Carnival Press

Introduction: Starting a food concession business is easy. However, starting and operating a successful concession business can be deceptively complex. There is good news! You can let me help you level the playing field and reach your profit potential quickly by benefiting from my experience. I'm Barb Fitzgerald, a concessionaire, a consultant and a best-selling author. In case you didn't know, earning a full-time income from a part-time concession is not the typical outcome for most concessionaires. In fact, from what I've observed, most new concessions fail within the first year. It is because information about starting a concession business is so scarce that new concessionaires must learn the business gradually and "by feel" during the critical period when they are also competing against experienced vendors for events, booth space and customers. How will you benefit from my mentoring service? The following are the benefits: * Determining if the concession business is right for you * Brainstorming menu ideas * Acquiring a booth and designing your equipment and layout * Analyzing event availability or discovering licensing regulations * Putting together a business plan * Evaluating the feasibility of your plan * Analyzing why your existing concession doesn't make as much money as it should * Learning how to avoid some of the many common newbie mistakes If you need an advice about anything concession related, I'm likely your gal. If not, I'll say so. Yes, it is possible to earn thousands of dollars in a matter of days with a food booth. No, this is not a get-rich-quick scheme. If you've ever been to a fair, festival or special event and have seen the lines of hungry people waiting to buy food, common sense tells you that operating a food booth is a viable way to make money. You've seen with your own eyes the relatively small investment, the low overhead costs, and the high volume of sales. What you can't see is how these businesses came to be. Now you can! Success comes only with proper planning, execution, and an understanding of the unique marketing dynamics of the midway. I've absorbed an enormous amount of information about the food concession business on a long road traveled since starting my own concession business in 1984. In route, I've co-chaired a position on the Oregon Food Services Advisory Board, founded Northwest Vendors Network Association, and authored "Food Booth, The Entrepreneur's Complete Guide to the Concession Business." Though my experiences are different from every other vendor out there, I consider my overall perspective to be typical and therefore relevant to vendors entering the field.