Looking for concession stand nutrient ideas with loftier profitability? Each of the card items on this list is designed to generate between 50% – 70% profit after food price and labor. This margin is a welcome change for many eatery industry veterans that might be accustomed to generating 33% turn a profit (or less) per detail.

With a bit of inventiveness, you don't need to rely on the ideas like kettle corn either (although this approach continues to work well). There's plenty of tired off-white and carnival food out there that can be updated and refreshed to appeal to the new-historic period consumer. My goal with this slice is to give you some creative ideas that y'all can employ in your business organization correct now to amend your lesser line.

Table of Contents

  • High-Margin Ingredients
  • High-Turn a profit Concession Stand up Food Ideas
  • How to Come up up with Creative Concession Menu

High-Margin Ingredients

The best concession stand ideas aren't a cloak-and-dagger. They're right in front end of yous at every fair or sporting event attend if y'all're paying attention. The staple ingredients that make winning concession stand items must be both appealing to the public and cheap to purchase in majority.

Here are the staple items that brand up the virtually assisting concession stand menus. You can get creative with any of the post-obit cadre ingredients to develop a product with a 50% or higher profit margin:

  • Potatoes
  • Popcorn
  • Ice foam
  • Dough
  • Tea
  • Coffee
  • Shaved ice
  • Corn dogs
  • Cookies
  • Tacos
  • Nachos

If yous've been in the industry awhile, you could take probably guessed these ingredients on your ain. Each of the staples can exist purchased in bulk for low prices. From a labor and nutrient prep standpoint these ingredients are depression endeavour items to make. Finally, each of the core ingredients above have a relatively long shelf life. This adds upwards to less nutrient waste and more profit.

Related Reading: Food Berth Vendor with xx+ Years Experience Shares Concession Sales Secrets

Now that you know the ingredients that make up high-margin food products just your imagination is the limit the new items you lot tin can come up up with.

High-Profit Concession Stand Food Ideas

Popcorn

Estimated Cost: 5o lb bag tin can be purchased $35 – $40

Retail Cost: $7.00 for a handbag of kettle corn or popcorn (depending on size).

How to arrive work: Popping corn is a timeless concession particular with incredible flavor flexibility. By volume, popcorn is the most popular snack food in the U.s.a.. You can store popcorn safely for months in a dry environment and it'southward a depression hazard nutrient item making it platonic for concessions.

Some of the common flavors you've tried include butter popcorn, toffee, and caramel corn. But yous can get a lot more than artistic with flavor combinations with popcorn to create something heady for guests. Some ideas include rosemary parmesan, olive oil and garlic, taco, BBQ, and chocolate covered kernels. Learn more about what information technology'south like to operate a kettle corn business here.

kettle corn

Fresh fabricated kettle corn.

Cookies

Estimated Cost: viii lb Pre-made Cookie Dough Batter for $twenty – $35.

Estimated Retail Price: $one per cookie or up to $20 for a bucket.

How to arrive work: Offering fresh baked cookies to consumers will ever be a winner. You can lodge loftier-quality cookie concoction from any eating place supply company and then all you need to exercise is broil the production and serve.

Popular gear up-fabricated flavors include chocolate chip, peanut butter, and sugar cookies. You tin can doc these recipes to make them your ain past ordering plain cookie dough and adding ingredients. Some options include added Reese'due south pieces, G&Ms, nuts, and other flavors commonly constitute in baked goods.

Tea

Estimated Toll: $28 – $100 per pound.

Estimated Retail Cost: $2 – $6 per unit depending on size.

How to go far work: Ane pound of tea leaves yields 200 (vi oz) cups. Even if you invest in higher-cost teas there's plenty of room for turn a profit. According to reports, millennials (people born from 1981 – 1996) are drinking more unique flavors of tea, especially iced teas. At that place'due south still increased consumption of the drink in the western world with tea sales doubling in contempo years in Canada.

