New Sole Source Contract for Sports park - what to expect?

Hi there! I've been lurking for a  while, having started doing food vending at events last year, mostly selling Italian Ice, but sometimes providing smoked turkey drums, grilled corn, etc. We fell ito an opportunity, and one thing led to another and we now find ourselves the (hopefully) proud owner of a sole source contract for a new community sports park opening in our small (100K) City. The park  (phase one) has two soccer fields and two baseball fields, and the business plan prepared by the city has and expected attendance use of 200,000 people per year. The contract is for one year, but renewable for up to 7 years. Our agreement  is to offer a varied menu including hot and cold foods. My husband and I have had some food preparation/sales , and considerable non-professional food hospitality experience, as we love to cook. We been selfemployed in the sign business, and know what it takes to run a business and ake a profit.

That said, one thing we're working through is what to expect in terms of sales. Several local concessionares have said they think we've walked into "a goldmine". Yeah, well, having been self employed for 23 years, we know there's no "free" lunch, are expecting to work hard and pay our dues. And in all this, we feel like we need to keep our expectations low, and approach it as a busines that needs to be built with great tasting food at a good value.

Our menu will consist of some ol' east coast favorites, philly steaks (complete with Amoroso's bread), pulled prok sandwiches smoked on a treager, kosher dogs and regular dogs, hamburgers. We plan to run occasional specials on items not regularly on the menu. (hot wings?) But really want to K.I.S.S. Maybe run limited menus on practise days, full menu on game days.

I saw that there were several posts by folks here that have sports concession sales, so I'm hoping to get some feedback and welcome any suggestions and tips. What seems to work well? How do you plan your volume on practise days, on game days and on tourney days?

Thanks in advance for anyhelp!
Pat

Neon---speaking as one who worked in Park and rec and maintained those sports pavillions for 17 yrs--i have a piece of advice--when putting your menu together--remember WHO will be there at these events--a lot of the folks that you will be selling to are ATHELETES---and though hot dogs-pulled pork and cheese steaks are fine for folks WATCHING the activities--the folks PLAYING in them are often VERY serious about thier sports--esp women softballers and soccer folks--they avoid heavy meals like the plague!!!---keep something light available---in our park one concessionaire reliazed this and satrrted offering chicken salad on cressoints---fruit and cheese plates--"energy drinks--smoothies and water---he cleaned up----mens softball players would eat anything---but tennis players --that's a different story----remember--anyone that takes the time to train and get into weekend tourneys is NOT you average roadfood/festival crowd customer!--Good luck!

Damn good advice Tiki.

Great advice! Thanks! I have been thinking of having a nice salad ion the menu, (maybe chicken with baby greens, sunflower seeds and cranberries), so you've confirmed my thoughts. Also am planning on smoothies.

The beauty of this contract is its flexibility. We can offer anything we'd like to, and see a demand for. Chicken salad on a crossaint is not quite "health" food, but can be very popular, so I'll keep it in consideration.

We picked up a line of sports drinks & organic fruit juices being sold under the brand Crayola. (http://www.drinkcrayons.com/)These are natural with added vitamins, so we're excited to see how they sell. Price point on them is not so great, but if the move, we'll have more muscle to get a better point.

neon--another thing that went really well--they had a large ice bucket filled with fruit---oranges-mandarines-peaches-bananas-plumes-melons-what ever they could get fresh and ripe---it went quick and there is very little prep and packaging to deal with.

Great idea! Thanks!

Sounds great. Only thing I'd advise you to consider is if you do this for a year and it works out, you'll do it for another. By 3 years out, if and when they bail on YOU, you might suddenly find yourself without customers and basically starting out from zero again.

In our industry, as others, this is known as "churn". We're all independent operators, so anything in life, an illness, the truck breaking down, any small normal aspect of life can cost you a job. That's one classic method of getting started is you contact the person responsible for every property you see a cart on and just tell them "if you need somebody else, just give me a call". That will result in business every time.

Another thing that seems to happen every time is every town or city job, you eventually run into politics or nepotism. You can build up a municipal location until all the risk is gone and one day you show up at your spot and guess what? It's the town councilman's cousin Joey set up in your spot! Guess what happened to your contract? It got lost. Hire an attorney. If you want to sue the town you work in, they are betting you won't.

To build both this opportunity and secure your future, you might be looking at running multiple carts with employees. Just don't put all your eggs in one basket without another basket around.

I learned this lesson in technologies but like many things I expect it crosses over.

