Tips for Hiring Seasonal Employees

With spring only 54 days away (hooray), it's time to start figuring out how you are going cover the hours of operation for your stand or your mobile operation. If you are an established, you probably have an established group of workers that you rely on each season. If not, or if you are new to the industry, here are a few tips to help you as you hire employees to work for you during the spring and summer seasons.

1. Referrals. If you already have good, existing staff, ask them. Good workers know other good workers. Give them the opportunity to bring in someone they like to work with and will do a good job.
2. Make sure that potential employees are well aware of your season (start and end dates). If your business operates primary on weekends at various special events and festivals, be sure that they are okay with working weekends throughout the spring and summer season.
3. Hire people who will represent your business well. Remember, the person behind the counter of your stand will definitely be remembered by your customers. Make sure that the people you are comfortable with putting in front of people and allowing them to be the 'face' of your business. Traits to consider: personality, responsibility, kindness, and vivaciousness...the list goes on.
4. Look to hire people who will be interested in working for you next season too. A new employee is an investment of your time and finances. Seek people who will work with you more than one season if possible.
5. Be careful and aware of guidelines when hiring minors. Many of those hired for seasonal work are under the age of 18. Double-check federal and state guidelines as to the type of work minors are allowed to perform and the number of hours they are permitted to work.

These are just a few things to consider as you prepare to hire seasonal workers for your shaved ice or snow cone business. We hope you will find these useful as you prepare for the upcoming season. We hope your 2010 season will be a successful one!

Is It Spring Yet?

Happy New Year to all of our readers! We hope that 2010 will be a great year for you, your family, and your business!

Spring is coming! For many of us throughout the US right now, it seems like spring is far, far away. As we battle below freezing temperatures, snow, ice and treacherous conditions all over the place, it's hard to believe that the first day of spring is only 68 days away.

I'm ready for it now! Are you?

As spring continues to creep closer, it's time to start thinking about a multitude of things related to your concessions business.

Are your permits all in order? Necessary insurances in place?

Is your equipment ready to go? Do you need to order replacement parts now?

Inventory...what's needed to start your season?

Is your stand all cleaned up and ready to go?

Are your prices still current and relevant for your stand?

What about your menu? Are you going to add or take away any items this season?

If you're adding new items, have you practiced making them so their preparation will not delay your normal operations?

Staffing...are you going to need additional workers? If so, when are you going to start training them?

These are only a few of the questions that need to be thought through and addressed. Throughout the months of January and February, we plan to dive into many of these questions (and more) and provide some good, solid answers for you based on our experiences.

We hope that you'll find this information helpful!

Giving Back

It's always nice to find ways to give back to your community through your business. One of the ways that 1-800-Shaved-Ice.com, HawaiianShavedIce.com, and CottonCandyExpress.com gives back to our local community is through a summer program called Newton Grove Movie Nights (www.NGMovieNight.com). The movie nights are held in a local park where we bring in a large, inflatable projection screen and show a movie for free. Concessions (popcorn, snow cones, and drinks) are free to children under 18 and adults must pay for their snacks and drinks.

The first movie night occurred just about two weeks ago. We had over 400 people come out and enjoy Adam Sandler's movie "Bedtime Stories". We also made a ton of snow cones and gave out hundreds of bags of popcorn.



We look forward to the next movie night. We enjoy being able to give back in a this way to the community and people who have purchased our products over the years.

We encourage you to find some creative way to use your business to be able to give back in some capacity to your community. There are many different opportunities to get involved in fundraising for local sports teams, or other good organizations such as Boys and Girls Club, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts...the list goes on. If you are already involved in giving back to your community, please let us know about it. We would enjoy knowing how other businesses engage in giving back.

Thanks!

Excellent Resources for Concessionaires

I've discussed the Small Business Administration in previous articles, however I wanted to mention them again. There are some excellent resources available at the SBA Website.

