Short answer: Count the same few things at every market, every week. Then ask shoppers a short survey twice a year. Funders and health partners care about who you reach, what they buy, and whether things improve for them.
Count at every market
Transactions. How: From your point of sale.
Sales by payment type. How: Cash, card, SNAP/EBT, WIC, incentives, prescriptions.
Produce sold. How: Dollars, and pounds if you can.
New and returning shoppers. How: Loyalty sign-ups, stop subscribers, or a quick question at checkout.
Reach in low access areas. How: Which stops sit in low access census tracts.
Ask twice a year
Food security. Use the Hunger Vital Sign, a validated two-question screener. Shoppers answer whether, in the past 12 months, they worried food would run out, and whether food ran out before they had money to buy more.
Fruit and vegetable intake. Use a short validated intake screener. Ask the same questions each time so you can compare.
Experience. What they like, what is missing, and what would bring them back.
Report it
Keep one spreadsheet. One row per market day.
Share a one-page summary with partners every quarter.
Pair every number with one story and one photo.
Use the same measures every year so you can show change.
With the Farmers' Truck Map: Subscriber counts per stop show reach between markets. The food access layers show which stops serve low access tracts.
Sources: Children's HealthWatch, The Hunger Vital Sign (2-page brief) · National evaluation of fruit and vegetable incentives, Public Health Nutrition (2025)
