The Census Bureau's County Business Patterns for 2023 counts 26 establishments in food manufacturing in the city of Richmond, 17 of them with fewer than 10 employees, including 11 in bakeries and tortilla making and 6 in coffee and tea manufacturing. Tax adds a wrinkle: the Department of Taxation says the Central Virginia rate is 6 percent, but an in-state dealer with a place of business here follows different sourcing rules from an out-of-state seller who ships into the region. This page sets out the Richmond food maker count, the 6 percent rate and its parts, the sourcing rule and a tiered sample plan that keeps the offer small.
Count what a sample costs you landed: ingredients, the wrap or bag, the label and the postage it adds. A maker among 26 food manufacturers in the city can often run a sample for a few dollars, and the cost sets how many tiers you can afford.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau: County Business Patterns 2023, county file (Richmond city, Virginia, FIPS 51760)
Use two or three tiers, such as a sample at one spend level and a second sample at a higher one, and put every condition in the first line of the banner. The FTC guide asks for the terms of a free offer to appear at the outset, not in a footnote.
Source: eCFR: 16 CFR Part 251, Guide concerning use of the word Free and similar representations
Place a test order to a Richmond address and to an address outside the Central Virginia group. The Department lists 6 percent for Richmond City and 5.3 percent everywhere else, and an in-state dealer follows the sourcing rule in the 2020 bulletin, so read the tax line each time and keep a screenshot.
Source: Virginia Department of Taxation: Retail Sales and Use Tax
The festival's site lists the 2026 dates, Oct. 9 to 11, and no 2027 dates, so check it before you plan a 2027 offer. When the dates are posted, run the sample tiers for those days and tell visitors the festival is free, with no tie to your brand.
Source: Richmond Folk Festival: official site (2026 festival)
Compare the share of orders that reach each tier and the repeat orders from sample buyers over the next two months. Keep alcohol out of the plan unless you have checked the shipping rules separately, because they are outside this page.
Build it with the Gift tiers template.
Requires: Growth plan or higher.
Eleven bakery and tortilla makers in the city is a field where a first order is a sample of the whole line. A bakery that ships a box can add one individually wrapped item at a spend level, and name the item in the banner so the terms are clear at the outset.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau: County Business Patterns 2023, county file (Richmond city, Virginia, FIPS 51760)
Six coffee and tea manufacturers are counted in the city. A roaster can use the lowest tier to add a small sample bag of a second origin, which costs a few dollars to roast and pack and gives the buyer a reason to come back for the full bag.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau: County Business Patterns 2023, county file (Richmond city, Virginia, FIPS 51760)
A Richmond maker with a place of business in Virginia is an in-state dealer, and the 2020 bulletin sources its order to the place where the order was first taken. A maker based in another state who registers to collect Virginia tax ships under destination sourcing instead. If you move your studio or add a pickup point, ask the Department which rule applies.
County Business Patterns counts 26 food manufacturing establishments inside the city limits, so a store here is likely to share its market with other makers; as planning advice, a free sample of the product is a low-cost way to earn a first order and a second.
County Business Patterns 2023 counts 26 establishments in NAICS 311, food manufacturing, in the city of Richmond, of which 8 have fewer than 5 employees, 9 have 5 to 9 employees and 7 have 10 to 19.
U.S. Census Bureau: County Business Patterns 2023, county file (Richmond city, Virginia, FIPS 51760) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The same county file counts 11 establishments in NAICS 3118, bakeries and tortilla manufacturing, and 6 in NAICS 31192, coffee and tea manufacturing, in the city of Richmond.
U.S. Census Bureau: County Business Patterns 2023, county file (Richmond city, Virginia, FIPS 51760) (accessed October 10, 2026)
Tax Bulletin 20-8 says that from Oct. 1, 2020 the sales and use tax in Planning District 15, which includes the City of Richmond, is 6.0 percent: 4.3 percent state, 0.7 percent Central Virginia regional and 1.0 percent local option, and that the regional tax does not apply to essential personal hygiene products.
Virginia Department of Taxation: Tax Bulletin 20-8, New Regional Sales and Use Tax in Central Virginia Region (August 10, 2020) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Department's retail sales and use tax page lists a 6 percent general rate for the Central Virginia group of localities, which names Richmond City together with Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent and Powhatan, and 5.3 percent everywhere else.
Virginia Department of Taxation: Retail Sales and Use Tax (accessed October 10, 2026)
The 2020 bulletin sources a remote order to an in-state dealer with a Virginia place of business to the place where the order was first taken, even when the goods are delivered elsewhere, so its example of a store in Rockingham County shipping to New Kent County is taxed at 5.3 percent, and it sources a registered out-of-state seller's shipment to the destination.
Virginia Department of Taxation: Tax Bulletin 20-8, New Regional Sales and Use Tax in Central Virginia Region (August 10, 2020) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Richmond Folk Festival's site lists the 2026 festival as Oct. 9 to 11, 2026, calls it a free three-day event on six stages along downtown Richmond's historic riverfront, and lists no 2027 dates.
Richmond Folk Festival: official site (2026 festival) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The FTC's guide on the word free, 16 CFR 251.1(c), says all terms, conditions and obligations for receiving the free item should be set out clearly and conspicuously at the outset of the offer, and that a footnote reached by an asterisk is not disclosure at the outset.
eCFR: 16 CFR Part 251, Guide concerning use of the word Free and similar representations (accessed October 10, 2026)
The Census Bureau's Vintage 2025 estimate for the city of Richmond is 237,257 people, up from an April 2020 estimates base of 226,522.
U.S. Census Bureau: Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places (Vintage 2025, SUB-EST2025) (accessed October 10, 2026)
The city of Richmond has 59.925 square miles of land area and 2.644 square miles of water area in the Census Bureau's 2025 Gazetteer file.
U.S. Census Bureau: 2025 Gazetteer Files, Places (accessed October 10, 2026)
Not tax advice. Confirm current rules with the state revenue department before you rely on a date or an exemption.
Requires: Growth plan or higher.