I would encourage you to go to the site and review some of the great tools and information that is available to you. Remember...it's a FREE resource for you. Well, not completely free since you are a taxpayer. So, with that said though, take advantage of your tax dollars!

Not interested in reading through articles? Try out some of their podcasts. Download them and listen to them while you're driving to your stand or during a slow period. Some podcasts that stand out to me are:

Check List for Starting a Business

Featuring Wendy Baumann, President
Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

How can a prospective entrepreneur know if he or she is ready to start a business? This checklist helps you identify what you need to know and what you need to do to start a small business.

Is Entrepreneurship for You?

Featuring Cheryl Mills, Associate Deputy Administrator
Office of Entrepreneurial Development
U.S. Small Business Administration

Each year more than 600,000 new businesses are started in the United States. Many will succeed while others fail. Find out if you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur and how training maybe be the key to success.


The SBA Small Business Training Network—Log On!
Featuring Jim O’Connor, Director
Small Business Training Network
U.S. Small Business Administration

To succeed in business entrepreneurs must stay competitive. An essential ingredient to being competitive is training. Learn how SBA’s online Small Business Training Network—a virtual campus—can help potential and current small business owners start, grow and succeed.

This is only a sampling of the many podcasts that are available for free download. While these podcasts will not directly discuss concessions businesses, they are certainly full of tips for any small business and helpful.

If you get a chance to listen to one of their podcasts and find the information in it helpful, I would encourage you to leave a comment here so that other 1-800-Shaved-Ice.com customers can benefit from it too. Thanks!

Baseball Concession Stands

Ah, spring is here! Baseball season is officially upon us and we'll all be out enjoying evenings at the diamond watching our friends and family participate in baseball and softball games.

But, what about the concession stand at your local ball field? Is it well stocked? Do they have snow cones, shaved ice, or cotton candy available? If not...tell them to visit our websites! 1-800-Shaved-Ice.com has helped many different organization put together snow cone or shaved ice packages for their concessions stand. CottonCandyExpress.com is also eager to help organizations outfit their concessions stand with top quality, profitable cotton candy equipment and supplies.

The only thing better than a beautiful evening at the park watching a baseball or softball game is being able to watch it while enjoying a delicious snow cone, cup of shaved ice, or some cotton candy!

Spring is Only Two Days Away!

Spring is finally upon us...is your shaved ice, snow cone, and cotton candy equipment ready to go for the season?

Prepping and maintaining your equipment is essential to the success of your business throughout the busy season. We strongly suggest that you go through your equipment before opening up for the season. Make sure your machines are clean, ensure that the blades on your shaved ice machine are in good shape, check the head on your cotton candy machine. A detailed visual inspection of your equipment can prevent a nightmare scenario when you are open during prime money making time!

We have several free business manuals that offer detailed cleaning routines for your equipment. Please feel free to request a manual from us for the following:

Shaved Ice Business Manual (includes snow cone information too)

Cotton Candy Business Manual

Slush Machine Business Manual

If you see that you are in need of replacement parts, additional equipment or supplies, please check out the great prices that are available at 1-800-Shaved-Ice.com and CottonCandyExpress.com.

We hope this is a great season for everyone!

Tell Us about Your Concessions Stand!

We would like to hear from our readers about their concessions business. Please feel free to send us information about your business, equipment, menu, successes, pitfalls, nuggets of wisdom you'd like to pass along, your website, etc. If you'd like, go ahead and send us a picture too. We'll put together a post about your business and place it here in the blog. We're interested in our readers, appreciate the time you spend on our blog and in return, we'd like to feature some of your businesses.

At the same time, feel free to make suggestions on topics that you would like for us to discuss here as well.

Please feel free to send your info in to us at red-writer@hotmail.com.

Thanks!

Are Organic Concession Stands the Next "Big Thing?"

I found an article this morning talking about a new concession stand that has opened at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, IL. I'm just wondering if this might be a new trend that is rising among concessionaires.

Any thoughts? Ideas? The concept of 'going green' as a mobile food vendor is intriguing and on the surface, seems pretty easy to integrate.

