Busiest week of my busiest month

I’m sorry I haven’t posted more recently. I’m in the midst of the busiest week of my busiest month of the year. Labor Day weekend is a weekend of great festivals nationwide, and if the weather is good, it can be a considerable chunk of a street vendor’s income. It’s gorgeous here this summer, and so we’re having an incredible weekend.

I say it’s my busiest month, because while my NY show is just peaking in traffic, I have to start opening my Houston show. I’ll spend the latter part of this week moving my office to Houston, and then fly back to NY twice for the last two weekends of the NY show. So part of my brain wants to be packing the car and making sure I don’t forget any important pieces of paper, but the business manager in me knows that I’ve got to be on the counter in one of my shops, serving customers.

There were lines at all of the food shops yesterday.

My competitors' lines just send more people to my counter. (This is *not* my shop.)

Some moved faster than others, but there was no finding a shop without a line. The Hubby and I hate lines, so we tend to overstaff, and keep our lines speedy. It might mean that 3 people are working a section of counter only big enough for 2, but that just makes for more of an interactive show. There are a couple of different theories about lines at a festival. One is that the line tells you where the best food is, so some of my associates like to keep a line in front of their shops. Our mentor had a different opinion. His theory was to keep food in the window, because  the customer will choose the fastest or the shortest line … then have a food quality that brings them back.  So we sell the best food we can, and our lines are some of the fastest at the fair.

Now you’re all figuring out that gourmet and healthy foods are important to me at outdoor events; but the truth is, while waiting for the mass of customers to shift to choosing healthy options at festivals …  Funnel Cakes pay a chunk of my mortgage. So when my competitors lines got completely out of hand, I jumped into the trenches with my crew, and ended the day completely covered in powdered sugar. My crew was awesome, and they all now know I’m not asking them to do anything I wouldn’t do … including ambidextrous funnel cake pouring, and getting sugaring blisters from dusting the powdered sugar.

P.S. We did sell a strong number of Spinach-Pesto Quesadillas out of that shop too …

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Categorized as Nomads

By RhonniRocks

Rhonni is a blissciplined serial entrepreneur, who has crafted a life in which she is surrounded by people who do what they love. She curates http://festivalprose.com and blogs about her wacky and wonderful world at www.RhonniRocks.com.

4 comments

    1. Cindy … imagine spinach and pesto meets spanikopita between toasty tortillas, fresh off a flat-top griddle. Oh … yeah.

  1. Your quesadillas are some of the most amazing food on site at NYRF. Since going gluten free it is one of the few things I miss terribly. However that word of mouth you are talking about still keeps me sending any patron that asks for a food recommendation right to you!

    1. Thanks Michelle!
      Personally I am in exactly the same Gluten Free boat with you. You can always come check in with me personally at Rapunzel’s Hairbraiding at NYRF (My office is at the back, overlooking the pond), and I’ll let you know of any new GF items I’ve discovered at Faire.

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