Okay, I've obviously many thoughts on this even though I haven't decided for sure that this is the route I'll take.
Background: I have 6/10 of an acre, about 140 trees of pomegranates, with about 25 varieties bearing fruit and another 35 or so that have just small yields or none at all yet. I've shipped boxes of mixed varieties of pomegranates to customers which they have loved. But it is very time consuming and I tend to be careful in trying to avoid fruits that have a blemish as I worry the customer will complain. NorCal customers are the easiest as I'm able to ship in a USPS Regional Rate C box which has a weight limit of 25 pounds but has a large volume which makes fitting 23 pounds of fruit (leaving a margin for box weight, etc.) very easy so I don't spend time trying to get a fruit of medium size, a large size, and small size to fit into every nook and cranny like I do when I ship in the USPS Large Flat Rate box. Still, I have typically spent 30 minutes putting together a box of 23 pounds which I've sold for $2/pound plus shipping ($15.44 for the Regional Rate C box in my Zone 1 and 2 last year). That doesn't count the time spent harvesting the fruit, washing, etc. My worker is helping me some of the time so there is some logistic time lost. Last year, for the first time, I also sold some U-pick pomegranates. I sold those for $1.50 pound. I spent some time visiting with the customers (some were friends) and gave them a map and told them they could sample whatever they wanted in the orchard, though I didn't see much of that go on except when I was with them to encourage them to try another variety. I found a customer was much more willing to purchase larger volumes of fruit when they got into picking and some tasting and they also were much more likely to pick a blemished fruit than I would be. My all-star customer that I was blessed to meet at Wolfskill had come to the pom tasting there and followed me home to buy some of my fruit. He was out visiting family in the Bay Area and lives in Chicago. As I recall, he bought about 80 pounds of poms from me that day and when he departed he was headed down to SoCal to visit friends. A few days later he emailed me to let me know he had a great time eating poms with friends and had flown home to Chicago but was coming back the next weekend and wondered if it would be okay to come buy some poms again. I was happy to oblige. He came with the intention of buying 100 pounds which he was going to check as baggage on his return flight but he actually go a little carried away and had something like 150 pounds. He figured he would be okay as he wasn't flying home for a couple of days and he would eat a bunch before then. He also brought his brother along who also picked and bought something like 30 or 40 pounds. He said he hopes to drive to California this coming season so he can take back even more this time. Getting to see the great diversity of varieties first hand and hearing them call your name seems to be something that really helps sell the product.
So many growers focus on maximizing gross revenue without adequate consideration of the expenses to attain those top prices/revenue. Having a fluctuating harvest schedule is difficult to manage with a harvest crew. Letting people PYO pretty much eliminates any need for labor beyond what my wife and I can do ourselves though I'd probably have my one worker helping to keep an eye on things. I believe this more than offsets the potential for discarded fruit, a modest amount of damage, etc.
As I have learned from pomegranate marketing, customers want to know the name of each variety, characteristics of the fruit, etc. and this is very time consuming. I have over 100 varieties of figs. By the time I'm done with one customer it would be time to shut down for the day. Let them look and sample and decide what they want while visiting in the orchard. I believe they are much more likely to try a larger number of varieties than if I already had the fruit picked since the purchase goes pretty quickly and the "just one more" moment is lost. Also, a customers get to chose for themselves what level of ripeness they want.
Transporting fruit to a farm stand and farmers' market is also subject to damage of fruit. If customers experience some damage of fruit while taking fruit home from the farm that is a loss they absorb and next time they might decide on a fruit that is less ripe.
My trees are being trained along the lines of what is done in some of the Japanese operations that Ken Love has shown. The lower limbs are being trained along a trellis wire about 18" above ground level (would be lower but I have the trees planting on a ridge/mound) and then new growth each year will be tied to wires similar to what's used in winegrape vineyards. Fruit should be harvested from 18" to about 6-7' above ground level. I'm optimistic that damage to trees would not be significant. While I greatly treasure many of my trees (especially some rare ones), this is a farm, not a garden. Some slight damage isn't going to get me too worked up. Hired workers also damage trees as I have witnessed in the past.
I already have a very comprehensive farm policy but have plans to speak to my agent further about U-pick operations and if any additional endorsement is needed. Pomegranates are fairly difficult to pick and are thorny and injuries isn't anything new. I plan to expand the pomegranate PYO business this year and discontinue mailing fruit altogether and will be instituting some rules/policies. For instance, no open-toed shoes. No smoking on the premises. No pets. No unattended children (maybe leash required?! lol). I do not plan to consult with an attorney. The insurance companies have attorneys that already decide what is required. When a person goes to skydiving or rafting or indoor climbing they have you sign a release form. Insurance company requirements are the driving force behind those. Latex is certainly a significant issue but most people already know if they have a severe allergy to latex. Properly informing them of the risk and having them acknowledge accepting this risk is sufficient, I believe. I would probably also suggest long-sleeved shirts.
Sue, a business license or food license (commercial kitchen license) is not required in most counties of California. If I processed figs and sold jam, that would be another matter. I have no plans to get into that as that adds another large set of costs I don't wish to get into. I can't compete on my small scale with processed products.
I am not concerned with RKN introduction on people's feet. I already have some present on my farm and don't see it as a significant issue in my heavy soils. RKN is more severe in sandy soils which I don't have. I am quite certain that most people will be arriving with cleaner shoes than when they leave.
Part of the allure of PYO is getting to visit a farm and seeing how food is grown. That is best experienced in the orchard. I'm not that far from the large Bay Area population and it is mostly a scenic drive for most that adds to the fun. For me to drive into the Bay Area early in the morning to farmers' markets isn't nearly as much fun. I'm not ruling out selling at farmers' markets, but I am interested in pursuing PYO because of the large number of varieties I grow. I have friends with a very successful 65 acre farming operation that is nearly entirely farmers' market and CSA oriented and they have told me that they would not want more than a few varieties as it's too time-consuming to explain differences to customers and difficult for them to decide. If I sell at farmers' markets, I will probably just sell them altogether, selling mixed baskets, and forget about even telling them the names.
I am considering installing an outdoor restroom (skip the bloody permits, it will be small enough to escape attention). On the other hand, I also have a service that would provide the porta-potty for $75 for a weekend.
I am considering charging a small to modest entrance fee and then encourage folks to eat all they want in the orchard. If they eat/waste 5 pounds of figs, that will be the exception, not the norm, I believe. Asking people to be polite and helping sustain our family farm is enough to prevent most of that. I believe the more people are able to taste, the more they will buy to take home.
Honestly, the biggest concern I have is some other figaholics coming here with the intent of taking cuttings from my trees. I may fence off a few trees to safeguard those or maybe relocate them to another area on my farm. At the earliest, this PYO fig operation will begin in 2015 so I have plenty of time to work out the details.