Starting a new pizza and hot wing concession stand....have a couple questions.

Hello all, I am in the process of starting my first concession business. I have purchased a 20' concession trailer custom built to my needs but i have a couple questions. First, what is the best way to come up with the cost of your items? Second, if there is anyone from Phoenix, Az here, is there a size limit to selling on the side of the road? I have a couple venues setup to do weekend events, but i was thinking about setting up in a commercial area during the week for lunch and i don't know if i would be allowed to do that with a trailer of that size?
Eric

I not trying to be mean, but I would think that you would have already researched food cost and profit ratios prior to purchasing a trailer. There are a lot of variable that go into food cost and profits based on the cost of the main food items and the condiments that compliment it. A job place to start is a local wholesale clubs like Sam’s Club. Breakdown your menu into components and price each component. Once you have the total cost of building the menu item then start looking at what kind of profit you can achieve. I have found out that some items are just not feasible to sell because by the time you add you profit you item is too over priced to sell competitively. The old school standard was to mark up the item 3 times the cost. (3.0 markup)  I know from experience that pizza is a good item to sell especially if you are selling by the slice. I sure wings are also good if you can buy enough in bulk.
The main thing to remember is that you have to be competitive. This is especially true if you are selling roadside.  At festivals you have to figure in the cost of the event into your price. If you pay $200 then you need to divide that amount by the number of items you think you are going to sell and add it to the price. One of the problems we face is getting to a festival and someone is selling a similar item for less. In this case you have to adjust your price then determine if you want to return to this festival next year.  
Setting up on the roadside depends entirely on your local laws and regulations. You may have several government entities that you need to satisfy prior to operating roadside. Size should not matter, in Atlanta we have everything from small trailers to full side catering trucks that operate in the city.
Also visit your local eateries to see what they charge for the items you wish to sell.  If a local pizzeria is selling cheese pizza by the slice for $3.00 make sure that you can sell yours for close to the same price and make a profit. We quickly found out that we could not sell hamburgers and make a profit. By the time we purchased everything needed for our burger our cost equaled what you could buy one at the local fast food joints.

Thank you Jody for your reply.....I guess I should have clarified myself a little better, i have gone to the local wholesale companies and have figured out how much it is going to cost to build my product i just didn't know exactly how to figure up your markup on the items... but thank you very much for your insight it is very helpful.
Eric

Welcome to Roadfood Eric!
 
If you have not been in touch with these folks already...it would be a good idea to do so. They can inform you about the curent status of the landscape and you can become a member...
 
http://phxstreetfood.wordpress.com/
 
Are you planning on whole pies by the slice or both?

mainly by the slice....but i will sell a whole pie.....thank you for the link i will get a hold of them

Pizza is usually not  on x3 cost factor. Higher than that...even though and especially if it is fresh with top-shelf ingredients and can compete with market value. There is not too much to go into a pizza in terms of cost....even with quality ingredients at bulk rate. Labor factor yes. Nothing like a set of hands to make or break a pizza.
 
Market value in your area is  whole pie brick & mortar establishments. Here there is much more competition and a much bigger draw for pizza...and pizza by the slice is very popular in this area. But as with the case of pizza slices and hot dogs in general...you will find the price to be lower per slice or hot dog here vs. other places. There is a pizza truck in NYC that does $1 slices. They have volume volume volume...so that is there angle. Compete with fast food hot dogs on the street with the low price per slice.
 
I found one place in your area that had by the slice plain cheese at $2.75. I don't know how good that pizza is....but there are several locations so they are doing business. You have to have a whole pie price (if you will be selling whole pies) and come up some on the per slice price.
 
Hard to ask...so how good is your pizza? You will not say...eh. What is your pizza like compared to the other pizzas sold in the area? There are some designer pizzas in the area.