You lot only need to look as far as Starbucks to see that iced tea's and fusion drinks are becoming more pop, especially in the afternoon when java is not enjoyed as often. Custom flavor ideas for your concession include strawberry basil iced tea, ginger detox, peach, or a mint lime tea cooler. You tin can discover all sorts of recipes for these complimentary online.

Gourmet Coffee

Estimated Cost: $6.00 – $viii.00 per pound

Estimated Retail Price: $iii.00 – $5.00 per cup depending on size.

How to make information technology work: The potable widely consider to be for adults in the past has much broader appeal today in the United States thanks to numerous flavor and potable innovations. If you invest in the equipment to serve iced coffee or cold brew, information technology can chop-chop pay dividends in sales. While there is equipment cost and training time that needs to be figured in when selling these drinks, the payoff can be worth it for many vendors.

Related Reading: How to Beginning a Coffee Shop on Your Ain Terms

Corn on the Cob

Estimated Cost: $0.25 per ear (depends on season)

Estimated Retail Price: $3 – $5 per ear depending on toppings.

How to make information technology piece of work:If you live in the midwest, you probably think of fresh picked corn on the cob in the fall months. Dip the corn in butter, salt and pepper and you've got a delicious snack.

But yous can also adapt the product to make Mexican-way street corn covered in mayo, cotija cheese, chili pulverization and a splash of lime too. At that place are all sorts of flavour combinations that tin be added if you want to get artistic by adding other latin spices. Italian seasoning besides pairs well with corn in my apprehensive opinion.

Hot Dogs and Corn Dogs

Estimated Price: Hot dogs and Corn dogs for $0.35 – $.50 cents each depending on ingredients.

Estimated Retail Cost: $3.00 – $six.00 depending on ingredients.

How to make it work: Hot dogs and corn dogs are a staple menu item beyond concessions stand in America. They are easy to make, cheap to buy, and enjoyed by guests. What's non to love? All-time of all these products are extremely flexible calculation toppings. You tin can add nacho cheese, grilled onions, chili, and other toppings to differentiate your production. Plant-based hot dogs are also readily available and tin be used to market to vegetarian eaters. Getting innovative with dipping sauces is another easy way to stand up out in this segment (think chipotle mayo).  Acquire more about starting a hot dog business hither.

Deep Fried pickles.

Estimated Price: $2.50 or less per pound after beingness breaded.

Estimated Retail Toll: $5.00 – $viii.00

How to make it work: Deep fried pickles have become are a mainstay item at fairs and restaurants a like. Most vendors bread, deep fry, and serve on a newspaper tray. You can farther differentiate this product with dips like garlic mayo, spicy cheese sauce, sour cream and onion, and just about anything else you tin can dream up. To further differentiate the product you lot tin can make the pickles with creative spices to make a sweet or sour flavored pickle.

Fry bread

Estimated Toll: $.fifty – $2.fifty depending on toppings.

Estimated Retail Price: $three.00 – $8.00 depending on style.

How to make information technology piece of work: Fried breadstuff in all forms is a high-profit bill of fare item. Fried bread has different variations by region including Native American Fry Breadstuff. Like variations of the food go by the name elephant ears. This core particular can exist used to create desserts or meals. Cinnamon and carbohydrate is a popular carte du jour detail for desserts while you tin make dozens of different fried bread taco to swallow as a meal. This is a keen add together-on to a concession business organization peculiarly if you already use deep fryers.

Potatoes

Estimated Cost: .fifty cents or less per pound.

Estimated Retail Price: $v.00 – $x.00 depending on style and size.

How to make it work:Potatoes tin can be purchased cheap and stored for a few weeks without going bad. Like the other foods on our listing they are easy to cook and assemble for guests also. The heaven is the limit on what you tin do with this product. Here are a few ideas: Create nacho chips, serve amped-up baked potatoes, ribbon fries, create a variety of dipping sauces, offering poutine, cook seasoned potato tots, make potato latkes during the Hanukkah celebration.

Shaved Ice

Estimated Cost: $0.25 cents or less per cup.

