Supplies

We’ve mentioned supplies a few times through this guide… But, it is crucial that you plan ahead with all the tools, equipment, and supplies you need to share product away from where you normally prepare it.

While we can’t obviously document everything you would need, consider these categories:

For All Sampling & Demonstration

• Table or Serving Platform – What will you use to set-up your equipment to demo or sample? Do you have your own portable cart or will you need to borrow or rent one?
• Electricity – Make sure that if you need electricity to successful demo or sample that you have access to power.
• Decoration – How about a table cloth to make the sampling area look a little nicer or a formal trade show display?
• Printed Materials – Do you have brochures, menus, coupons, or other materials you’d like to give away? Do they have a holder or container? At least a rock to keep ’em from blowing away? Do you have a banner or other signage? Do you have means to fasten it? Rope? Tape? (You sorta have to plan for any surface, including not having anything to fasten it to!)

Specific to Food & Beverage

• Serving Tools – tools and equipment to portion and serve your product. Do you have extras in case something breaks or drops and gets dirty?
• Hand-Washing / Cleaning – supplies to clean any of your serving tools and to keep your hands clean.
• Accompaniments – Coffee drinkers in the northeast of the US prefer coffee with milk and sugar. So, at Starbucks, when sampling brewed coffee, we had also to bring sugar and artificial sweetener, milk (both half-and-half and skim), and stir sticks. That’s a lot of extras for a 3 oz sample of drip coffee… But, that’s how they liked it.

In these days of high awareness of waste, consider how can you use as little as possible without creating a lot of trash.