Who has 'Been There, Done That'

Greetings to all: I would like some feedback as to how well we are or are not doing from those of you who have ‘been there, done that’. My wife and I are in our early 60’s and raise about 200 head of cattle on 600 acres. Last December I bought a used factory made concession trailer and we are now selling concessions on Saturdays to supplement our income. I bought a factory made 1998, 7x12’ trailer set up to sell primarily hot dogs & chili/cheese coney’s. I had to do a little work inside and added a frozen slushee machine. I have about $5,600 total into it.

So far we have worked the last 6 Saturdays at 1 day craft shows, car shows and small town festivals within 50 miles of home. The attendance is normally from 1000 to 2000 people. We sell ¼ lb hot dogs for $3.25, chili cheese coneys for $4,00, nachos for $2.50 frozen slushees in special ½ yard glasses for $5.00 and 20oz bottles of pop for $2.00. I have figured our food cost and marked everything up at least 3 times. Our average show will last about 9:00am till 5:00 or 6:00pm or about 8 or 9 hours. After 6 shows, our gross averages about $1,100 and our net profit after all food cost, entry fees, fuel and other expenses will average 55% or around $600 for the day.

Since we have never done this before, I don’t really know if that is good, bad or about average. I thought those of you who have run concession trailers might be able to give me an opinion and maybe suggestions. We will normally sell about 75 dogs, 30 coneys, 50 slushees and 150 bottles of pop. I wondered what we should expect in the way of sales for a 2 person operation and if anyone has any ideas to improve our operation. I apologize if I have been long winded but I have been reading this forum since I came up with the ‘Weinee Wagon’ idea a year ago and it’s been a big help. Thanks in advance to all.

Mike S.

Thank You for "Laying it all out there'. I'm sure there are people on here who can help you. In my limited knowledge, based on attendence figures, a 55-60% net is pretty good. Sound off Roadfooders Who has 'Been There, Done That'?

I'd say your in the heart of the district. Your food cost, entry fees, fuel and other expenses, seem to be in line and a days labor allows you to put a nice hunk of change in your pocket. Good for you.

I'm curious though how much time you put in before the weekend picking up supplies, running errands, and after the event cleaning up your rig for the next event? Besides those normal chores the bottom line is are you happy doing what your doing and do you feel good about your profit after you do an event?

I recently raised some of my prices only because I felt my profit on some items just wasn't enough. Those item were making me money but I thought they were worth more than what I was charging and now I feel better about selling them.

In my mind there is no normal magic formula when it comes to your profit margin, it's what you feel your product and time are worth. If your food is good and your service is good, your reputation will grow with each event and if your happy with your pay check, (55% or around $600 for the day) don't worry, just stand on it.

Jack

quote:

Originally posted by Dr of BBQ

I'd say your in the heart of the district. Your food cost, entry fees, fuel and other expenses, seem to be in line and a days labor allows you to put a nice hunk of change in your pocket. Good for you.

I'm curious though how much time you put in before the weekend picking up supplies, running errands, and after the event cleaning up your rig for the next event? Besides those normal chores the bottom line is are you happy doing what your doing and do you feel good about your profit after you do an event?

I recently raised some of my prices only because I felt my profit on some items just wasn't enough. Those item were making me money but I thought they were worth more than what I was charging and now I feel better about selling them.

In my mind there is no normal magic formula when it comes to your profit margin, it's what you feel your product and time are worth. If your food is good and your service is good, your reputation will grow with each event and if your happy with your pay check, (55% or around $600 for the day) don't worry, just stand on it.

Jack

Thanks a lot for your reply. We don't spend a lot of extra time. I have set up an area in my shop so between shows I just pull in and plug in. We have a freezer and fridge in the trailer so we keep the food products in the trailer all the time. I also have shelves built for paper products and canned goods. We order from a wholesaler that delivers and even puts the stuff on the shelves or in the trailer for us. My wife spends about 2 or 3 hrs after a show cleaning and inventoring. Then we will spend another hour or 2 getting ready to hook on and leave before each show.

