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Spring/Summer Carnivals/festivals

oh man your right down the street! a family friend owns Rabbits Bar a few blocks from you at Foster and Elston. I’m Tom, hope to see you soon.
 
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that would be awesome! ive heard stories of heavy pizza ovens bending the frames of trucks that weren’t sufficiently reinforces for the extra weight. make sure the guy that fixes up your truck knows what hes doing.
 
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As far as Credit cards, I don’t take them at events and none of the high volume operators I know take them. The reason being that your average sale is in the $5-10 range and you need to do many sales per minute during the pushes-such as when a concert lets out. The cards will slow you down and eat into your margin.
Most customers know to bring cash to an event and there is typically an ATM on site.
Place a sign on your booth that says sorry, cash only so that people don’t wait in line and the get turned away with the card. Consider vegetarian options at a world music festival. Don’t consider vegetarian options at a rodeo or car race.
 
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yeah im still torn…chicago is known for people not carrying cash ever…almost 75% of my sales are credit card…and %2.75 from square isnt so bad.
 
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Go to a few events in your area and see what the higher volume booths are doing regarding CC-i.e., the booths that have a line and are moving it. Talk to a few owners if they have time.
I haven’t done any events in Chicago since the late 90’s so my experience from that time wouldn’t reflect the present culture.
 
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pizza99 said:
Go to a few events in your area and see what the higher volume booths are doing regarding CC-i.e., the booths that have a line and are moving it. Talk to a few owners if they have time.
I haven’t done any events in Chicago since the late 90’s so my experience from that time wouldn’t reflect the present culture.
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oh duh! what a great idea! i should have thought about that.
 
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the festival was this weekend and boy what a bust! first things first I was told their was going to be 6 food vendors…turns out their was 12…i was told to expect to feed about 1000 people over 2 days…maybe i did 500 over the 2 days…needless to say i lost my ass…and we worked our butts off…I wont be doing a street fair again. im gonna stick to catering gigs and guaranteed money.
 
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That sucks, thanks for reporting back. I wonder if there’s a way to get a vendor agreement in writing. Anyone done one of these before?
 
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Bummer on the loss. Doubled the food court-yikes! Did you call them on it? I would explain to them that you came prepared expecting 6 booths and the additional booths diluted sales potential thereby causing you to lose money? Granted, it’s difficult to know what walk up ticket sales are going to be for a first year event so they get that wiggle room.
Some promoters don’t care and even know they’re throwing the food court under the bus. Sometimes newer promoters just don’t understand. Myself and some others have worked with newer promoters to find a food court that is properly sized. There are several unscrupulous promoters I know of that will often add a number of extra food booths just before the event when their pre-ticket sales are soft. You know how that situation ends. I’ve done one event with each of these clowns and won’t go back for more punishment. I often check in with the promoters a few weeks before the event to get an idea of ticket sales and final food booth count. Sometimes they’ll tell you, sometimes they won’t. The key is to find promoters with integrity that want to create a win-win where their food vendors make enough to return and there is sufficient diversity of product offerings.
It’s the nature of the business to loss at about 1/2 the new events-especially first year events.
It’s becoming so competitive on the West coast that I will jump in on first year events knowing that it will be a break even at best. The hope is the event will develop into a viable show after a few years.

Did you accept credit cards?

-I’ve never been able to get someone to list the booth count or menu exclusivity written into a contract. Verbal it is and if you don’t like it there is someone to take your place.
 
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Sorry to hear things didn’t go well for you. I have pulled out of events when I saw there were double the venders that I was told. There are only a limited number of dollars to go to food and it is not worth anyone’s time if there are too many people selling food.
 
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we did accept credit cards and about ten percent of the sales were credit. there is a trick to these kinds of things and i didn’t know it…the organizer told me to have small plates and offer little things…the thing with street fairs is you need big flashy things that gets peoples attention as the see them walking down the street. and they need to have high prices…their is only so much money walking on that street and you need to get as much as possible. The idea behind the fair was that they were only going to have local restaurants and vendors, people from the neighborhood. well i guess at the last minute the added about 5 other street fair regulars…that diluted the whole thing. all in all it was a good experience and the exposure was good…but i will not be doing it again.
 
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tguag said:
the thing with street fairs is you need big flashy things that gets peoples attention as the see them walking down the street.
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Corn on the cob and turkey legs at Taste of Chicago come to mind. Although I remember thinking, “the heat index is 110 and I’m packed in here like a sardine. Who the hell wants a whole turkey leg?”
 
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