Retailers require reliable delivery and quality, fresh produce at a reasonable price. Quality in terms of aesthetics also matters. "Presentation matters too. Wicker baskets are going to get you more sales than Astroturf – you’re going to get a better price if it looks like it’s from the ‘50’s, if you’re walking in a vortex and it’s like you’re in the 1950’s… – people are going to like it" (R17). “I know so many people that shop at farmers market... and it's fresh food. Fresh food is an aesthetic, it's like a religion” (R4).

Yet, acquiring these simple demands can be difficult, because of unpredictable consumer demand and agricultural anomalies. R2 notes an example, “We don’t know how much business we’ll get each week. I thought it would be slow last week, but Saturday we had a broccoli disaster and had to go to the farmers market."

R8 explained further, “Wanting to buy the best quality at the best price and just having so much availability…having so much out there…it’s just a challenge…because I want to actually purchase from everybody…if I could purchase a little bit from everybody I would. ...The challenge is actually wanting to have a broader consumerism from other vendors…(keeping up on wanting to buy the best quality at the best pricing. It’s usually great quality but it’s the pricing)…I’m really conscious about our pricing.”

Because ordering from small, local producers required a significant amount of coordination time, delivery was crucial. “So really distribution and delivery is really the most critical. We all need some level of efficiency” (R14). Many retailers mentioned the tradeoffs they had to make based on the requirements of their business, their mission and the needs of their customers. R8 was very concerned about the cost of the ingredients she used, and the environmental impact of sourcing organic food from farther away, “If we can get something cheaper from maybe two days away but to us if we can get it nearby…we’ll get something much closer so we don’t use fuel or order a little bit more so there is not like double trips.” R9 reiterated how he made tradeoffs to meet the varying desires or requirements of the community he served, “we’ll do a very nice product or local product and then we’ll have another product that will be less expensive and will be similar to the other product but a bit more affordable or not in as large a quantity.”

Justifying the expense of the food was a concern of many retailers and the intensity of their concerned seemed to be a function of their audience’s capacity to pay. R9 explained how the price of his restaurant’s food fit into part of his restaurant’s mission: “Our restaurant does have to be expensive... but if we can show people how delicious a beat salad can be or a salad of arugula that they can get at the farmers market, maybe they won't get it here all the time, but they can make it at home. That passing on of knowledge and technique can encourage people.”

R2, from another restaurant, explained how she attempts to meet a variety of people’s needs, “There are certain formulas…We always try to have chicken on, typically we spit roast it, the question becomes what we serve with the chicken or how we change that.” R5 noted another type of monetary difficulty, “We are trying to take it down to local produce all the way down to having local jam. Things like ketchup are harder.. Everyone expects free ketchup.” R15 addresses the common exclamation of, “Oh my god organic produce is so expensive,” with reasoning, “on the shelf it looks like a complete difference but when you add up health cost and cancer and water cleanup...all those things...Those are real costs; those aren't made up costs.” A few retailers mentioned the issue of hidden costs of food cultivated in certain ways, whether shipped for long distances or sprayed with pesticides.

Although retailers had difficulties accomplishing their missions, they were willing to go to great lengths to attempt to achieve them, because they truly understood the impact they could have, the needs of their providers and consumers, and enjoyed the interaction they had with their purveyors and their ability connect with the people in their community.