For many vendors, the weekly farmers' market is their one shot to sell their products and reach new customers.
But that opportunity can come at a cost.
"I know a lot of our vendors talk about different costs like, for example, a rental space or... whatever the cost is to be at a farmer's market," said Taryn Mohler, Director of Operations at Harvestly.
Harvestly, an online farmers' market, was created to cut down on those costs. While farmers still pay to be a part of the service, Harvestly processes the orders and delivers them directly to customers across San Luis Obispo County.
"Harvestly was started by Cal Poly students and they saw a need for, their goal was to make sure that money was sitting in the farmers' pockets instead of being taken by the middle man. We try to remove that barrier and make it affordable for them," Mohler explained.
Some vendors, like The Vreamery in Paso Robles, say they've grown because they can now offer more goods to a larger group of people.
"Our business definitely has been benefited," said Jennifer Golden, owner of The Vreamery. "When we opened the Market Walk location, I wasn't able to get product in front of people that had become faithful clientele, so now they're able to order the same things that they had before as well as things that we didn't offer delivered to them."
Harvestly now has 83 vendors and continues to grow.
"I think people are catching on to Harvestly and what we're doing and it's exciting," Mohler said.
Many of the vendors also have brick-and-mortar locations and/or continue to have booths at local farmers' markets.
For those who prefer to shop and speak with the farmers in person, most communities in San Luis Obispo County have a farmers' market at least once a week. Click here for a list of markets near you.
