Sales & Support
Whether you coordinate and run your local farmers market or you’re a vendor, you’re probably concerned with the health, safety, and hygiene of everyone who attends your outdoor event. While sanitizer works in a pinch, it’s not as good as soap and water. But having a portable sink (or three) at the farmers market gives everyone access to safe, clean handwashing without plumbing.
Many states require farmers’ markets and other outdoor events to provide a hand washing station for staff and, in some cases, customers, especially if you provide free samples or conduct cooking demonstrations. A portable hand washing station helps you comply with these guidelines, ensuring you’ll meet any state and local health code requirements with ease.
Even if you’re not required to provide a hand washing station, staff and customers appreciate a place to wash their hands with hot water and soap at outdoor events instead of relying on hand sanitizer.
For starters, washing your hands with soap and water is more effective than using hand sanitizer. Staff may want to wash their hands to help prevent cross-contamination and customers may want to wash up before eating what you’re selling or after selecting their products.
In both cases, providing a portable sink for everyone allows them to clean their hands with a safe and effective method for killing germs.
Finally, while you can’t — and shouldn’t — use a hand washing sink to wash anything but hands, you can have a portable sink that’s dedicated to cleaning dirty dishes, tools, or even to wipe down your supplies at the end of the day.
Depending on your setup and needs, you could have two portable sinks: one for washing hands and the other for washing supplies. Or, you could get a portable sink with two or even three basins if it meets state or local regulations.
When a portable sink or or portable handwashing station is required at a farmers market, they generally must have:
If you’re selling prepared foods or prepping foods and drinks onsite, your portable sink likely has to be NSF-certified and may even need a counter made of food-grade stainless steel.
Some farmer’s markets allow vendors to use gravity-fed hand wash stations. While this setup can meet state and local regulations and use soap and water instead of hand sanitizer, gravity-fed hand washing stations often aren’t as efficient or easy to set up as a portable sink.
For starters, most gravity-fed sinks don’t have to provide hot water and the ones that do can’t provide water as hot as a portable sink does. While both types of sinks can run out of water, refilling or replacing the clean water tank in a portable sink is often easier. Portable sinks usually have a covered wastewater tank, while gravity-fed sinks have an open container that’s easy to miss.
Finally, gravity-fed sinks are harder to operate compared to the faucet handles on a portable sink. Someone may need to use their elbows to engage the spigot or need someone to hold it down for them while washing. Portable sink faucets are generally easy to turn on and off with your hands, and some faucet handles are even ADA-compliant, making it easy to flip them on and off.
A portable sink may or may not be required at your farmers market, but having one either way demonstrates your commitment to safety, health, and hygiene. And Ozark River Manufacturing’s portable sinks check all the boxes. They’re NSF-certified, have fresh and wastewater tanks, built-in soap dispensers, and hot and cold running water. What’s more, our sinks arrive assembled and ready to go. All you have to do is plug it into a standard power source.
Check out our full selection of portable sinks, or contact us today and learn more about how our portable sinks can help your business comply with health and safety standards without plumbing.
Ozark River Manufacturing designs and delivers top-quality, NSF-certified portable sinks. Since 2006, our inventive and bold team has ensured health compliance with quick-connect tanks and instant hot water. With over 55 models, we provide solutions for every need, backed by exceptional customer support and timely delivery. Healthy people matter, and we make a positive impact every day.
Get insights from our team and learn about innovative portable sink solutions and industry news.
Take your time but make sure to save your cart. Drop us your email and we'll take care of the rest!
