Vending at Fairs, Festivals and Events

Concessions, and how Not to get booked.
Gallery
Concessions, and how Not to get booked.

Concessions, Vendors

Concessions, and how Not to get booked.

Being a concessionaire is a tough business. There is a lot of competition. Getting booked is hard work and there are always a lot of new concessions coming along. If you do NOT want to get booked follow these rules 1) send an email with just a link in it to a website or YouTube channel - with no verbiage in the email. It sorta looks like spam and more than likely whoever it is that you are sending it to will not open it. 2) have an icky-looking old-fashioned funky website. Having a website like this - that looks like a magazine old-fashioned ad certainly will help you not get booked. 3) sending a video that has a cute dog or kids or showing you handshaking a crowd is certainly not relevant to what you do. These days having a very unprofessional video is a sure way not to get you booked. 4) don't send pictures of your product. You don't want to get booked so why send pictures 5) send a lot of junky emails - why send one professional well-written email with a video or proper pictures, when you can send lots of short choppy incomplete emails and bombard the person who is doing the booking right? 6) send the fair or event a picture of a hamburger. They probably have never seen one and maybe they will be thrilled by the photo, right? Okay, enough of the nonsense - realistically - send one professional email. The more professional the better. An appropriate video showing your booth and set up and you at the event with crowds would be appropriate, pictures of the same would be good, and a menu and a picture of the inside of your booth would be nice. You might also mention briefly some of the events you have done. And, if it should be the first event you are applying for? All of the above apply, just because it might be your first event - does not mean you do not have a chance of getting booked if your email is professional. It's like applying for a job after all. Concessions Booking Tips: Crafting the Perfect Professional Email Visual Assets: Enhancing Your Concession's Appeal

By Karen|2024-02-29T11:49:36+00:00May 15th, 2012|Concessions, Vendors|0 Comments

Would you like to be a food vendor at festivals?

Have you ever had the idea that maybe it would be a good thing to try to be a food vendor at a festival or event? It is hard to get started and the rules are all but overwhelming. In this interview I talk to Kurt of the 4th Avenue Merchants Association in Tucson and Mia Hansen of Tucson Meet Yourself. We talk about how to get into a big festival if you are a new food vendor. They say that you should contact the person running the festival who should be able to help you through the maze of regulations. Listen Here!

By Karen|2024-02-26T10:29:44+00:00August 31st, 2011|Arizona, Concessions, Festivals, Food, Vendors|0 Comments

The Ultimate Guide to Face Painting Fun: Unleash Your Inner Artist

One of my Face Painting boards Some of the best times I remember from being a commercial vendor for many years have been while face painting. Kids love face painters. Maybe it has to do with the face you are drawing and marking on them and at home that of course is forbidden. Most parents enjoy this also. In the past, I have face-painted bald men with beards, boyfriends, toes, and bellies. I remember distinctly on one occasion face painting a whole family - it was the seven-year-old's birthday and she wanted everyone to have a face paint. At the first event I remember doing there was another face painter. It was my first time and I was a little nervous. Things went fine until toward the end of the event when some of the parents came yelling at me. There was another face painter there who was using permanent magic markers. They were very upset that the drawings would not come off. Me? I was just using acrylic paint at that time. Unlock Your Inner Artist: Dive into the World of Face Painting! Now when I face paint I use FDA-approved face paint. You can buy this at Michael's or a Hobby Store and sometimes WalMart. It's nice stuff, like cosmetic makeup. The girls also like glitter on their face paintings. It also nice if someone had a camera to take a picture of the finished face painting Some of my favorite face paintings were Batman (if I had a dollar for every Batman I painted now - I would be rich), hearts with rainbows, unicorns, watermelon, Santa, Rudolph, pumpkins, spiders, snakes, Betty Boop, Sponge Bob, apples with a worm, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Ariel, and Scooby Doo. Remember you can paint other places than on the face, I have painted on legs, toes ankles, bellies, bald heads, fingers... shoulders - anywhere that is visible.

By Karen|2024-03-03T15:14:14+00:00August 22nd, 2011|Face Painting, Vendors|0 Comments

Knott’s Celebrates Pink’s Grand Opening

Knott's Celebrates Pink’s Grand Opening. February 22, 2010 -- Knott’s Berry Farm will celebrate the grand opening of the world’s famous Pink’s Hot Dogs at Knott’s Berry Farm’s Marketplace on Sunday, February 28. For over 70 years the family-owned Pink’s has had crowds lined up around the corner just waiting for a taste of one of their delicious chili dogs, and now this delicacy has finally come to Orange County!

By Karen|2024-02-27T08:59:08+00:00February 23rd, 2010|California, Concessions, Hot Dogs|0 Comments