Is the organic/whole foods/locally grown and raised demographic large enough to draw enough customers to a mobile stand at a local event? I think so. At least in our area, I think it would very well received.

Anyhow, I just wanted to throw this article out there for you to review and mull over.
If you think of it, please leave me a comment on your thoughts and reactions to this new, possibly lucrative niche that is emerging for concessionaires.

Photo courtesy of Steve Woods

Another Point of View on the Concessions Business

I found this article recently about a gentleman who operated a juice and smoothie trailer at special events. I always enjoy reading about someone else's experiences in the concessions industry. I particularly enjoy reading about people who participate in special events.

It's always good to hear about other people's successes and struggles in our business. So, please take a moment and read about Glen and his Juice Caboose. As i always say, you may pickup a tidbit of knowledge or an idea and be able to apply it to your own business. Enjoy!

Listen to Your Customers

Customers are the critical component to any service oriented business. As a concessionaire, your interaction with your customers is vital to the positive growth and success of your business. To effectively grow your business, it's wise to listen to your customers. At times, they have some great tips that will create additional growth for you.

As an example, for several years, I owned a specialty coffee business. In addition to one fixed location, we had a mobile trailer that we used at various seasonal events in our region (soccer tournaments, arts and crafts festivals, harvest festivals, music fairs, etc.). The first year we attended a certain music festival it was suggested to us that we feature organic coffees. The next year when we returned, the positive comments from customers was unbelievable. We listened and reacted positively to a suggestion. In the end, it paid off big time because we were catering to the desires and requests from a specific demographic. The result? Every year we attended this festival, we had a line at our stand all day long. We served hundreds of drinks per hour. The consecutive years spent at that festival were always great. It will go down as one of the best events we ever worked.

This example pours over into other businesses as well. If a customer truly gives you a good suggestion...follow through with it! Not only will you please that particular customer, but he/she will tell their friends about it too. Positive referrals should be considered money in the bank for your company!

Spring Cleaning! Get your Stand Ready for Business!

It's that time of year...TIME TO MAKE SOME MONEY!!

But, before you roll out your cart or open the service windows on your stand...make sure it looks good. Clean it up! Wash it, wipe it down, scrub it, polish it, paint it, fix it, replace it, etc. Remember all of the Andre Aggasi advertisements for Canon? "Image is Everything" Well, it's true to a certain degree. The image you project with your business has a great deal to do with the type of and amount of customers you attract and retain.

Not only is cleanliness an image issue, it's also a liability issue for your business too. Customers talk to other potential customers. It's important to keep that in mind. If your business is dirty, sticky and looks run down, it reduces your chances of receiving positive customer referrals. If you are shut down by the health department for failing to meet their standards, well, that's pretty much the death of your business. Keep it clean!

Here's another guy's take on maintaining a clean business. Check out 'The Idea Guy's' blog article here...and then go clean up!

Good Resource Article

I found this article today that is a good read for new concessionaires as well as seasoned veterans. "7 Reasons to Start a Food Concession Business" has some good insights into how the concessions industry operates. The author also refers readers to FoodBooth.net for more indepth information (we have covered Food Booth in a previous article here at ConcessionCentral.com too). So, when you have a chance, read through the article. It's just another good resource for insight and information about the concessions industry!

Shaved Ice in the News

This morning I came across this article that mentions a shaved ice stand in the Salt Lake City, Utah area. While the article is two years old, it does offer some insight from the customer's point of view. The article also gives some pricing details along with menu items that may or may not be of interest to you. This article is worth taking a look at simply because it will spark some thought about your own shaved ice business and what you are doing to please and attract customers.

Business Hours

Establishing regular business hours is one of the most important practices needed for any successful shaved ice or snow cone business. It is imperative that your customers know when they can expect you to be open. If you need to take one day a week off, do so, however establish this early in the season. Do not make the mistake of opening your shaved ice business occasionally or only when you feel like it. In addition, always be open whether it is sunny or rainy. Even on a rainy day, you can often do enough business to make profit. You can always bring a book, do some extra cleaning, catch up on paperwork or plan you next advertising campaign! Regardless of the weather, make sure you stick by your hours so that your customers will know they can count on you to be open. This is extremely important!

