Food stall, help...how much stock?!?!?

[BionicJu]

Hi, we have no clue here regarding supplies to bring and need help please....so, we are providing food and hot and cold drinks at EcoFest next Sunday smack bang in the middle of Easter holidays! Last year it was after the hols and had 700 visitors. So how can we guess how many visitors there might be this year and how many will want our type of food?
There’s going to be a van outside selling hot Indian food and we are inside selling our usuals (we are a new business running a monthly cafe also private and business orders of everyday vegan cakes and savoury bakes so our customers come specifically to us for our goods rather than turn up and see what’s there like some visitors might be at EcoFest). We thought we’d also offer Buddha Bowls as a meal in a box but we really are having to guess on numbers here!
Does anyone please have any ideas on Easter quietness, sales to visitors ratio and anything else to help us, with thank you so much.

 

[Mr D]

No clue about the demand you usually get at events.

However its not numbers visiting you need to worry about, its those wanting to buy your products.
How many of those are you expecting? At other events or with your monthly café what percentage of people who are nearby will buy from you?

 

[MBE2017]

I wouldn’t personally have considered a show with only 700 visitors, not worth turning up, a market or road would have been busier IMO.

When I used to do shows anything under 50,000 visitors per day was not even considered.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Factors to look at

Visitor demographic

Location on site

Level / proximity /nature of competition

Then, of course, is the weather.

Best starting point is to talk to previous year vendors.

If possible you really need a back-up plan to get extra stock if demand exceeds expectations or to use unsold stock if it doesn’t.

 

[Mr D]

I wouldn’t personally have considered a show with only 700 visitors, not worth turning up, a market or road would have been busier IMO.

When I used to do shows anything under 50,000 visitors per day was not even considered.

We attend one with a couple of hundred visitors, have to get there early as our favourite cake stall sells out by 10.30am.
We only tried selling there once, our second worst selling day. Some of the stallholders will take hundreds of pounds an hour.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

The organisers may be the best people to ask

What percentage of the public by vegan food, you know the expected number of visitors so as a rough guide maybe 700 divided by the number of vegans plus a few extra's

The number of vegans in Great Britain quadrupled between 2014 and 2018. There were 600,000 vegans in Great Britain in 2018, or 1.16% of the population; 276,000 (0.46%) in 2016; and 150,000 (0.25%) in 2014.

Based upon that report from google you would expect probably 5% or less of the 700 to be interested about 35 people

 

[MBE2017]

We attend one with a couple of hundred visitors, have to get there early as our favourite cake stall sells out by 10.30am.
We only tried selling there once, our second worst selling day. Some of the stallholders will take hundreds of pounds an hour.

Just a comment from my own experience, nothing personal intended. I’m sure some stall holders would be happy selling a few hundred pounds per hour, I used to clear £10-15k profit in a weekend on large shows, but different lines and all that.

As pointed out probably 35-75 max potential clients based on normal stats, if the weather is kind.

Best of luck to the OP.

 

[Mr D]

Just a comment from my own experience, nothing personal intended. I’m sure some stall holders would be happy selling a few hundred pounds per hour, I used to clear £10-15k profit in a weekend on large shows, but different lines and all that.

As pointed out probably 35-75 max potential clients based on normal stats, if the weather is kind.

Best of luck to the OP.

I'm used to small shows and markets.
Been days with very low sales for us. And days where £300 taken in first hour.


My brother in law had a seasonal stand in a indoor market in a seaside town for years. He'd think nothing of taking a grand a day at the weekend though during the week the takings could be a lot lower.
The market probably had less than a thousand people come through it in a day, not in a high footfall area.

 

[BionicJu]

Great replies thank you, although some of you are automatically assuming that only vegans willl buy our food...our aim is to provide everyday cakes that are familiar and traditional and you’d never guess they had no eggs or dairy in them, either in looks or taste

 

[Mr D]

Great replies thank you, although some of you are automatically assuming that only vegans willl buy our food...our aim is to provide everyday cakes that are familiar and traditional and you’d never guess they had no eggs or dairy in them, either in looks or taste

Some have better sense of taste than others.

May not find it distasteful but detect a difference in texture and taste.
Its different, not bad.

 

[ecommerce84]

It’s a tough one with food - you need to take enough that you can actually make a good profit if the demand is there, but by the same token risk wasting a lot of food should the demand not be.

We’ve done markets where I regretted not making more as we sold out early and done similar markets where I’ve made the same amount and taken some home with me.

I would have thought 35 would be a fair number to aim for - that’s 5% of the attendees.

Without trying to stereotype too much, I think the percentage of Vegans at an Ecofest will be substantially higher than the percentage of vegans in the general population. And as you say, if your food is nice, people will buy it, even if they aren’t vegan. I’m not a vegan by any stretch but have enjoyed some very nice vegan food of late. Most of which from pop up stalls as it happens.

 

[CHUKTC]

Having run stalls at a number of festivals and events in the past my best piece of advice is look very closely at the weather - it can in my experience make a 10 fold difference to your sales. It can also affect what you sell - it its hot - cold drinks will sell a lot - if cold the opposite of course. Leave the final decision on stock as late as you can and get the latest forecast. Good luck.

 

[Financial-Modeller]

Tke enough stock that you can sell food to everyone who wants it, except one!