  What on earth are you talking about lol! She is not running carts she has an opportunity to sell products in an establishment that already has foot traffic. Are you reading what people are typing??? Your comments about going to a location that already has a cart and tell the owner if you need someone else call me? Are you serious lol! That is the type of snake in the grass tactics that I dealt with in the vending industry. Straight out cut throat business. We bust our ass trying to get locations to grow and feed our family and we have to worry about low down snakes sneaking around corners seeing if we are not at a location for a day of whatever. I think it is time for me to take a vacation from this area of the forum and look elsewhere for a few weeks. Your advice..wow bothers me...

RoyalDogs jumps all over me and calls me a snake in the grass. Hoo boy, things are changing in Phoenix.

and not for the better.

Old Pete said:

1. We're all in this together.
2. Help somebody else where you can.
3. Everything we were taught was given to us.
4. Pass it on.

I would think outside the box a bit. Whenever I get to a big ball park I see the biggest lines at the "non traditional food"stands. Everyone knows about Dogs, burgers and nachos,pizza . I would do a different HOT WOK Special every night, sever a few salads, Crispy Chicken Caesar, Oriental Chicken salad, Mexican taco salad, lemon chicken greek salad. Italian Beef hoagies, Muffuletta Sandwiches, Greek Gyros and use Pita bread  triangles for the greek salad.  grilled Fish taco with a mango salsa, Cuban Sandwiches. Kalua Pig sandwich, I would find a local bakery for fresh made grinder rolls. Crispy Club sandwich Deep fried, Spring rolls with peanut dipping sauce, Shrimp Ceveche tostada, Shrimp taco with a tangy slaw. ........................If your going to do pizza then do a wood fired oven thin crust Italian pizza, it cooks in a few minutes ............I would think you want to be the best. Run of the mill food will not get you the "WOW" and if you get the WOW it will be a something you will be proud of. The whole thing about a GOLD MINE is, its just not piled in the cave for the taking, you have to work hard to get it....................Take care and good luck....Bill

BillyB


I would think outside the box a bit. Whenever I get to a big ball park I see the biggest lines at the "non traditional food"stands. Everyone knows about Dogs, burgers and nachos,pizza . I would do a different HOT WOK Special every night, sever a few salads, Crispy Chicken Caesar, Oriental Chicken salad, Mexican taco salad, lemon chicken greek salad. Italian Beef hoagies, Muffuletta Sandwiches, Greek Gyros and use Pita bread  triangles for the greek salad.  grilled Fish taco with a mango salsa, Cuban Sandwiches. Kalua Pig sandwich, I would find a local bakery for fresh made grinder rolls. Crispy Club sandwich Deep fried, Spring rolls with peanut dipping sauce, Shrimp Ceveche tostada, Shrimp taco with a tangy slaw. ........................If your going to do pizza then do a wood fired oven thin crust Italian pizza, it cooks in a few minutes ............I would think you want to be the best. Run of the mill food will not get you the "WOW" and if you get the WOW it will be a something you will be proud of. The whole thing about a GOLD MINE is, its just not piled in the cave for the taking, you have to work hard to get it....................Take care and good luck....Bill

 
This is so true.
Get away from main stream
Even hot and cold Hoagies,my area.
Different brings the person to try, this is their evening meal during the week.
Who is going the the sports field to watch a family member after work and then go home to cook. No way, no how. If you can grab them before they head home, they will stop at a fast food joint. Has anybody ever givin any thought to a pavillion, tents and all you can eat specials. Oriental is cheap and filling. Rice cookers no fuss. Pizza, salads,sandwich's and platters. Can work, as said, think outside the box.

Hey don't even need pavillon trailer opens into glass enclosed buffet. Grab them while they are there.
can see a future with this trailer.
http://www.trailertech.com/trailer.php?id=68

RoyalDogs


  What on earth are you talking about lol! She is not running carts she has an opportunity to sell products in an establishment that already has foot traffic. Are you reading what people are typing??? Your comments about going to a location that already has a cart and tell the owner if you need someone else call me? Are you serious lol! That is the type of snake in the grass tactics that I dealt with in the vending industry. Straight out cut throat business. We bust our ass trying to get locations to grow and feed our family and we have to worry about low down snakes sneaking around corners seeing if we are not at a location for a day of whatever. I think it is time for me to take a vacation from this area of the forum and look elsewhere for a few weeks. Your advice..wow bothers me...

I agree.  You don't ever call a property owner and say "Please kick your current vendor off your property so that I can prosper".....that is what makes people change their minds about being in this business.  If someone isn't doing a good job, then let them go out of business on their own and then go get that spot.  And what if you aren't any better at it?  That property owner is going to call others and pretty much screw you out of getting other spots.

