Have you checked with the restaurants to see if they want them? At farmers market, many people don't even know what they are.
Ann

The high end restaurants I deal with like sunburst patty pan and green tint. Both are hybrids. Hybrids generally out produce the heirlooms 2x to 3x.

Both responses by anniew and ohiorganic are good to remember. You had better check with the restaurants and make sure that they will want your produce when it is ready. Even "Ready" will need to be predefined for them since they may expect delivery every week from June thru November. Also find out whether they will want it harvested at an immiture stage as a summer squash or at a fully mature stage. There are many newer hybrids that fit the first stage criteria better. And get a price agreement worked out to make it a worthwhile venture for you.

Personally I would diversify more in squash types to give you more security for the crop. Acorn types, including some of the fancy newer hybrids like Celebration are eye catchers. Butternut and Buttercup types are in demand in the late summer often. I've had early sellout of spaghetti squash, even though I planted twice as much as last year. Hubbard types are a staple for baking and pies; get some smaller fruited hybrids like Blue Magic for varied color.

If the restaurants are like most in our area they will likely want summer sqiash, preferaly 6-8" zucchinis, greens and yellows. I'm just saying this because I've been burned a few times by restaurant chefs, unsure of what they really wanted. One wanted a truckload of cucuzzi squash and decided to rehaggle over price upon delivery. Another wanted small pumpkins for soup bowls, but just for one week of the year. Be careful if you jump into the patty pan market with both feet.

Hi Michael,
I grew several varieties of patty pan this year and it is my first year as a market farmer. I grew the yellow sunburst and then a mix from Rebecca's Garden or Sheppard's can't remember which, which had the dark green, yellow and lime colored patty pans. I also grew two types of zucchini, one was a dark green and the other a gray stripe and then a golden zucchini. I also grew white pattypans (an heirloom variety), a papaya shaped summer squash and Lebanese coosa squash. The patty pans were extremely prolific! At first, I had trouble selling them. I had seen the baby squash at the grocery store for $3.99 for a package of about 10 of them. I harvested at various sizes. I found I had to educate people about how to prepare them. Many people seemed intimidated by the color, shape, etc. Many asked me what to do with them. I made a sheet of recipes for the patty pans for sauteeing the baby and mid-sized (3-4 inch) squash and for stuffing and baking the large squash. I also gave out free samples of fresh squash because I had so much. No one else was selling squash so I didn't think I was stepping on any toes. After two weeks of doing that, people started coming around and asking after the squash. I sort of had a reputation of being the man with the squash. I agree with the others about checking with your restaurant customers first too. Another note, on my zucchinis, whenever they would hide from me and then I'd find the huge ones, I put together some recipes for muffins and bread and a quick how-to for grating and freezing zucchini for use at a later date. I never had to take home an oversized zucchini after that. I also made bread and muffins myself and froze some of those for later use. The papaya shaped squash became a big hit when I showed customers how to hollow them out and stuff and back them as colorful and individual accompaniments to a meal. I plan on growing a few more different varieties of squash next year. I only harvested a few Coosa as I planted them later in the season but I always sold them. I enjoy talking about my produce and people like to talk about food. They also loved the idea of free recipes to take home and would often come back to let me know how it worked out. I can't wait for next year and squash is so healthy and low-fat eating!