Blog: Festival Food Vendors

FestivalNet

GET THERE EARLY!!!

There are some vendors who get to the shows very early and some who get there just minutes before the event starts. Since it takes us a long time to set up, we are one of the early birds. As time goes on, things can become more hectic by the minute. It's nice to get there, unload, park the vehicle and set up. Whatever works for you.

The squeeze. In a lot of events, a 10x10 space is exactly what you get. Your canopy is 10x10 and have you ever found yourself getting to an event where canopies are set up on each side of you and they have 'squeezed' you out. Like, you are short several inches which makes propping up your canopy difficult. One time in Clovis I arrived there somewhat late (coming from the Bay Area in the wee hours of the morning) and found that I only had about 4 feet for my space. Each space was supposedly 10x10, but a number of vendors used a 'few extra inches' and I ended up with that. They had to push their canopies over to allow me to get in. I must say that was not very easy to do.

Get to your event early. It's hell waiting at the end of a street for cars/vans/trucks to unload. Plus as time goes on, people do get stressed out. Also, if there are any problems with your space, etc., you can get things worked out a lot easier (if possible).

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The trailer food business is, by nature, a fusion business. It blends the best efforts of gourmet chefs with the street food medium. Yet some food trailers have taken the fusion concept a step further and created their menu with a blend of two or more culinary cultures. Here is a sampling of fusion food you can find in the mobile food scene in Austin:

The Peached Tortilla: Asian + Southern Comfort

Web:thepeachedtortilla.com

Suggested dish:Pad Thai Taco ($3) - Chicken or tofu sauted in a traditional pad Thai sauce, bean sprouts, peanuts, lime wedge.

Story:Former attorney Eric Silverstein was born in Japan. Having traveled throughout Asia to China, Bali and Singapore, he has been exposed to different cultures and foods from an early age. At ten, he moved to Atlanta where he learned about the sultry influences of southern cuisine. When he started his food truck concept, it made sense to mingle the best of both worlds and utilize both Southern and Asian cuisine with the tortilla as his pallet. Thus, the Peached Tortilla was born.

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I think every food concessionaire remembers his or her first event. Mine was with a stick joint made of scrap barn boards, screwed together on sight by my dad and me. It took all day and lots of hand tools to have it standing straight enough to throw a tarp over it and call it a food booth. Inside I had a folding table, folding chair, stack of napkins, cash box, and, a tall stack of coolers full of my one and only menu item: sliced loaves of banana bread. I knew it wasn't the perfect menu for a five-day Fourth of July event, but, since I was already baking loaves to sell to restaurants, it was easy to bake extra. Besides, what's not to like about banana bread?

In anticipation of sales, for a week prior to the event, I stayed up late each night baking bread in my home kitchen. By fair time I was ready with two freezers full of bread. I mistakenly believed I would sell every one of them. It's amazing now to recall how, back then, the health department was much more lenient in their food service licensing than it is today. By just answering a few questions, such as: "Is your dog an indoor or outdoor dog?" I was able to get a license to cook commercially at home.

I wanted a classy looking booth so an artist friend hand lettered wooden signs for me. On the front counter I plunked down a nice bouquet of flowers. I was set to make my mark in the concession business.

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Are You Considering Using A Daily Deal In Your Food Business?

Daily Deal sites like Groupon and Living Social have been around for a few years now. You've probably heard many arguments as to whether these programs are good for the independent food business owner. I admit that there are many pros and cons for using these and other types of coupon-ing or discount deal methods to attract customers to your business. I also think that the success or the benefit of using these programs depends on the preparation taken before you sign on.

The costs for taking part in a daily deal can be overwhelming for food business operators. Basically, if you choose to offer a daily deal, you will pay at least half of your sales to the Daily Deal companies. Then you must add-in any extra employees (yes, you may need this because many buyers will wait until the deal has almost ended before showing up-that could add up to a lot of extra customers in one or two days). Of course, you have your food cost to take into account as well. When you look at these numbers, you could view the daily deal method of marketing as a losing venture.

Do Daily Deals work for food businesses? It has been proven that you will increase the number of customers who will walk through your door. If you are not prepared for this onslaught of coupon- waving deal participants, it could be devastating to your business (as seen on the video).

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One of the most difficult challenges that new food concession operators face is how to find venues such as fairs, festivals, and other events and then how to convince the management of those venues that it is in their best interests to have them attend.

Fairs and festivals are always looking for new and somewhat unique items to have at their venue. After all, they want increased attendance and fairs and festivals that are always the same have a tendency to see attendance slowly drop from one year to next.

If you, as a new food concession operator, are providing nothing more than a "me too" menu with nothing new, exciting, or out of the ordinary, you will definitely have an uphill challenge to obtain space. New and exciting does not have to mean some exotic food, although a new or unusual food concept is usually a fair management grabber. It can mean a well or uniquely decorated trailer, or unusual outfits for the staff. Always be careful if you are trying to promote anything that is audio oriented, theme music can be a negative as far as some fair managers are concerned.

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If you own a mobile food vending truck, mobile barbeque stand, ice cream cart, small snack bar in a park, sell at a farmers market or participate in shows/festivals/ special events as a food vendor, then you are in food vending industry.

When doing research on the internet about food liability insurance or food vendor liability insurance you can find a lot of important information on forums, with questions and answers written by people like you. Let's then take a look into the most important details so that your food vending business brings you only profit and peace of mind.

First of all, let's establish what food liability insurance means. There are many types of insurance you may need for your food business, but as a vendor you will need liability insurance for sure! Even if you don't feel you are a huge liability factor, it's important to be prepared for any incident.

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