If you were to do that in Texas, I wouldn't be surprised to see the health department at your cart everyday....that's how other vendors get back at you.  We take this business very seriously and things like this just don't happen.  Once you get a spot it is yours until you either go out of business, move on to a better spot, or cause problems and are asked to leave.  If you did happen to get an owner to give your someone's spot, then the other vendors would cause tons of problems for you.

OzDogs


Old Pete said:

1. We're all in this together.
2. Help somebody else where you can.
3. Everything we were taught was given to us.
4. Pass it on.

And as for "Old Pete", I think it is a bs marketing ploy on your part and not a real person.  You talk about his great advice and then post a message about screwing someone over.  What is wrong with you?  Most of your posts are centered around promoting yourself, your business, or "old pete".  I wouldn't take your advice if you were the only hot dog vendor left in this world.

To New people on this board:   The best advice is to treat others like you want to be treated...not screw others and try to make a profit doing it!  Don't listen to advice from people only out for themselves...they will lead your down the wrong path!

OzDogs:  Been self employed for over 23 years in the sign industry, and I know what it is to have others come along and work your customers / deals. I have always worked on the philosophy that if I provide a better product / service than the average guy, at a good value, then I can sleep at night and my business has survived all thecrazy economies (over time) through a wonderful word-of-mouth network. Gaining new clients by referral is the best compliment a business can have. I understand waht you are saying about politics and neopotism, I just can't controlthat. I prefer to spend time and energy working on the things I CAN control. In the long run, (and I may be nieve) I believe you get what you give.  And if you have a great reputation, word gets around, other opportunities make their way to you.

Billy B:  Thanks for the suggestions. I am planning a salad or two, Philly steaks with Amoroso rolls, Teriyaki burger (with Pineapple and red onion), Alpine Burger (swiss and mushrooms), Danburger (egg, cheese and ham)
Elvis Sandwich (PB and Banana in Banana bread, grilled), a Treager smoked Pulled pork sandwich , home made cole slaw, to name a few.  Also, we do plan on running special items during game / tourney events.

Curbside: Your so right, we need to develop a desire to eat there before leaving. Good food they can't get at the drive through. I love the link! Great trailer, just outa my budget   :-(

So, I just wanted to follow up with our Grand Opening. The day went pretty well. Friday rained like cats and dogs, and we were worried that it would do so on Saturday, at which point we figured no-one would show. Saturday came, and we had people at the window even as we were setting up. (Note to self, get there earlier!) We sold product for 4 hours, then the event was over and all went home. We were busy the entire time, with a 10 - 15 minute line for more than half the time. 

The trailer was a gem. I was concerned about using the layout for the best flow of traffic to make and assemble food. I think we chose well, and there were only a few times we really stumbled over each other.

Our menu consisted of Traeger smoked pulled pork sandwiches, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, Hamburgers (plain or with pineapple & onion, Mushrooms and swiss) Zesty Italian Sausages, Hebrew Nationals, Hand cut French Fries. Lemonades, Italian Sodas, sport drinks, coffee.

Sales consisted mostly of the dogs and burgers, with a dozen pork and sausages and only two steak sandwiches. Our dogs were priced at $2 and 1/3 lb 80/20 (all beef) burgers at $3.75,  Pork was priced at $4.5 and Steak at $5. Add a side of fries for $1. WE also had potato salad and homemade cole slaw ( no takers).

Our dogs and burgers we grilled, sausages we cut open and grilled on the griddle. POrk weas held in a steamer.
We sold 50 lbs. of hand cut fries in 4 hours, which surprised me. We pre-cut, soaked in water with lemon, then dried overnight in fridge. Used a mix 50/50 of canola and peanut oil, cooked at 365. They came out crispy and lightly brown. Pretty good.

We're in the process of getting the name and logo together, and I'd like to include some pictures of the trailer, but I need to figure out how to do that. (I had every intension of taking some at the event, but never had a chance to stick my head out the door! )
Anyway, still working out some smaller details, and tweaking some of the menu to encourage "meals".
Just wanted to let you all know we survived!

 

Congratulations sounds like you did very well. I'm glad for you.
Jack

neonlady






Sales consisted mostly of the dogs and burgers, with a dozen pork and sausages and only two steak sandwiches. Our dogs were priced at $2 and 1/3 lb 80/20 (all beef) burgers at $3.75,  Pork was priced at $4.5 and Steak at $5. Add a side of fries for $1. WE also had potato salad and homemade cole slaw ( no takers).

It is great that it went so well, and that you were so busy.  I think it would be a dream to get a job/contract with a sports complex for the summer.  I was reading earlier posts about other healthier items, and while I get where some people are coming from it figures that most sales are dogs, burgers, nachos etc. 