Estimated Retail Price: $iii.00 – $7.00 depending on style and size.

How to get in work: This is a production yous've no uncertainty seen at sporting events, parades and farmer's markets. Simply there are plenty of ways to standout from the crowd by adapting this production. First off, many suppliers at present offering syrups with vitamins and organic ingredients. This is an easy way to appeal to the wellness-minded mom or dad wielding the family credit bill of fare. Some other way to enhance this product is by pairing it with fruit, condensed milk, or whip cream. You can learn more about the operations and profitability of the shaved ice business organisation model here.

shaved ice

Snowfall cones and syrups.

Churros

Estimated Cost: $0.50 cents or less per churro.

Estimated Retail Toll: $two.00 – $6.00 depending on mode and size.

How to brand it work: This traditional Spanish food has gone mainstream over the past 5 years. The snack behemothic J&J Snack Foods reported selling over $68 meg in churros alone in 2018 inside their annual report. While churros traditionally use a cinnamon and sugar flavor in that location are new seasonal flavors increasing awareness for the production like Oreo, pumpkin spice, and egg nog. This is an extremely pop snack at DisneyLand resorts where at that place is an ever changing menu of churro options. The theme park now charges over $5.00 per churro.

Water ice Foam and Frozen Yogurt

Estimated Toll: $0.75 – $1.50 per unit of measurement

Estimated Retail Price: $5.00 – $9.00 depending on size and toppings

How to brand information technology work: Eating at a Frozen yogurt shop has become an Instagram worthy result. Serving ice cream and frozen yogurt has e'er had a low food cost, only unless you make the product both visually appealing and unique it's going to be tough to differentiate your product from everyone to make a large profit.

You tin all the same go generate actress sales past adding an ice foam machine offer twist cones, just if you're attempting to become a large winner that generates excitement and social media shares you lot'll need a more original product. Some winning ideas include gourmet ice cream pops, paletas, or offer non-diary soft-serve options. Acquire more about the trends in the frozen dessert segment in this podcast.

Social media share worthy ice cream.

How to Come upwardly with Creative Concession Ideas

Yous don't need to be a "creative" type to develop a unique concession menu. Here are some approaches to ensuring you always take an exciting concession card. Follow this approach and you lot'll never run of assisting ideas.

  • Travel and Pay Attending:Visiting your country fair is a terrific manner to discover new concession options. Pay attention to the new foods that attendees can't seem to get enough of. Innovative foods like this are the ideal to bring dorsum to your market. I discovered the "cronut" by attending the Minnesota Country Fair only a few years ago. Y'all had to wait in a line for twenty minutes at to the lowest degree the first year the cronut was first released into the world. This is the sign of a production you tin accept dorsum to your own concession business.
  • Pinterest and Food Bloggers: There are literally tens of thousands of talented nutrient bloggers out there that develop and publish information on how to make exciting new recipes every day. Search online or past using Pinterest to observe creative spins on ideas y'all've already been using in your concern. Sometimes little tweaks like adding an heady seasonal flavor to your popcorn stand up (Pumpkin Spice Popcorn anyone?) is all yous demand to refresh the product and improve sales.
  • New Flavors or Food Combinations: Exist on the await out for exciting new flavors to infuse with your menu. Oftentimes these modern twists on old ideas come outside the United States. Much of the flavor innovation in ice foam for case comes from parts of Asia or Italia. Eventually these trends make way state side. Stay on the look out for ways to pair your foods together in creatively. The ice foam cookie sandwich is one such instance of ii concession foods being brought together to create a new item.

Don't stop with the examples listed above. You could create a new delivery method for your food. 1 proven fashion to deliver virtually any kind of food is on a stick. Try hot dish on a stick, fried pickles on a stick.

Another option is adding a unique characteristic to food, like locally grown, low calorie, or organic. You can always find ways to invigorate your card using these approaches.

What questions do you accept about making a high-profit concession menu? I'd be happy to answer them in the comments below.