Starting a farm stand comes down to six things: a spot drivers can see with room to pull off the road, zoning and sign rules from your town or township, a clear list of what you'll sell and which items need a license, how you'll price it, by the pound, the dozen or the box, how people will pay, and a stand that keeps produce in the shade. The license question is often easier than people expect for produce and harder for everything else. In Wisconsin, a stand primarily selling fresh fruits and vegetables, honey, cider or maple syrup you grew or made, with no other food processing, needs no retail food license; eggs, baked goods, jam and pickles each bring their own rules. How you price is a rule too: solid goods sell by weight, or by count or measure where that's customary, berries only in half-pint, pint or quart dry boxes, and anything sold by the pound needs a scale certified for trade. In the example below, a Wisconsin vegetable farm opens a roadside stand for about $2,500. Below are the steps, the rules, the example, and a free opening checklist.
The short version
- Pick a spot drivers can see, with room to pull off safely.
- Check your town or township's zoning and sign rules.
- In Wisconsin, your own produce, honey, cider and maple syrup need no retail food license.
- Eggs, baked goods, jam and pickles bring their own rules.
- Sell by weight, or by count or measure where that's customary.
- Berries go in half-pint, pint or quart dry boxes; by the pound needs a certified scale.
- Plan cash, a QR code or a card reader, and a way to count what sold.
- TaroStack counts what goes to the stand and what comes back. More below.
The steps
| Step | What to settle |
|---|---|
| The spot | Visible from the road, room to pull off, shade, close to where you pick |
| Zoning and signs | Whether your zoning allows a stand, and how big and how far from the road signs can be |
| What you'll sell | Your own produce first; each other food checked before it goes on the shelf |
| How you'll price | By the pound, the dozen, the bunch or the box, with the price and quantity on the sign |
| How people pay | Staffed, or self-serve with a cash box and a payment QR code |
| The stand | A roof, shelves, a cooler for greens, eggs or berries, and a sign with your open days |
Setting the prices themselves, and what the honor box costs you, is in farm stand prices.
The rules in Wisconsin
| Rule | Wisconsin statutes |
|---|---|
| No retail food license | A place primarily selling fresh fruits and vegetables, honey, cider or maple syrup the operator produced, with no other food processing (Wis. Stat. 97.30(2)(b)) |
| Also exempt | A place selling only packaged foods or fresh fruits and vegetables, with no potentially hazardous food and no processing (97.30(2)(b)) |
| How goods are sold | Solid goods by weight, or by count or measure where that's in general use (98.06) |
| Berries | By measure only in half-pint, pint or quart dry containers (98.06) |
| The sign | Anything with a price sign has its weight, measure or count on it, except single units (98.07) |
| Scales | Commercial scales meet the NIST specifications (98.03) |
What a retail food license covers when a stand grows past this is in retail food license, and home-baked goods in Wisconsin cottage food law. Other states draw these lines differently: ask your state's agriculture department before the first sale. This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: a roadside stand near Baraboo
Honey Creek Farm, a made-up vegetable and berry farm near Baraboo, Wisconsin, I use in these examples, opened a self-serve stand at the end of its drive on June 6:
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Stand: roof, shelves, shade | $1,400 |
| Signs: farm name, open days, prices | $180 |
| Payment: cash box, QR code, card reader | $90 |
| Scale certified for trade | $260 |
| Containers: quart boxes, bags | $220 |
| Cooler for greens and berries | $350 |
| Total to start | $2,500 |
What it sells, and how:
| Item | Sold by | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Strawberries, then raspberries | The dry quart and pint | Berries by measure only in those boxes |
| Sweet corn | The dozen | Count is customary for corn |
| Slicing tomatoes | The pound, on the scale | Sold by weight |
| Zucchini, peppers | Each | Single units |
| Honey from its own hives | The jar, with net weight on the label | Its own honey is on the exempt list |
| Eggs | Not yet | Checking the egg rules before adding them |
The stand needs to leave $2,500 over what the produce costs to grow before it's paid back; at about $500 a week left in July and August, that's five weeks of summer. The honey label is in how to start a honey business, and selling at a market as well in farmers market vendor permit.
Get the checklist
Download the farm stand opening checklist. One sheet: type the opening day, and each step's due date counts back from it, from picking the spot twelve weeks out to the first day open, with the cost and the date done; the status shows on time, late, to do or overdue, and the total to start adds up. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
A checklist gets the stand open. After that the question is every week's: how much went out to the stand, how much came back, how much was composted, and whether the stand earns more than the restaurant that buys your tomatoes.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack starts when the harvest comes in. It doesn't plan plantings.
Each day's harvest a lot. Each harvest goes into stock as a lot with its date, counted on a phone in the field or the shed with no signal, and picking takes the oldest first.
The stand as a site. The stand is a site, so produce moved there is counted there, and what comes back is counted back. What's composted goes off as an adjustment with its reason.
Margins by channel. Restaurant orders are sales orders, and margins are reported by product and by customer, so the stand and the restaurant can be compared. Selling to restaurants is in how to sell to restaurants.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| What the stand sold this week | Put out minus a guess | Moved there, counted back |
| What was composted | Not written down | Adjustments, by reason |
| Oldest berries out first | Read the flats | Lots, oldest picked first |
| Stand or restaurant? | A feeling | Margins by customer |
Lots, counting and margins by product and customer are on every plan, from $49 a month; the stand as its own site, beside the farm, is on Standard at $99. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.