Why?

Because most people who are going to be out there are KIDS and get don't give a rats ass about health or frou frou foods.  They want hot dogs, burgers, pop, nachos and candy! and maybe a sports drink during the game.  Like someone mentioned earlier softball dudes (myself included) will eat anything.  My guess is that is most of your customer base consists of  some fat dudes who play softball,  a bunch of kid soccer players, kid baseball/softball players, and their parents. 

Burgers, Dogs, and Nachos baby!

Very nice 4 hrs of rush. 50 pounds of fries, wow sounds like very good numbers. I have never had pineapple on a burger; do a lot of people request that? Your menu is not super long, but you have all bases covered. Do you think you had more than enough food? I am sure if you wanted to, in that type of location, you can easily get $4.00 for the burgers and $3.00 for the Hebrews are they 7 inch dogs? What condiments do you offer in such a fast environment? Maybe an area with prepackage mustards and ketchups, relish and etc... I enjoy hearing about high density areas, none of that speratic traffic. One last question..  When setting up how much change do you have ready?  I am guessing $500?

Great opening day, Congrads to you and your crew.......It looks like the fries are a winner. The way most people do fresh cut fries are exactly the way your doing them. The only difference is they 85 to 90% pre cook them and finish them as needed. This may give you a better way of getting them fast and crispy. Looks like your burgers and dogs are another winner (are you doing any chili for the dogs) ??? This is a business that you live and learn. Whats nice is you could see what works and if it doesn't its gone.   I think your menu is covering all the bases, and thats good at a baseball complex. In your case Homerun..Good Luck..........Bill

On your pineapple do you marinate,soy or  teriaki such, and then grill them. Big hit here if I do burgers. And brush some more on as cooking,warming. Red onion, Also marinated,do you think price or no interest on steak sandwichs, your area not mine.. Right now my sales are at the medium and bottom end of menu board, percentages are there, it is sausage is the tall order and people buying dogs . Economy is my enemy at this point.
Like last summer , now oil down and expecting alot less travel over the holiday.
Glad to here things went well over all for the first time.
Funny, thought slaw would sell, potato salad to heavy for hot outside event in the heat.

Curbside Grill


On your pineapple do you marinate,soy or  teriaki such, and then grill them. Big hit here if I do burgers. And brush some more on as cooking,warming. Red onion, Also marinated,do you think price or no interest on steak sandwichs, your area not mine.. Right now my sales are at the medium and bottom end of menu board, percentages are there, it is sausage is the tall order and people buying dogs . Economy is my enemy at this point.
Like last summer , now oil down and expecting alot less travel over the holiday.
Glad to here things went well over all for the first time.
Funny, thought slaw would sell, potato salad to heavy for hot outside event in the heat.

Hey Curb, out in the Pacific Northwest I can't give slaw away. It kills me, I offer Fish, chips, and slaw and everyone says hold the slaw. same goes with BBQ pork sandwiches.................I grew up eatting slaw and love it...........I'm not sure if these people grew up with any of the foods like we find of the eastern seaboard. I grew up with all nationalities and tried all their foods and loved it all.....Bill

Neonlady and BillyB
I use a what they call Hot Slaw , my area , just like white BBQ sauce outside a 75 mi. radius cannot find the stuff. This is what they want, my area. not hot ,but tickles the back of the throat,on anything, Dogs,BBQ, Sausages. My Recipe secret. Never heard of the stuff till I moved here.  Fresh horseradish is the key. Horseradish in pickles also, here. Amish grow this and plentyfull. People like from other areas when they come here. Start a trend. Sells like crazy, people ask before they order, got slaw, O yah.

Neon Lady,

I sent you a PM about your trailer, I am interested to hear about it as I am in the market for a 20' kitchen. Drop me a line when you get a chance.

RoyalDogs


Very nice 4 hrs of rush. 50 pounds of fries, wow sounds like very good numbers. I have never had pineapple on a burger; do a lot of people request that? Your menu is not super long, but you have all bases covered. Do you think you had more than enough food? I am sure if you wanted to, in that type of location, you can easily get $4.00 for the burgers and $3.00 for the Hebrews are they 7 inch dogs? What condiments do you offer in such a fast environment? Maybe an area with prepackage mustards and ketchups, relish and etc... I enjoy hearing about high density areas, none of that speratic traffic. One last question..  When setting up how much change do you have ready?  I am guessing $500?

