AusVarmint

Big things happening with my rabbit shooting buisness. Ive been accepted as a stall holder at the Canberra Regional Farmers Markets held at the EPIC Center in Canberra. Some of you blokes will already know this, but thought Id let the rest of you mob know.

My first market attendance was on saturday 9/2/13, and by my reconing was a great success, it by far exceeded my expectations but didnt quite go as good as I hoped. By that I mean I was expecting to sell around 60 to 70 rabbits, and hoping to sell the 120 that I took, I sold 96, which is pretty much slap bang in the middle. This has been a pretty long process, with all the paperwork, tracking down different laws and regulations that I have to comply with, then negotiating to get them processed here locally.

Its a long haul down there, 480km, I left Hillston at around 2 on friday afternoon, arrived at the EPIC camp ground at 830pm, just in time to plug my chiller in, and get thumped by a nice little storm for around 15 minutes. After it stopped, I got the swag out and crashed, I had to get up at 5.30 to set up before 7 opening time. I didnt have a clue how good the reception was going to be, but am really pleased with everything about it, the organisers couldnt have been more helpful, and the customers were really great, only two meatheads thought they would have a laugh about rabbits, walking away singing "run rabbit, run rabbit, run run run", They got a bit upset when I started laughing at them and so did others nearby. They pissed off pretty quickly after that. Got home at around 630 saturday evening.

I learned a few things, need more signs, better display for my rabbits, and put the prices up, alot of people said I was too cheap, other stall holders, and customers, they seem to think that if its cheap there is something wrong, oh I dont mind if they want to pay more . I also need to have some receipe handouts as a lot of buyers didnt know how to cook them, I kept telling them to get hold of an Italian cook book, they know how to cook rabbits, also told a lot of them to get a camp oven and have a go at that. I also had some handouts for anyone to pre-order and that went down well. My biggest lesson learned was to get the aircon in the ute fixed, it was bloody hot heading west at that time of the day.

To wrap up, Im pretty stoked and can only see it going better over time, would love to take down 400 every second saturday and move the lot, it will take a bit of time, but who knows. Anyway if any of you in the area want to rock up and have a yarn or whatever you are most welcome, if ya want a couple of rabbits, I can help you out, good discount for anyone from here. so hopefully Ill catch up with some of you.

Next market I attend is going to be 2/3/13, was planning on the week before that but the Canberra show stops the market for that weekend.

I also need a stall name, was thinking "The Rabbit Bloke" any other ideas greatfully received. thanks
Mark

Great work.

Sounds like you have an opportunity to sell some cook books and camp ovens, on the side.

I reckon "Mark the Rabbit Bloke"

I think "the Rabbit Bloke" is to easily confused with "the Rabib Bloke"

Keep up the good work on the contact front as well

Thanks guys, cant sell cooking gear and books only food products, although Im not sure about wool or leather/hides.

Thanks Missed, I think you are onto something there, wouldnt look good some one trying to sell food and frothing at the mouth. Im sure there will be a few more contacts turning up.

How about "The Bunny Bloke"?

You could try selling the cook books and camp ovens via eBay, give customers a card with the links when they "Buy a Bunny from the Bunny Bloke"....

The Raven wrote:How about "The Bunny Bloke"?

You could try selling the cook books and camp ovens via eBay, give customers a card with the links when they "Buy a Bunny from the Bunny Bloke"....

Hmmm, not bad, will give some thought thanks.

Congratulations on getting this business up and running and into the marketplace Mark. I am spreading the word and hopefully getting a few people to turn up at your stall.

JasonF wrote:Congratulations on getting this business up and running and into the marketplace Mark. I am spreading the word and hopefully getting a few people to turn up at your stall.

Thanks mate, hope to see you down there one day, even if its only for a meet and chat

Awesome mate,

So glad it was a success selling out 5/6th's of your inventory on your first outing is awesome.

Very happy for you mate. If you need any help with marketing/websites let me know.

Cheers,
Keith.

Hey Camel,

Cook up a "Mary's Rabbit Pie" out of Stephanie Alexander's book "A cook's companion", take it down to the market, and offer free tasters with a copy of the recipe. I am sure there would be a few more recipe suggestions from others on this site too. Hit the taste buds and you might hit the wallet too.....

Marcus

Great suggestion Branx. That recipe is fantastic! It involves a lot of frigging around, but it is worth it. I particularly like my wife's version made with bunnies shot off the front lawn.

Mark, I will come past for a catch up when I get a chance.

Cheers, Jason.

JasonF wrote:Great suggestion Branx. That recipe is fantastic! It involves a lot of frigging around, but it is worth it. I particularly like my wife's version made with bunnies shot off the front lawn.

Mark, I will come past for a catch up when I get a chance.

Cheers, Jason.

Did you boys like your SKB Cases?

Good Oh thanks fellas, will have to look into the taste testing side of things, I think Ill bump heads with a couple of regulations somewhere if I just rock up and give it away. The laws about these things are a crock of shit, makes it a bit hard. If its worth the effort will certainly look at introducing something like that.
Am going to include the offal for pet food as well, had a few enquiries about that, then there are the odd reject from the works that can get chopped up and sold as pet food as well. Dont want to get too flash to start with, I guess little steps to start and see what happens.

Hey Camel,

nice work mate. 96 rabbits at one market is a cracking effort!

+1 on The Rabbit Bloke. The Bunny Bloke does sound better but will probably put off anyone with little kids who think bunnies are cute

random suggestions;
if you can only sell foodstuffs then having something hot to eat in the colder months will give people a reason to come over. not to mention the drawing effect of the smell of a BBQ!

add some really simple recipes to the signage. get em thinking they can cook even before they get to you. And cross sell with some of the other store holders. you tell em where to get the vegies or small goods that will go with the rabbit and the other stores do the same for you. make it easy for the punters and watch them come back for more!

dunno how you are packaging them, but maybe do some whole and some jointed and some chopped up fine. obviously anything that's in smaller amounts and more processed costs more!

recipes ideas
apparently Moroccan food has a bit of rabbit in it. if your market is anything like the ones around here then it will be full of foodies and most foodies will have a tagine they've never used so chuck a recipe using one of those in there.
roast rabbit wrapped in bacon is probably my favourite. I've also done a rabbit stew with chillies in it that was good.

A few cookbooks with a couple of Rabbit recipes in them (I have a few foodie mates I supply with Rabbit when I get out after em and they keep giving me recipes they thought were good...
Rotis by Stephane Reynaud (actually this is a bloody good book in general. it's just pages and pages of how to roast animals)
Maggies Kitchen by Maggie Beer
Margaret Fulton's Encylopedia of Food & Cookery


hopefully something there helps.

Dave

kjd wrote:Did you boys like your SKB Cases?

Yes thanks Keith.

Cheers, Jason.