My friend asked me to attend a car boot sale her parents are running this Saturday . I am paying to have a table and since I don't have much I can sell I asked would it be ok if I made baked goods instead. That was agreed. However....I recently found out the last boot sale was very poorly attended and it was suggested by a work mate to go to a Saturday market where a large number of people (buyers and vendors) attend (which could account for the poor attendance at the friends sale).
I would love to go to the friends sale but don't want to be left with a large amount of  baked goods to get rid of should they not sell due to poor turn out.  The Saturday market is an almost guaranteed sell out.
I am in two minds of what to do and could use your opinions.

Cheers

As she asked you can you have at the very least a discount for the table?  Seems cheeky that she asked you but you are having to pay for the pleasure!  Know car boots aren't expensive but if you don't sell much it is.

Just go this time ( without baking ) to see what it is like.  Or, bake only stuff that can be frozen if it doesn't sell!  :)

What about asking a local school if they would like what's left over on Monday morning to have a cake sale?

Not sure about the situation selling baked goods at a car boot,as they are usually pay to enter so rules may be different, but I am fairly sure if you are selling them at a market you need to meet all the enviromental health requirments, and may need a licence from the Local Authority, certainly your kitchen will need to be inspected.

I will have to look into that...but surely not everyone selling those sorts of things have undergone such inspections. I have however passed a food hygiene course :-) Thanks for bringing that up....not something I had thought of..

Cheers

Only bake and take what YOU can eat if all fails :-D

I don't know if they have done, but I think they should have done, if you see what I mean.  Going back a couple of years there was quite a lot of publicicty about WI stalls not being able to operate in certain areas as the "bakers and makers" had not had the kitchens passed by EHOs.  There was also an article in the Mail recently about a lady who has some hens in her garden, and was selling the excess in her local village shop - she had to undergo  a full inspection of her kitchen, even thought the only activity is putting the eggs into boxes.  You will also need public liability insurance - if you accidentally give someone food poisoning you need cover, awards for damages and fines can be enormous.

You have to decide whether you want to make your stand money and more, otherwise you could end up out of pocket, not only because you don't make the stand money, but also because you will have forked out for the ingredients and packaging for the baking products.  I'm afraid, for me, I'd go for the event that I would be guaranteed to sell the most, if she's a good friend, she will understand that you can't just pay for the pleasure of being somewhere (actually, maybe you can??) - perhaps you can donate a few cakes for them to sell instead, to calm the waters.

Events and fairs I go to require PLI insurance for anyone selling food for human consumption, they're less stringent about arts and crafts, bric a brac type of stuff, but you may be asked if you're selling food.