Event update and question

Hey all,
I meant to post sooner, but got a bit tied up.

Ok the event, ggrrrr... well first event, no where near as good as I had hoped. It was a 2 hour drive away, we love to camp so we stayed at a campsite each night. We were told that it was going to be 3-5K ppl, no where near close!!!!

We paid 250 to get in, plus 10%. We had a blast but by the time we paid the fee and the 10%, plus gas, and camping cost, we barely broke even.

We ended only doing 1,000 in sales the entire weekend. We were told we were going to be the only hot dog vendor there and that was not the case there were 2 of us.

And we got a spot that was so so far away, that the other hot dog vendor had a mcuh bigger advantage. However; I spoke to that owner and he didn't do well either.

It seems none of the vendors did as well as they had hoped, and the event coordinators definitely underestimated the attendance, lesson learned I guess.

My next question would be: I see a lot of post about getting products sold in kitchens... how do you go about doing this.
How did you approach the owner etc. I am an awesome cook (biased I know), and would love to get the opportunity to put some of my stuff in a deli or available for the public.

Any suggestions?

Any suggestions on events???

The economy is really starting to worry me, sales are way down!!!

Sorry to hear that the event didn't produce the sales volume you had hoped for But thankfully you didn't go into the hole, except for the time and effort spent.

When you are talking about becoming a food supplier to retail outlets, there may be -- depending on your state -- a much stricter set of regulations and inspections. In fact it could involve getting your kitchen and your prepared food approved by a different agency than the local and state health departments; frquently the state Dept. of Agriculture may have that level of food inspection jurisdiction. So, take your proposed plan to the local health district and ask them what would be involved.

Now if you are using and working in the kitchen of the store that will carry your items, then that becomes a whole lot simpler.

If your running events, you need to look deeper... There's plenty of low cost ones out there, with equal, if not better head counts. That, and don't count on the lone hot dog for a living.. Make it different, like a corn dog or something. That and there's many other unique food items your could easily market from your cart or wagon.

quote:

Originally posted by brainfreeze

Any suggestions on events???

If you feel like dealing with the Michigan Health Dept, here's one that 50 bucks will buy ya 2 days of vending (camping included).. (And they already have a hot dog vendor, so like I said, it has to be unique).. I'm still 50/50 on working this event, but I've heard it's a riot out there! (Located south of Grand Rapids, MI).
http://www.cowpiebluesfestival.com/vendors.php

Edit: I contacted these folk, and they said last years head count was around 2500, but it's been growing each year.. Simple math told me 2800 to 3K for this year, just FYI.

I was hoping to work from a commerical kitchen, that way I didn't have to get my personal kitchen permitted!!! Which is highly unlikely since I have dogs!!ggrr. :)

I am pretty new at the actual hot dog cart thing, any suggestions on what I can do to make my cart unique!?

quote:

Originally posted by brainfreeze

I was hoping to work from a commerical kitchen, that way I didn't have to get my personal kitchen permitted!!! Which is highly unlikely since I have dogs!!ggrr. :)

Generally speaking, personal kitchens are not permitted to be used as a commercial kitchen anyway. Even if you are using someone else's commercial kitchen, you may still have to obtain permitting, including Haacp planning, for items you want to have someone else sell for you.