana Pepper Jelly. This is a relatively low heat item but to make it look interesting, I left rings of banana peppers in the jelly to give the jars a unique one-of-a-kind look. You could say that each jar of both of these products is as unique as a fingerprint as no two are exactly alike. I also made more of my extremely popular All-Veggie Antipasto. With it now available in two different sizes, the product continues to be popular. I also introduced a couple of different salsas where I used dried peppers in the ingredients.
WOW! What A Day Of Vending
The new vending event for us was February 16 at it was sponsored by the Women of Oliver For Women (WOW). This was the 26th annual ‘Mainly For Women Trade Show’ and it was held in the Oliver Community Centre. What made this event very attractive to us was that it was taking place no more than a kilometre away from the Oliver Indoor Flea Market. This was handy as we were able to pull some inventory from the indoor market to take to the WOW event. It also meant that if we were to run short of anything, George could make a quick trip to get more.
We could not have done both events on the same day – and for the first time ever – in the same community without the assistance of Sherrill, Don and Maddie watching our indoor market booth. George and I attended the WOW event with a plan in place. We took only selected items (roughly a dozen different ones) and that was what I worked on for the weeks leading up to the event. We had decided on the list of products and I was filling up the inventory to meet a demand, if there was going to be one. It also helped with our normal inventory.
George started the day hauling in boxes of product on very icy steps which took him a bit longer than he probably anticipated as he was trying to be as careful as possible. He also did something he’s never done before – he had made a prediction of the number of jars we would sell at the Oliver Community Centre. The booth was set up an hour before the doors opened and we were pleased to find ourselves vending beside another vendor who had been at the indoor market.
Within the first couple of hours sales were brisk and then tapered off during the noon hour. However, shortly after lunch the sales picked up again and we went through a lot of product. George had predicted we would sell 50 jars at the WOW event. It sounded a bit high but it was also a sign of how optimistic he was about this new event for us. Vendors elsewhere in the building were starting to buy JamBusters! products and at the end we had sold exactly 50 jars!
Oliver Indoor Flea Market
Our weekly numbers at the Oliver Indoor Flea Market continued to be consistent throughout February with a slight twist. We saw two of the four Sundays actually out sell the Saturdays, which we have noticed has happened more frequently than in the past. In fact, our single day best jar sale total at the indoor flea market so far in 2019 happened two Sundays ago. Also, our Watkins Products are either matching or surpassing JamBusters! sales in recent weeks. We have no idea why that is, but both of us are excited to see the interest in Watkins picking up.
New Products
There were a few new items I’ve added to the JamBusters! offerings. Mostly these came about in an effort to round out the inventory for the mid-month event we attended but I also wanted to create some unusual products with an interesting visual. One of them is a Red Chili Pepper Jelly. In it I made use of something called ‘chili threads’ and also inserted a whole chili pepper in each jar. The idea is that over time, those jars will get progressively hotter as the heat from the threads and pepper begins to ‘marry’ with all the other flavours in the jelly.
I also added something called Banana Pepper Jelly. This is a relatively low heat item but to make it look interesting, I left rings of banana peppers in the jelly to give the jars a unique one-of-a-kind look. You could say that each jar of both of these products is as unique as a fingerprint as no two are exactly alike. I also made more of my extremely popular All-Veggie Antipasto. With it now available in two different sizes, the product continues to be popular. I also introduced a couple of different salsas where I used dried peppers in the ingredients.
WOW! What A Day Of Vending
The new vending event for us was February 16 at it was sponsored by the Women of Oliver For Women (WOW). This was the 26th annual ‘Mainly For Women Trade Show’ and it was held in the Oliver Community Centre. What made this event very attractive to us was that it was taking place no more than a kilometre away from the Oliver Indoor Flea Market. This was handy as we were able to pull some inventory from the indoor market to take to the WOW event. It also meant that if we were to run short of anything, George could make a quick trip to get more.
We could not have done both events on the same day – and for the first time ever – in the same community without the assistance of Sherrill, Don and Maddie watching our indoor market booth. George and I attended the WOW event with a plan in place. We took only selected items (roughly a dozen different ones) and that was what I worked on for the weeks leading up to the event. We had decided on the list of products and I was filling up the inventory to meet a demand, if there was going to be one. It also helped with our normal inventory.
George started the day hauling in boxes of product on very icy steps which took him a bit longer than he probably anticipated as he was trying to be as careful as possible. He also did something he’s never done before – he had made a prediction of the number of jars we would sell at the Oliver Community Centre. The booth was set up an hour before the doors opened and we were pleased to find ourselves vending beside another vendor who had been at the indoor market.
Within the first couple of hours sales were brisk and then tapered off during the noon hour. However, shortly after lunch the sales picked up again and we went through a lot of product. George had predicted we would sell 50 jars at the WOW event. It sounded a bit high but it was also a sign of how optimistic he was about this new event for us. Vendors elsewhere in the building were starting to buy JamBusters! products and at the end we had sold exactly 50 jars!
Oliver Indoor Flea Market
Our weekly numbers at the Oliver Indoor Flea Market continued to be consistent throughout February with a slight twist. We saw two of the four Sundays actually out sell the Saturdays, which we have noticed has happened more frequently than in the past. In fact, our single day best jar sale total at the indoor flea market so far in 2019 happened two Sundays ago. Also, our Watkins Products are either matching or surpassing JamBusters! sales in recent weeks. We have no idea why that is, but both of us are excited to see the interest in Watkins picking up.
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