pizza concession

[holdem]

Anyone have any experience running a pizza concession business at fairs and festivals?

[Pete-zza]

holdem,

From my reading at the PMQ Think Tank there are many pizza operators who sell pizza at concession booths at fairs and festivals because it is a good way to get new customers to try their pizza (usually slices but also whole pizzas). Usually the issues are what types and sizes of pizzas to offer, equipment requirements, and whether the pizzas should be shuttled from the stores to the events or be baked fresh or use "bake to rise" pizzas, or reheat the pizzas, or use par-baked crusts. There are also related fees/license/health deparment issues.

If you go to the PMQ TT forum at http://thinktank.pmq.com/viewforum.php?f=6 and use the search feature (you may also want to search the archives), you should find quite a bit of information. You might use the terms carnivals, fairs, festivals, booths, concessions, etc. If you are thinking of mobile units (vehicles) from which pizza is sold, you can search for information on those also. I suggest that you use both the singular and plural forms of those terms to be sure that you catch everything.

This article may also be helpful in terms of general information: http://www.pmq.com/mag/200609/article.php?story=portablepizzerias.

Peter

[Aximili]

Holdem;  I have worked 2 different kinds of consession events for Papa Johns.  At both we sold 16"  pepperoni or cheese pizza's  cut in 8 slices for I believe 3.00$ a slice.  At one we had ushers in the stand selling out of party hotbags, and the other we had a stand.  Needless to say the ushers sold more pizza, but they also took a comission.  at one event we shuttled pizza's from the store, which is effective if you are 10 minutes from the stadium or less, however for the other we brought out the "Mobile Pizza Kitchen"; a triple stack propane oven in a trailor.  It was the most awesome pizza experience I have! Myself and 2 other GM's pumping 78+ pizza's an hour for 3 hours, but I digress.  Your main concern will be the availiability of a quality portable oven, and your distance from the event.  Good luck.

[wildfire]

We branched out several times into this.  It is a major pain, just be forewarned...