One of the great things about food trailers is your culinary options. You could use your trailer to sell anything from gourmet fare to the simplest dishes.

But if you’re looking to turn a profit quickly, you should consider selling funnel cakes in your concession trailer.

Why Funnel Cakes?

Walk around any fairground and you’ll likely notice the longest lines at stands selling the most traditional fair food – corn dogs, cotton candy, and yes, funnel cakes.

Not only is this food one of the favorites across the country, it is especially easy and cheap to make. Most traditional funnel cake recipes include less than 10 simple ingredients. And if you make the batter ahead of time, you only have to worry about a handful of items in your concession trailer so you can quickly make large batches to keep up with the demand.

3 Factors That Will Impact Your Daily Concession Trailer Funnel Cake Sales

Before you start banking on funnel cake sales as your get rich quick plan, there are a few factors you need to consider that will impact your sales.

Here are three things to keep in mind when estimating how many funnel cakes you’ll be able to sell in a day.

1. Size of the Event

Common sense will tell you the larger the event, the more people will likely be in attendance. For instance, vendors at the Black Gold Festival in Kentucky say they can sell about 300 funnel cakes in a day. This fair averages more than 100,000 people throughout its run, so those total sales will be much less at smaller events.

2. Competition

While a larger event will mean more people, it also means more competition. Chances are, you won’t be the only one selling funnel cakes. And you might have to compete with vendors selling creative food that could potentially take away some of your customers.

In this situation, you need to find a method to make your funnel cakes unique. Consider offering unique toppings (for an additional cost) such as honey, chocolate chips, or berries to stand out from the funnel cake crowd.

Or try to find an event such as a youth soccer tournament which will have a decent number of attendees but probably not as much competition.

3. Weather

You really can’t control Mother Nature. Rain, snow, or extreme heat can have a major impact on attendance numbers and put a major dent in your sales.

Remember, your concession trailer will be outside. People aren’t likely to stand in line in the pouring rain to order a funnel cake that will just get wet and mushy moments after they buy it.

Planning for Your Daily Concession Trailer Funnel Cake Sales

The best way to determine what’s an accurate sales number for your funnel cakes is to attend several events and look for trends. Once you figure out your range of funnel cake sales, you’ll be able to make an accurate estimate that you can use to plan for future events.