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food at haunt~ contract out or do in-house?

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  • food at haunt~ contract out or do in-house?

    I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences on food at the haunt. We plan on offering food and beverages but I'm not sure if it's worth it to do a contract with a company or do it ourselves. Since this is our first year, I'm thinking we have enough on our plates as it is, and we really can't be bothered with running out of Coke or hot chocolate in the middle of the night. If we do a contract, I'm also not fond of working out a deal as far as percentages go, since the vendor could always lie about that. Is it dumb for us to just tell them to pay so much per night and whatever they make they keep? If so, how much would be the going rate? Thanks in advance guys!
    ~nail in the coffin~

    **Crawford School of Terror**
    Connellsville, PA

  • #2
    Vendors

    We actually have a few vendor/food trucks that setup out near our waiting area - They handle everything themselves and keep whatever they bring in money wise. It's a win/win - They make money, we get happy customers that enjoy being able to get snacks while waiting - or when they are done.

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    • #3
      This was our first year offering food at the haunt and we had a food truck come in and took a percentage. We had lots of discussions before the season about doing it ourselves vs contracting it out and after the season we are glad that we had it contracted out. We took a percentage because we wanted to see how much they would sell in case we wanted to do it ourselves in the future. The result was that it wasn't nearly enough to justify the hassle if we had done it ourselves (permits, inspections, investing in the equipment, storing food, etc). Yes, they can lie about their numbers, but you can keep an eye on it enough to know if the numbers are in the ballpark or not.
      Mike Quill
      Fear Town Haunted House

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      • #4
        I don't look at "Food" as an income booster. I look at it like "can we do this feasibly and keep customers happy. If they get hungry or thirsty, it would be nice to be able to remedy that for them. " To me it's about keeping customers happy. With that said, I don't know if it's really worth it unless you're having solid lines with long wait times. If that's the case, I mean if you have room / ability for two people / windows at the ticket booth, by all means, sell some sodas and chips or something. (I wouldn't cook, too much of a hassle, but warm hotdogs are great fillers :P )

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        • #5
          We've had outside groups do concessions in the past; but we currently handle it ourselves and we keep it simple (nothing is cooked; we offer a variety of snacks, hot & cold beverages).
          Katie Lane
          Partner/VP
          Raven's Wolf Art Productions (www.ravens-wolf.com)
          sigpic

          Bansheette Morningstar (www.bansheette.com)

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          • #6
            We’ve done both methods. The food trucks are the easiest, but you don’t make much from them. We’ve simplified what we sell and it is profitable. It all helps with the bottom line. Soft drinks and water are very profitable and some nights we send someone out to the queue line with drinks for sale (a cooler in a shopping cart). We prefer not to mess with food, but we have sold the frozen White Castle cheeseburgers in two packs. We have a microwave on the counter and hand the two pack to the customer, they open it and place it in the microwave for about 30 seconds. We purchase the sliders from Sam’s Club in 16 packs. It does take time and energy to pick them up, but we found someone on our staff who shops at Sam’s and they pick them up for us and deliver them to the haunt. We’ve thought about selling other pre-packaged products (cookies, chips, beef jerky, etc) but replenishing stock takes extra effort and we’re busy with haunt operations.

            Your biggest profit opportunity is with ticket sales, but you can add to your profit margin with retail sales. Good luck with your decision.

            Kelly Collins
            The ScareAtorium Columbus

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