Vending first festival, a few questions
 

I've read through the threads here, and have seen how people are coming up with total number of customers, (In my case, organizer says 5000-7500 people, so I'm using 6000, divide that by 2, and then divide that by number of vendors (6) for a total of 500 servings)

So I have potentially 500 servings. We're planning on doing PP sandwiches, PP plates, and PP nachos. How do I determine how many of each product to plan for, and how do sides figure into it?

I'd much rather sell out than bring food home.

Thanks for any help!

Anyone?

I'm in the same boat as you. Trying to figure it all out also for my first festival.

I was keeping on eye on your thread hoping someone would respond to yours.

Your numbers are not bad.
May i suggest losing the nachos and plate and just sell sammies with a side option?
Lower food cost, less waste and a faster flowing line.

We had to give a menu in advance, so it's too late to change that now. Since we have the 3 main products, is there any way to figure out how many of each item to prep for, or is it as simple as dividing total number by 3?

Okay. They can not do anything if you "run out" of something. Guesstimate your nacho chips and cheese from that.

For sides I would get 4 or 5 #10 cans of Bush's beans. Open the next can when you are about half way through the last can. Add your BBQ sauce and some PP to the beans. Sams has some decent potato salad. You can dress it up with some bacon, extra pickles, or nothing at all. The key is not to serve it out of the tubs you buy it in. I like small bags of chips. I would sell them for a dollar so that they run out for sure.

If your food is good, it does not matter how much you make, it will go. If the going is too slow.... samples or more smoke in the air. Both work.

I'd say divide by 3 or maybe a little less than that. Pork is cheep so cook extra to have enough to cover all your costs. Don't forget to figure your size of bun, bigger bun will take more meat. But you don't want to go smaller than the other vendors.

Great info! Thanks for the help!!

great advice from all above. I've catered several large events but never a festival. Very wise choice on pulled pork. super easy to hold and keep warm and very flexible on the presentation (nachos to sammies).

I think the smartest thing said on the whole thread was by OP. "i would rather sell out than bring food home". It's a festival. It's all about making bank and not about customer service. I say go heavy on sammies on small buns and plan to run out of the fringe items early.

Good luck

and I would add that beans are a tough item to serve at a festival- Too messy. I would do finger foods only if you can. Beans are a great catering food normally because they are filling and cheap. Was only thinking of the way people eat at festivals- standing up with their hands.

I do a similar size event every fall and it runs from 11am-5pm and I go through about 30 butts, 2 briskets, 2-3 gallons of each side plus same amount of slaw. Don't know what to tell ya on the nachos except maybe have enough for 30-40 orders maybe.

Thanks for the additional tips. The good thing about the beans is that we're going to cook them one can at a time, so we'll never have too much. If they don't sell, we just won't make anymore.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Good luck!

Good call. that works. Good luck! I can tell you one thing for sure, you are going to need a nap after and your feet are going to hurt like hell for about 3 days :)

Good times though