Market research - Drinks at a show

Why wouldn't you sell drinks? It might be a pain to carry / chill / keep stocked up but it's an income stream and as Scote said if it's hot you'll sell loads. In my experience it's a rare catering van that doesn't sell drinks as well.

 

I queue for the food, Mrs Pod queues at the bar, simples

 

Thanks everyone for the opinions, it is really helpful to get other points of view on it. From my own experience at the last few shows we have been to we have eaten from the wood fired pizza place and chilli gone barmy that didn't do drinks. The food was good and personally we didn't mind going elsewhere for a drink but I appreciate it can be a hassle on a busy day with long queues especially if you have kids with you.

We will take the drinks to SkegVegas and see how they sell and also whether we can take take enough for demand! I'm still keen to hear opinions though

I think the biggest pain is chilling them, I hate it when you get handed a warm can and it's something I'm keen to avoid if possible. Due to the size of the van fridges aren't a realistic option for us so it's pre-chilled in cool boxes which I think adds to the headache.

 

^^^^ what he said up there ^^^^

 

Some friends of mine catered at Glasto years ago (unofficially).
The girls cooked up wholesome bean stews and veggie burgers etc and worked their socks off all weekend and for weeks previously.
Mark went to the cash and carry with his credit card, dug a hole, filled it with water and cans of red-stripe and sat in a deck chair taking cash.
The girls broke even.
Mark went home with £4K.
Forget the food, just sell drinks - no work, good mark-up.

 

Like many of the replies above, I cook in the morning, picnic for lunch and eat from stalls in the evening. We carry our own water, bring our own drinks - occasionally I will buy the kidlets a can of something but not with the meal. May buy a pint at the bar but that's a different story !

 

If the food looked good, it wouldn't bother me that you weren't selling drinks.

 

Sell drinks, I'd go to another stall to avoid queuing twice.

 

Right well after all the advice and opinions I thought I should feedback our findings after the first show!

We didn't sell as many drinks as I thought we might Saturday was very few I think in part due to the weather. Sunday was a bit better. Most people were on the beer, and of the food we sold only a small number bought a drink at the same time. Tea and Coffee were the most popular. So I think we will take smaller numbers with us which eases the cooling/weight/space problems and see how we go.

Thanks again!

 

My experience is overpriced warm (cold) drinks. I always carry a pack when Im out and about at shows and usually have a bottle ow water and a can of pop out of my own fridge (working fridge that is - cos mines a camper and not a van with a bed ) .

I dont mind paying for a drink as long as its not "warm" a dustbin filled with water to dump em in usually keeps em below ambient as long as they are out of the sun.

 

Must have been a big hole

In the 80s when you could drive on to festival sites such as Glastonbury and Reading we used to take a transit full of beer - we would buy tins for 25p and knock them out at £1 - but we would have a couple of people walking around the stages (never the main stage) with crates selling and a couple of others ferrying fresh crates from the van to the sellers. It was all good until the Hells Angels got wind of us under-cutting them

 

All the beers weren't in it at once, but it made them look appealingly cold. He nipped out to restock a couple of times - not something you could do now.

 

If its a cold day then tea and coffee would sell but a hot day then I think water.

Tea and coffee there is a huge markup to be had - if you sold any other drinks then perhaps just sell bottles of water - you want to get 330ml bottles from Costco for around 15p each and then sell for £1. Cans again good markup but as good as the others mentioned.

I think you should sell food + drinks.

 

I think everyone should have a drink at a show