Posts Tagged ‘ice’
Flash Equals Cash in The Concession Business
January 31st, 2011 | 
Author: Below is Part 5 of the email I received from Dave, an experienced and successful concession vendor. He has a lot to offer and gives me motivation and hopefully you as well. He discusses how important it is for your stand or trailer to look good and offers some sage advice. Here we go:
As you can see, it had a graphics wrap on it for Blue Bunny Ice Cream. It looked really good. I thought to myself, why not look into getting a graphics wrap done for lemonade? With lemonade, you don't have the benefit of aroma like you do with donuts, so you really need to draw people in with their eyes. And, as I said earlier, FLASH IS CASH. So I found a graphics design company that did vehicle wraps. I told them that I wanted a wrap that would make people thirsty for lemonade. $3600 later, this is what my trailer looked like:
You may say $3600 is a lot of money to spend for something like that, but I look at it as an investment. It will draw me more business, and pay for itself over and over again over the years. I opened that trailer on August 15th of this year, and grossed more on my opening day selling JUST ONE ITEM out of there (lemonade) than I did on opening day with the donut trailer back in 2006, selling a whole menu. Because my donut trailer wasn't flashy, and you couldn't see from afar what I was selling.
Here's what the inside looks like now. I picked out some nice formica at Home Depot and had my dad build me a custom counter top. I installed the sinks myself, and have the squeezing station to the right of them.
Here's what the trailer looks like when it's in operation:
Notice the basket of fresh lemons on the counter. I have my staff wash the lemons and fill up the basket, and leave the basket out on the counter where people can see that yes, we are using fresh lemons. It is a visual that helps entice people to want to buy a lemonade. The concession business is all about tickling a customer's buying bone! Each lemonade uses just half a lemon, some simple syrup, ice, and water. I get $3 for a cup. HIGHLY profitable. I literally just stock the trailer with ice and lemons at the beginning of the morning, let my staff do all the work, and collect the money at the end of the day. I have never worked that trailer myself. It gets so busy on a hot day that I have to staff it with 2 people.
I was reading on your website that you were considering trying to get into a Memorial Day celebration to sell mini donuts. Let me caution you that mini donuts are NOT a warm weather item. My sales on donuts could go down as much as 50% on a hot day. But because of the way I have my menu structured now in that trailer, I always bring home a consistent income because on those hot days when I sell less donuts, I'll sell a lot more smoothies, canned beverages, bottled water, iced tea, and iced coffee. If you do decide to go the concession route with the mini donuts, I'd strongly suggest getting a tent setup. Buy a small cargo trailer, inside of which you could fit your tent poles and equipment. Get a professional looking tent with some good graphics on the outside of it from a company such as this:
You can get a business logo made for cheap at www.thelogocompany.com. Keep your outfit very professional looking!
Put the donut machine in an area up front where people can see the donuts being made. If you are able to attract people to you with a flashy tent, and they become captivated with seeing the donuts being made fresh, they will be more likely to buy. And don't be afraid to give free samples!! I would probably even sell more donuts if people could see my machine making them. Unfortunately, the setup of my trailer prohibits that. But if I were to do it over again, I'd do it differently, and make sure that my donut machine is very visible to the public. And if I were you, I'd consider offering a good warm weather item along with the donuts to drink. Bottled water is a must, but also maybe do fresh squeezed lemonade... it's easy enough to do and VERY PROFITABLE. Also, the smoothies are easy and profitable (Island Oasis is a good national company to work with). Just add ice and smoothie mix and blend (and if you are doing this, be sure to get a GOOD blender.... a $350 Vitamix is what I have, and it pulverizes the ice into almost a fine dust, to make my smoothies super smooth). If you want good product, and repeat customers, you have to have good equipment. People ask me how I keep my coffee so hot... I tell them I have good coffee makers, and good airpots. Being successful is all about pleasing the customer, and getting repeat business. But if you are going somewhere for the first time, you really have to draw them to you with flash, and then WOW them with quality. They will then remember you when you go there the next year. Don't expect to make it big right away. Every business takes time to build. The concession business has been very good to me, and I plan to make a career out of it. Good luck, and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Take care,
Dave
Thanks Dave!!!
