2023 Market Day – The Year 10 Commerce Stalls

On the 29th of June, the school hosted Market Day, an event run by the Year 10 Commerce classes. We had over 20 different Stalls from 3 different Commerce classes serving a wide variety of cuisines and services, from waffles to crepe cones to lottery tickets to sausage snags.

Market Day day took several months of preparation as all groups each had to plan ingredients, test recipes, collect equipment and simultaneously write our business reports. Although some class time was dedicated for this task, a majority of the work was done in our own time to ensure that a quality product or service was produced for the Fort Street student community. Some of the preparation involved completing Food Safety modules and also budgeting for our commerce stalls. This opportunity of organising, planning and running a Commerce stall was a really eye-opening experience as it exposed us to a few of the key responsibilities and experiences of entrepreneurs. It also showed us, first hand, the difficulty of running your own business and the pressures of competition in the market.

Although we felt prepared for the day as a cohort, we definitely underestimated how hectic it would be. 

The morning before school, as well as the first two periods, flew by so quickly and we felt really excited and nervous, awaiting the customers. As soon as the bell rang, swarms of students approached the stalls, surrounding our tables and eagerly standing in line, waiting to order. However, soon after, the stress of taking multiple orders, calculating change, and prepping ingredients caught up to us, and we were struggling to keep up. This meant not all customers were satisfied, with varying service times and quality of product. Unfortunately, it was a universal experience amongst all stalls, and is something real businesses go through and have to deal with. 

Despite this, we personally really enjoyed the experience of being able to serve people products that we made and enjoyed the novelty of the time pressures. The feeling of relief and pride we experienced after lunch time was over and we packed up the stalls and made the day really memorable for us. It was very intriguing to see how our efforts shone through on the actual day through weeks of market research, advertising and organisation of the operations. We even managed to snag things from other stalls despite all the chaos of setting up the stalls and tidying all the posters around the school!

Overall, Market day was an enjoyable and unique experience that strengthened our collaboration and amateur-entrepreneurship skills. It taught us about the challenges associated with running a business, and made us aware of the obstacles real businesses face everyday. This task was a stressful one that required a lot of planning, effort, and commitment. However, each and every group performed very well, and should be proud of what they accomplished on the day!!! And we all hope that the staff and students enjoyed the experience as well!

Writen by Akshaya, Sammy and Yvonne

Year 10 Commerce