Job Opportunities

Job Title: Assistant Farmers Market Site Manager

Saturdays 7a - 2p

Reports to: Site Manager

Qualities, knowledge & skills: Ability to work with many different types of people. Good listener, communicator and takes initiative to accomplish tasks. Demonstrates good judgment. Informed about the local food movement, farm issues, and food issues.

Able to:

• Communicate effectively with people from a wide variety of backgrounds; gather information from conversations or surveys; answer questions and provide information.
• Support Site Manager in problem resolution and positive outcomes in all interactions that occur; vendor–to-vendor, vendor-to-shopper, or shopper-to-shopper.
• Identify, analyze, mediate and bring problems to Site Manager’s Attention with a calm and professional manner.

Goals: Assist Site Manager in daily operations of the farmers market to assure a smooth and safe running market. Welcome and engage shoppers. Promote good relations between the company and the vendors as well as within each specific market community.

Duties: Represent & communicate Down to Earth Market’s mission and role in creating, managing and promoting local ingredients and food systems. Support the Site Manager in his/her daily physical tasks as requested, 

Establish a positive, cooperative atmosphere at the market. Be the greeter and public face of Down to Earth Market. Assist with the set-up, safe, smooth running and break-down of the market site while maintaining a pleasant and conversational demeanor.

·  Meet and greet shoppers and engage shoppers with informative discussion that encourages them to gain the full benefit from shopping at the market.

·  Smile!

• Communicate with shoppers and vendors about steps being taken to enhance the market and meet their needs community all feedback from vendors and shoppers to Site Manager to include in their report
• Take photos in the Market of promotional programs and social media activities as specified directly by office personnel. This may include cooking demos, tastings or other special events.
• Promote new sign-ups for the e-mail marketing list. Encourage shoppers to sign-up to receive notices about vendor specials, what’s new, market announcements and special events.
• Share photos with the Territory Manager each week that you’ve taken at the market via Google Gallery or Cloud to be used for promotion and social media

• Help to set out signs and barricades and assist in set up the site manager’s tent and all specified materials.
• Hourly Market Count - Assist Site Manager in simultaneous/Coordinated shopper counts each market day for ten minutes at designated hourly time periods.

Physical / logistical requirements:

• Able to lift and carry up to 50 pounds.
• Set up market tent and secure with 4, 25 pound weights.
• Walking, standing for several hours at a time.
• Ability to work in all weather conditions, e.g. heat, cold, rain, sun, wind.
• Pick up equipment and / or supplies from office as needed.

Help make local food strong. Work in creative, innovative setting with a major regional developer of seasonal farmers markets. Down to Earth Market has been creating and managing farmers markets for over 25 years. We're based in Westchester County, NY and manage 15 markets in Westchester & Rockland Counties and NYC as well. This is an excellent opportunity to get involved in the creation of a sustainable, local food system. We are a small, mission driven company that believes real food and committed people can make a difference. We work hard to make it happen.

(Part-time hourly positions available in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Westchester and Rockland Counties)
We are looking for enthusiastic people with great people skills to manage one or more seasonal farmers markets and assist with market promotion within the community.

The Farmers Market Manager oversees and supervises daily operations of a farmers market to assure a smooth and safe running market; serve as a market host, welcome and engage shoppers; and promote good relations between vendors, our company, and the shoppers. The Farmers Market Manager cultivates dialogue between shoppers and Down to Earth Markets, helping to ensure that the market meets the needs of the shoppers and their communities.

Market Managers help to promote one or more markets in a region with on-the-ground community outreach, encouraging attendance at the markets through a variety of approaches that may include social media, flyering, and meeting with community groups to explain the benefits of eating locally grown and produced foods.

Candidates must have reliable transportation, be able to lift and carry 50 lbs, have access to a computer for social networking and emailing reports, be available for the entire season (most markets run from May into  December once a week) and must have an interest in and be able to articulately communicate about local food and sustainable agriculture.

Interested parties should e-mail a cover letter and resume to kate@downtoearthmarkets.com (for Westchester and Rockland County positions) and to emily@downtoearthmarkets.com (for NYC positions).

This Job is great if your schedule is not consistent, fill in Managing Markets on dates when you are available - make your own schedule. 

Market management: Direct and coordinate the safe, smooth running set-up and break-down of the market site while maintaining a pleasant and conversational demeanor.

• Set out all portable signs and barricades and set up the site manager’s tent and all specified materials.
• Coordinate with local authorities to remove improperly parked cars as applicable.
• Make sure that the market is set-up in a safe, organized and timely manner, that trucks do not block traffic and are moved off the market site as needed by the start time. Direct vendors to designated parking areas.
• Ensure that vendors comply with all market policies, enforce DTE rules and complete and distribute violations forms as needed.
• Ensure that the vendors keep their areas clean and free of debris during the market day and leave their areas broom clean and take their refuse with them.
• Oversee the safe and orderly break-down of the market, assuring that traffic is not blocked all moving vehicles are driving safely.
• Respond to problems or disputes within the market by listening to all sides and analyzing the situation. Using good judgment, take the steps necessary for peaceful resolution. If the situation needs further clarification, contact on-call personnel or defer resolution until discussing the matter with office personnel.
• Provide weekly written reports to office using on-line form about market operations, problems, resolutions, requests made, etc. within forty-eight (48) hours of the market end.
• Conduct accurate shopper counts each market day at designated hourly time periods.
• Be familiar with guidelines for safe handling and selling of food (contained within your binder). Monitor vendor selling practices and inform vendor staff and office personnel when practices appear questionable or out of compliance (e.g. cooler temperature, improper labeling or signage, improper sampling practice). Conduct periodic temperature checks and submit completed logs to the office. Oversee corrective actions per instructions.
• Familiarize yourself with the crops and products for sale by each farmer and producer. A listing of items per vendor can be found on the DTE website. View the items for sale each week to make sure they are products that are in season and are part of the vendor’s product offering. Inform office of any new products that are not listed and ask vendors to remove them from sale until approved through the office.
• Manage the recipe program – make sure you have season appropriate recipes on display. Contact your territory manager if you need new or more recipes.
• Manage the EBT terminal (NYC Markets) available for shoppers using the food stamps at the market. Track all the sales, hand out tokens to the shoppers and collect the tokens from the vendors at the end of the day. Distribute the Health Buck coupons to the food stamp shoppers and keep a log. Track all the sales and send all the paperwork to the office at the end of the market day.

Physical / logistical requirements:

• Able to lift and carry up to 50 pounds.
• Set up market tent and secure with 4, 25 pound weights.
• Walking, standing for several hours at a time.
• Ability to work in all weather conditions, e.g. heat, cold, rain, sun, wind.
• Transport and store (in a clean, dry place) site manager rig (tent, sand bags, table, signage, chair, recipe stand, bin, etc) as needed.
• Pick up equipment and / or supplies from office as needed.

Communications:

• Read weekly Site Manager Update, Shopper Email and Vendor Communications.
• Attend 1 Yearly Site Manager training at Down to Earth Market office as scheduled.
• Receive last minute market updates relayed via e-mail or cell phone.
• Respond in a timely manner to e-mail and voice communications from office.
• Depending on market location, managers may require access to a car to move and store the market tent and gear.