Posted in catering business, Concession Business Testimonials, concession cart, concession equipment, concession stand ideas, concession supplies, how to start a concession stand, ice cream concession, Lemonade Stand | 
Tags: blue bunny ice cream, concession business, counter top, customer, donut, equipment, Flash, formica, graphics design, home depot, ice, ITEM, lemonade, lemons, opening day, repeat, sage advice, staff, trailer, vehicle wraps | 
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Concession Vendor Advice Part 3
Below is Part 3 of the email I received from Dave. I am posting it for everyone to learn from, with his permission.
It didn't start off easy for me at the flea market. My first week, I paid $125 in rent and took in $148 from sales. It was hard for me to sell the donuts. People didn't know what mini donuts were, and to be quite honest, I don't even know if people knew what I was selling. I would put a sample cup of donuts on my coffee table to try to sell them, but still, I would only move maybe 10-15 bags (I sell them in bags of 13) in a day. I started up my ice cream machine, and blew the whole flea market out of power two weeks in a row. There wasn't enough amperage to run it, come to find out. I was told I couldn't run it off the flea market electricity, and would have to use a generator if I wanted to sell ice cream. I didn't want to bother with that, so sold the machine back on ebay. I only had 6' under my fume hood to work with, and there didn't end up being enough room for both my donut machine and the fryolator where I was going to fry the ribbon fries. So I had to pick either ribbon fries or donuts, and I chose donuts because basically it's an early morning market and I thought they would go better. Sales for year 1 were bleak. I thought I was going to have to go out of business. I was discouraged, but figured I'd keep plugging along. Year 2 came and went, and my numbers had improved some, but still it was not to the point where I wanted it. I tried adding menu items like cheese steak sandwiches and sausage and pepper sandwiches, to increase revenue. I found that there was a lot of waste with those items (rolls can only be re-frozen so many times, etc.). Plus, mark up was only 100%. I was putting $3 into a $6 sandwich.
For year three, I decided I'd focus on my most profitable items, and market the hell out of them. Donuts cost me 50 cents a bag to make, and I get $3 for them. Smoothies cost me $1.12 and I get $3.50... an airpot of coffee costs me $1.13 to brew, and I get about $10 out of it by the time it's sold. I called up my smoothie company (Island Oasis) and asked for any free promotional material they could send me. Companies like this often give away their promo material, because they know it's going to help you to sell more of their products, so it will bring them more sales in the long run. I got a nice tin sign, a huge banner, and a menu board with changeable flavor slats from the smoothie company. Then, I went to decalzone.com and ordered some big, bold 9" lettering that says FRESH MADE MINI DONUTS. I noticed that my trailer was the only trailer at the market that you couldn't see what I was selling from across the field. I wanted to change that. I put up those letters above my windows so you could read it from across the field.
Here is a picture of my trailer after making those improvements:
Simplifying my menu to include only a few items (my most profitable ones) allowed me to streamline operations and to serve customers faster. My business really started to pick up. I think that people really didn't know what I had up till that point. So take that as a lesson... people must be able to see what you are selling from afar. When people buy your products, they must be something that makes them want to come back. I serve the only brand name coffee there... Green Mountain. I bet I sell more coffee than all the other food vendors combined. People love it. My mini donuts are good because I try to look into any problems people may bring to my attention. For example, Little Orbits says to fry the donuts at 375 degrees. The fact of the matter is, the cool donut batter cools down the oil if you set the machine at 375, so you are actually probably frying at 10 degrees below that for most of the time, since you are constantly depositing cool donut batter into the oil when running the machine. The trick is to set your temp knob half way between 375 and 400. That way, when you factor in the cooling of the oil from the batter, you are actually frying at around 375. If you fry at too low a temperature, more oil gets absorbed into the donut and it comes out greasy. Also, it is best to use oil that is solid at room temperature to fry the donuts in. I use Wesson MFB Shortening. It is a little harder than Crisco in consistency. I melt it down in my hot fudge warmer, which I keep behind the donut machine, and ladle it into the trough as the level gets low. If you use oil that is liquid at room temp, more of the oil will get absorbed into the donut. People don't like greasy donuts!
Thanks again Dave! Tomorrow Dave will talk about about how many bags of donuts he sells in a typical day, how to start your day off as a vendor and some advice on signage for you trailer.
