It's not enough for farmers to bring their produce to farmers markets and spread the gorgous goods out on tables. Just like any other business, farming involves figuring out the best way to market your wares.
Take Rick Bishop and his Mountain Sweet Berry Farm at the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City. Besides nurturing the sweetest strawberries ever, Bishop has a thing for potatoes and sells many different varieties. He recently added potato chip entrepreneur to his toolbox, which is a way to add value to his potatoes. But these aren't your ordinary potato chips: They are varietal potato chips made from spuds with names like German Butterball, Ozette Indian, Ruby Crescent, and Purple Peruvian.
Bishops packs them in environmentally correct brown paper bags lined with a compostable film and stamped with the potato's name. The effect looks eerily like those raw potato stamps you made in kindergarten.
The chips sell for $4 a bag, with a three-bag deal for only $10. What Bishop's noticed is that he sells far more $10 deals when he only puts out three different choices of potatoes as opposed to four. Shoppers dither between four different chips and sometimes walk away with none. When there are only three choices, it's clear: Grab a bag of each and you're done.
We wondered if this was in line with a basic marketing rule, or whether it reflected something more involved, so we contacted Dr. Brian Wansink of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, who confirmed how human we all are: "When people are offered too much variety, they have a hard time deciding what to do." Keep that in mind the next time you're in the cereal aisle!