Concession Stand Business Ideas

By: Kelly Church


There are several ways to get into the food concession business. But in order to start a food concession business, you must choose from a few food concession stand ideas. First, you must choose what type of equipment you will purchase and use. Then you must decide what type of food you will sell in order to make money. These two decisions are important because you are going to make the decision that will make or break whether or not you succeed or whether or not you even want to take the type of risk that is necessary to get started in the concession business.

First, there are several different types of concession equipment to sell product from. Each type has things that are good about them and things that are not favorable. Next, concession stand ideas are important to have when you decide to sell. These ideas can help you decide what products to sell.

One type of concession equipment you can purchase is a concession stand or concession tent. This type of concession equipment can be found at temporary, semi-permanent locations and permanent locations. Drawbacks of concession stands or tents include the difficulty to breakdown and difficult transportation. Advantages are that they are more like a building than any other concession equipment you can buy.

Another type of concession equipment out there that can be purchased is the concession trailer. Concession trailers are great to set up in parking lots, at fairs, and at street corners. Some advantages include easy maneuverability, as well as more than adequate storage space. Some of the disadvantages are the unsightly hitches, wheels and jacks that must be used in order to sell from a concession trailer. While a lot of these cosmetic issues can be dealt with by using skirting and other decorations, they can still be eyesores.

One final type of concession equipment to purchase is a concession cart. These can be found on sidewalks, in front of stores, in parking lots, on street corners, parks, beaches, and in just about any other public place. Why they can be found almost any place is truly one of the advantages of owning a concession cart: mobility. Being able to take your business anywhere is a great asset. Other advantages include affordability. If you want to make your way into the concession business, but you either lack the extreme funds or the desire to spend the extreme funds it takes to purchase a concession trailer, the concession cart is a great way to start small. This way, if the business does fail, which hopefully it won’t, you aren’t losing tens of thousands of dollars; perhaps it will only be a couple of thousand dollars. A couple of drawbacks to the concession cart are lack of storage space because of the small size, and exposure to the elements without the shelter of a structure.

Whatever type of concession business you decide to start, in many cases, food choice is much the same. With the exception of the concession cart, each of the other types of concession businesses can basically sell anything a restaurant can. For example, out of a trailer, stand, or tent, you are able to sell foods like barbecue, tacos, burgers, chicken, fries, and many other choices. In the case of concession carts, you have a slight disadvantage with food choice because of storage space as well as laws in your local area. Many times, you are only allowed certain cooking methods with a cart. Hot dogs and sausages work well from carts. Also ice cream works well too.

These are all very important things you must decide when getting into the concession business. Type of equipment is all dependant upon the money you have to invest as well as the space you will be occupying. It also has much to do with what type of food you are able to sell. These are the three fundamentals the concession business always comes down to.

The concession business is a great way to start your own business without a huge outlay of cash. Purchasing a used concession trailer and the other needed supplies will have you up and running for a fraction of the investment in a typical restaurant. Even though the investment is minor in comparison the upside potential for earnings are nearly as great.