What is the Best Food to Sell at a Festival or Fair?
What Foods Sell Best at Festivals or Fairs?
When the crowds hit the busy fair and festival scene, they bring an appetite for some of the best concession foods available! In order to be the concession stand that takes home the highest sales, you’ll have to be prepared.
What are the best foods to sell at festivals? Which items are in high demand? Does it pay to think outside the box?
Answering these questions can be the difference between generating average sales and record sales. Here’s the industry insight that can help you shape a winning fair and festival concession stand strategy.
What is the Best Food to Sell at a Festival?
Ask almost anyone, and the most popular fair food will be fried foods. This is a growing food type ranging from corn dogs and funnel cakes, to now fried avocados, fried Coke, and more. If you can eat it, chances are you can fry it. Customers will love the creativity and the fact that it is made and served fresh. The variety of foods that can be fried allows you to keep costs low while still providing value, making it a profitable opportunity.
Challenges for fried foods can be the actual equipment. Keep in mind in many outdoor locations, you will need to have a gas fryer, as there may not be electric available.
What’s the Easiest Fair Food to Sell?
Some of the easiest foods are those that can be prepped in advance and packaged for quick grab-and-go convenience. That can include popcorn, caramel corn, cotton candy, and nachos. It will help to keep your lines moving and minimize the labor necessary to serve your customers. They can be conveniently carried around by customers as well.
Another option is to use custom packaging to make foods from your fair booth recognizable. It gives customers something to look out for as they browse the offerings.
Traditional Favorite Fair Foods
There are tried-and-true favorites that your customers can rely on. This includes hot dogs, corn dogs, funnel cakes, and Saratoga Swirls. Foods that add to the fair atmosphere yet are easy-to-make are a win-win.
Keep these regulars on the menu, as they are reliable. That said, you can still find ways to dress them up and make them your own with different toppings. Pair hot dogs with chili, corn dogs with nacho cheese, or dress up funnel cakes with whipped cream and a cherry.
Creative Carnival Food Ideas
Putting something new and innovative on your menu can attract attention. Bubble waffles are imaginative and fun, coming in savory flavors like nachos stuffed with cheese or sweet tastes like red velvet or birthday cake topped with sprinkles. These foods will stand out. When other guests see customers eating them, they’ll be intrigued. It takes fair foods to the next level!
Introducing a new item means keeping a careful balance, as it can be uncertain the quantity of orders that will come in. Help encourage new orders by offering bite-sized samples. But don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Depending too much on one item isn’t wise. Make sure to give attention to promoting other menu items too.
The best foods for fairs and festivals are the ones that will work best for your customers! The great news is that there is plenty to explore and even new items yet to be imagined.
Learn more about food vending and how to be successful. Plus enjoy exploring recipe ideas!