We do enjoy doing it, maybe because it is something new but I admit, at 62, we are tired when the days over but that won't kill us. The thing that made me think we aren't doing something right is that I talk to other vendors at the shows or on line and they talk about $2,000 or $3,000 days. Of course it is always some other show and it is none of my business how they just did at the show we were at. When we have a $1,000 day we feel like we have done about all the 2 of us can handle and I was concerned that maybe our prices were too low. Of course the $3,000 might be BS also, kind of like catching fish. I figure if we can make an extra $2,000 a month, that ain't chump change this day in age, at least to us. Anyway, thanks for your reply because we just didn't know what to expect.

Mike S.

quote:

We do enjoy doing it, maybe because it is something new but I admit, at 62, we are tired when the days over but that won't kill us. The thing that made me think we aren't doing something right is that I talk to other vendors at the shows or on line and they talk about $2,000 or $3,000 days. Thanks for your reply because we just didn't know what to expect. Mike S.

I have had $3000.00 plus days but not with just two employees. And you have to remember that vendors are liars by nature. They lie about how much they made to other vendors and how little they made to the IRS.
Good Luck
Jack

Mike,

It depends on your goal. For 2 people you'll tend to find $1,000 days enjoyable and $2000 days very hard work and not much fun.

How many customers would you say you serve per 8-hr day and what is the average ticket? The most I've ever served per hour as a 2-person crew was 100 customers for 2 hours.

I'd say an average of 30 customers per hour over 8 hours is a nice pace, but getting 240 customers out of the 1000 or so in attendance seems very high.

Personally I think $600 for a day is not that good. But, if you enjoy it and it provides you with the extra income you NEED then by all means it is working for you. I hope to still be able to do this at 62 so my hats off to you for that. The numbers in attendance are small as well so that makes your earnings look that much better. We try to get festivals with 20+k people. You might try adding iced tea, its almost all profit much better ROI than the sodas. Good luck to you

quote:

Originally posted by scali71

Personally I think $600 for a day is not that good. We try to get festivals with 20+k people. You might try adding iced tea, its almost all profit much better ROI than the sodas. Good luck to you

So how many people work with you and what do you consider good for a single day or two day event?
Jack

Rootsman, 100 people in two hours with two people? Come on, pick it up.. lol. Last week I sold 500 dogs, brats and burgers in 2 hours. Three of us workin our asses off for sure, but it can be done. I cooked dogs for like 1500 people in about two hours, but with a ton of volunteers. With event business, if you need to serve something you can put out almost immediatly while collecting the cash and then move the people along. A long line is only good if it is moving fast. Konnie, $3000 in sales is a lot especially with only dogs, and when the weather gets better and you can hit some bigger events, you will make a killing with the slushies. Your sales will go up exponentially (is that right?) with warmer weather, though hot food sales can go down slightly. The slushie machine can take two people to operate alone(depending on the unit). I have a Hawaiian Ice shaver and I have three people working when a long line gets going. One person to just shave the block of ice into a cup and pass it to the syrup guy, who gives it to a customer. Another person just takes the orders and the cash. Gloves are for sure nessessary for the syrup and ice guy, and there is no time to change gloves between orders, so another guy has to handle the money. You may want to get another person to help. I get 3 bucks for an 8oz. bowl with a spoonstraw. It costs me about a quarter and that's being extra generous with the syrup. Good luck. Ed

holy makeral i am in the wrong business! lol
those are good numbers, i dont care who you are.
in my past restaurant, the bbq. we had days of well over a thousand. our record was near two, i think. but that was with a preordered catering gig. now, with the new place, very very new, like one month open, we are busting our butts for like a couple hundred profit a week. give us time, right?
well, we had this one day, it was a sat. we were slammed with coupons, and still we netted only 3hundred plus. and we were beat up!.

its a whole lot harder when every item is cook to order.
next time, its a weenie car for me. ima coming, cowboybob..
peace out

As far as the number of people we have from 3 to 5 depending on the size of the event. We just did a 300,000 person event over 3 days with 5 of us. We worked our butts off. We sell kettle corn and drinks so our profit margin is higher than hotdogs or sandwiches. For a single day $2k+ in sales is what we shoot for. After, food cost and entry fees, and misc expenses we still have 70-75% margin.

quote:

Originally posted by Dr of BBQ

quote:

Originally posted by scali71

Personally I think $600 for a day is not that good. We try to get festivals with 20+k people. You might try adding iced tea, its almost all profit much better ROI than the sodas. Good luck to you

So how many people work with you and what do you consider good for a single day or two day event?
Jack