So I started thinking about it and realized it was 3 hours! 11-2pm. Ha! I guess with breakdown we left at 3pm, but the park event was over at 2. Yes, we were pumping out some food for a little while. :-)  The dogs are from Costco, so they are the smaller length ones, I think they're 5.5 inch. We offered onions and relish on the dogs for an additional .25 each. But to tell the truth, my helper was running the register, and I know he forgot to charge for the extras.

As far as the HB, I offered it with lettuce, tom and pickle if they wanted it, I'd dress it in house. We placed our ketchup / mustard / BBQ / malt vinegar sauces out on a condiment table at the end of the line, that way people could sauce as they like. Man did we run through some ketchup! These were all purchased in quantity size containers and filled to plastic squeeze bottles (except the malt vinegar). I felt the cost savings awas worth it to buy bulk.

I started with $270. in cash, 100 $1's, $100 in 5's and $50 in 10's. Also $20 in quarters.  Cash went well, and had plenty of change.

Curbside Grill


On your pineapple do you marinate,soy or  teriaki such, and then grill them. Big hit here if I do burgers. And brush some more on as cooking,warming. Red onion, Also marinated,do you think price or no interest on steak sandwichs, your area not mine.. Right now my sales are at the medium and bottom end of menu board, percentages are there, it is sausage is the tall order and people buying dogs . Economy is my enemy at this point.
Like last summer , now oil down and expecting alot less travel over the holiday.
Glad to here things went well over all for the first time.
Funny, thought slaw would sell, potato salad to heavy for hot outside event in the heat.

We used a teriyaki suace on the grill, but i think it would have been great to pre-marinate. Just didn't think of it with all the other prep. And the red onion is how I normally prepare it, just forgot to get some ahead of time ;-(

I'm not sure if the lack of sales in steak is due to price or lack of knowledge of product. This is definately a product that will require some marketing. Once people have it, they love it. But it is an east coast item, that only people from there would recognize. It will be a signature thing for us, as I plan to really hang in there with it and in the longhaul, and be the only game in town.

I think the low end of the menu will always sell, especially in these times. But if I offer better than average mid and high menu items, I know people like to  treat themselves occasionally, so we'll be there for them :-)

Pat, I just want to say 2 things:

#1:   I truly wish you well.  You sound like you're well-grounded for this business.  Way to Go!

#2:   I'm so happy to see that,  the first menu item you mentioned,  was Philly Steaks.
         The Cheesesteak is a MUST in a concession menu.  I was thrilled to read your post.

Again,  all the best from me...a real cheesesteak fan!

neonlady

RoyalDogs


Very nice 4 hrs of rush. 50 pounds of fries, wow sounds like very good numbers. I have never had pineapple on a burger; do a lot of people request that? Your menu is not super long, but you have all bases covered. Do you think you had more than enough food? I am sure if you wanted to, in that type of location, you can easily get $4.00 for the burgers and $3.00 for the Hebrews are they 7 inch dogs? What condiments do you offer in such a fast environment? Maybe an area with prepackage mustards and ketchups, relish and etc... I enjoy hearing about high density areas, none of that speratic traffic. One last question..  When setting up how much change do you have ready?  I am guessing $500?

So I started thinking about it and realized it was 3 hours! 11-2pm. Ha! I guess with breakdown we left at 3pm, but the park event was over at 2. Yes, we were pumping out some food for a little while. :-)  The dogs are from Costco, so they are the smaller length ones, I think they're 5.5 inch. We offered onions and relish on the dogs for an additional .25 each. But to tell the truth, my helper was running the register, and I know he forgot to charge for the extras.

As far as the HB, I offered it with lettuce, tom and pickle if they wanted it, I'd dress it in house. We placed our ketchup / mustard / BBQ / malt vinegar sauces out on a condiment table at the end of the line, that way people could sauce as they like. Man did we run through some ketchup! These were all purchased in quantity size containers and filled to plastic squeeze bottles (except the malt vinegar). I felt the cost savings awas worth it to buy bulk.

I started with $270. in cash, 100 $1's, $100 in 5's and $50 in 10's. Also $20 in quarters.  Cash went well, and had plenty of change.

I would be pissed if someone charged me for onions and relish for my dog..... The Hamburger gets all dressed up for no charge. Lettuce ,tomato,  pickle How come the dog gets a raw deal.....???????????????????   Bill

Thanks Tommy, fellow east coaster have been commenting how they've been waiting for a good cheesesteak place. I've been concerned that I'd not be able to have the one important ingredient, Amoroso Bread. But since we've been able to get it, it's amazing how good they taste! Crazy how a simple thing like the right roll makes or breaks a sandwich!

Anyway I think I've figured out how to up upload pics. Someone gave me a pic of us setting up, so I'veincluded that.