If you are interested in starting a concession business, you owe it to yourself to check out the mobile catering site, where it discusses
1. The tools, techniques and strategies of how to easily plan your mobile catering operation to a point that practically guarantees your success in getting financing to start your new venture no matter what your background or history.
2. How to find the perfect catering unit that will not only last for years to come and pass all health checks but also attract huge numbers of paying customers from far and wide to buy your food and snacks at the prices you choose.
And Much, Much More!
Posted in catering business, Concession Business Testimonials, concession cart, concession equipment, concession supplies, how to start a catering truck business, how to start a concession stand |
Tags: business, cheese steak, coffee table, Concession, donut, donut machine, ebay, flea market, fryolator, fume hood, ice, market electricity, mini donuts, oil, ribbon, smoothie, steak sandwiches, time, trailer, Year |
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Email from a Concession Vendor
This is part 2 of the email I received from the concession vendor who sells everything from donuts to ice treats. He gives some advice on where to respond to ads and mentions a website that he uses and had success with. If you are interested in the selling your donuts concession style, you really owe it to yourself to check out the site mobile catering business... don't let the word "mobile catering" confuse you, it is just another way to say concession business.
Here is part 2:
Another event I did my first year with the ice trailer I saw an ad for in the newspaper "Vendors wanted" for some fall festival. I called about it, and they wanted $500 for the weekend. I thought "wow, $500... this must be HUGE!" I was all excited. I paid the $500 and secured myself a spot. What a disappointment that turned out to be. I think there were about 30 vendors, all set up in a semi-circle, and I doubt if 100 people came through there all weekend. I did $180 in business over two days after paying $500 to get in there. Plus, I took time off from my regular job so I could do this. A huge waste of time and money. So that was a costly lesson for me... do not respond to newspaper ads looking for vendors! If the event is any good, they won't need to be advertising in the classifieds for vendors.
I also placed an ad on this website:
I have actually gotten calls from this ad from various organizations wanting to hire me to do events. The ad listing on that site is free by the way.
So now it's 2006, and I had varying levels of success in 2005 with the Italian ice trailer, and being the entrepreneur I am, I was itching to expand. I had been selling plants at a local flea market for the garden center I work at for a couple of years, and noticed that they had several places selling egg sandwiches, but nobody selling mini donuts. There was also no brand name coffee there, no ribbon fries, no smoothies, no clam chowder, and no soft serve ice cream. So, I figured I'd start a trailer selling just that. This is New England's largest flea market by the way... we have 400+ vendors on a typical sunny summer day. It has been in operation since 1975 and is very well attended. When I first approached the market manager with my idea, he told me he was not allowing in any more food vendors. But I was persistent, and finally he asked me to submit a menu. He approved it. So now I had to find a trailer, and buy all my equipment. After all the trouble I had buying that used Italian ice trailer on ebay, I decided I wanted one that was brand new. I found a guy who built new trailers and sold them on ebay for pretty cheap. I drew out a plan, and sent it to him. He did a lot of hair-brain things, didn't wire the circuits how I had specified, gave me a 30 amp service when I specified I needed a 50 amp, and improperly installed my roof top AC so the roof leaked before the first year was even over. He is going by the name AFFORDABLE CONCESSION TRAILERS on ebay now... out of Huntingdon, PA. I'd steer clear of him. This was all back in the day when credit card companies were giving out credit cards like candy, so I would get 0% balance transfer offers in the mail, and would just keep taking out new credit cards and transferring balances. And if the 0% time would run out with one card, I'd simply take out another card and transfer the balance to avoid any interest. I drove myself into about $25K worth of debt with this second trailer, all on credit cards, and because of the way I juggled my balances, I ended up paying less than $100 interest on all that borrowed money.
I use a Little Orbits donut machine. The other brand you might get is a Belshaw. The main difference is that the Belshaw is belt driven (donuts brought through on a belt) and the Little Orbits is current driven (donuts float on oil, and flow through the machine on current). The main problem I find with the Little Orbits machine is that, if the oil level gets too low, the donuts will not go into the flipper baskets, and things will get backed up. They call it a fully automatic machine, but in reality, you can't take your eyes off it for too long.
Here's a video of me making donuts, and you'll see one donut that doesn't quite make it into the flipper basket, and I have to help it along with my wooden stick:
Thanks Dave for all the first class advice you have given to me and our readers. Looks like you really know this business! Be sure to visit tomorrow for Part 3 of his email. Yes, it is quite an extensive email, thanks again Dave!
Posted in Uncategorized |
Tags: business, catering, catering business, Concession, concession business, disappointment, donuts, egg sandwiches, event, flea market, ice, italian ice, name, semi circle, time, time and money, trailer, waste of time, way, weekend |
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Walking the Walk – Actual Concession Business Testimonial
Hi Everyone,
I wanted to share with you an email that I received from one of our blog readers... I am posting it here with his permission. I think our readers will gain a lot from his experience in the field. It is a lenghtly, informative email so I am going to break it down into 3 or 4 sections posted in 3 or 4 days. Hope you enjoy. Below is discusses how he got started and a little advice for setting up your trailer. A lot of people reading this blog are interesting in selling the donuts concession style, for example at flea markets and the like. If you are interested in doing that, there is a great website that will basically "hold your hand" and teach you the ropes in explicit detail, head on over to:
I don't do a lot of promotion of the site, except in the forums I've added a banner.. but it truly is a good resource. Here is Part 1 of the email, thanks again Dave for your excellent advice! I have found (and as I have told Dave) that people in the concession business are so secretive with their information so this is a rare glimpse in someone that is actually walking the walk.
Hi John,
I have been in the concession business since 2005. I started with my Italian ice trailer. Actually, that trailer I originally intended to be a full service ice cream shop on wheels. I went and bought a used soft serve ice cream machine on ebay, a flurry machine, milk shake machine, hot fudge warmer, etc. I had bought the trailer used on ebay also, sight unseen, and had it shipped to CT from Minnesota. It got here, and was in deplorable condition. Nobody ever caulked the seams in the roof, and for years, water had leaked into the roof, down the walls, and completely rotted out the floor to the point that the plywood actually came up in handfulls. This trailer was advertised as "could use new linoleum". Yes, it did need new linoleum, but it also needed new floor framing and plywood! I was busy trying to get the trailer in order before my first event, and time was ticking. I had to have it ready for a certain date because I was supposed to be selling at a blueberry festival. Well, I didn't have all my ducks in a row with the ice cream stuff, so I just ended up putting one of the freezers back in there after repairing the floor, and did Italian ice only at that first event. It was a two day event, and I took in $650 in two days. I had never made that much money that quickly in my life. From then on, I was hooked. I decided that the Italian ice went so well, and was rather simple to do, so I would just make it an Italian ice trailer... forget about all the ice cream stuff.
This is a picture of that trailer on my first day of business:
It looks a little different now. I've found that "flash is cash". The more flashy your trailer is, the more it will catch people's eye and make them want to buy from you. Especially if you are a travelling unit, where people really don't know you or what kind of product you sell. You have to attract them to you with flash.
It takes time to build a good route for a concession trailer. I still don't have every weekend booked during the summer months. I have found some events that advertise 10K people, and I doubt if they get half that. So if I don't do good, I don't go back. And some events keep changing their weekend from year to year, so it will conflict with something else, and then I'll have to choose which one to do because I can't be in two places at once. So my schedule always varies to some extent every year. I think it's always a good idea to visit an event first before putting up money to vend there. See what you think of it, and if you think it would be worth while. Do they get good foot traffic? What other vendors do they have selling similar merchandise? How many years have the existing vendors been vending there? If they are repeat vendors and have been vending there for years, chances are it’s a good event for them. A bunch of new vendors is indicative of high turnover because vendors are unhappy and don’t return.
Be sure to come back tomorrow for Part 2 of His email... he will be talking specifically about his experiences on getting into festivals and the like. He will also be talking about his experiences with a popular donut machine. Don't forget to check out the website Concession Trailer Business, it is an excellent resource for those interested in the concession business, also called mobile food trailers.... ( I didn't know that either)
Posted in catering business, Concession Business Testimonials, concession equipment, concession stand ideas, concession supplies, concession trailers, how to start a catering truck business, how to start a concession stand |
Tags: blog, Concession, concession business, concession trailer, deplorable condition, ebay, event, explicit detail, ice, linoleum, money, plywood, rare glimpse, service ice, soft serve ice cream machine, time, trailer, trailer business, walking the walk, weekend |
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