What time you open and close daily will also depend on your location. Some shaved ice businesses, in high traffic areas, open as early as 10 AM and close as late as 10 PM. We suggest investigating other shaved ice businesses in your area to see their hours of operation. Check with other neighboring businesses to see when they open and close too. Also, take a look at what else is located in your area. Are schools, baseball/soccer fields or shopping centers nearby? Find out their schedules and set your hours accordingly. Just remember to be consistent in your opening and closing times. It will be extremely beneficial in the long run and will further add to the professional, quality image you are trying to develop for your shaved ice or snow cone business.






Business Hours by
Tim McWhorter is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at
http://www.1-800-Shaved-Ice.com.

Location, Location, Location

We have discussed the importance of the actual location of your business in previous posts. High traffic areas that have convenient access are very helpful. However, a suitable location can often cost you quite a bit in rent.

Rent prices may range from $50 to over $500 a month. The price you pay will all depend upon the arrangement that you make with your landowner. Usually, the better the location, the higher the rent. As always, shop around to get your best price. When discussing a location of interest with the owner, make sure you point out the fact that you will be attracting more potential customers onto his property for him as well. This is a fact that you need to use to your advantage. Owners of small, local strip malls or other locally owned businesses will see the advantage of having your stand set up at their location.

At our busiest location, we paid $200 a month from May to October. Our landlord did not ask for rent during the winter months when we were closed. In reality, we would have paid $300 a month year round if needed. We had great business and were located right in the middle of town. Nearby there were nine baseball fields, a community college, neighborhoods, shopping centers, and restaurants. The daily traffic count on the highway in front of our business was about 28,000 vehicles in a 24 hour period. At this particular location, we averaged $300 to $500 dollars in sales a day.

Whatever arrangements you work out with your landlord, be certain to have a contract or agreement in writing. If possible, agree to a fixed number years for your lease. Try to get at least a one year lease with the option to renew for one to two years. This option will give you the opportunity to get a feel for the location before committing to a longer term lease. Before you sign an agreement, make sure that you can adequately cover the monthly amount based on your projected sales volume. Do your homework, research, and then move forward with confidence! If you should ever have any questions regarding space rental or other concessions related business questions, please feel free to post your question here or contact us through our website at 1-800-Shaved-Ice.com.

Profitability Projections for Cotton Candy Sales

Did you ever think cotton candy would be considered such a profitable product? Well, it is! Due to the low cost to produce this candy, you may be surprised at just how much you can make and charge for this special treat! For example, a typical serving of cotton candy is either a 1 oz. cone or a 2 oz. bag. Depending upon where you operate, you may be able to sell it for as little as $1.00 or as high as $2.00. Your main expense will derive from the sugar and the method you choose to package the cotton candy. You may either sell it in bags, containers, or straight off of the cone. Please keep in mind that these figures only represent the COGS (Cost of Goods Sold). It does not reflect additional costs that will figure into your bottom line profits (labor, insurance, rent, etc.).

Your main cost in a 1 oz. serving of cotton candy on a cone would be approximately $.052 for the floss sugar and the cone would cost $.016, for a total cost of $.068 per serving. Your profit on a $1.00 cone would be roughly $.932. If you sold the same cone for $2.00, your profit would be $1.932. In a 2 oz., bagged serving, the floss sugar would cost roughly $.104 and the bag would cost $.042, for a total of $.146 per serving. Selling a bag for $1.00, your estimated profit would be $.854 per bag, and for a $2.00 bag it would be $1.854.



Now, are you motivated to start selling cotton candy when you see these types of profit margins?! As you can see the potential profit margin is huge; so what are you waiting for??? CottonCandyExpress.com is ready to help you get started today!

Tips on Avoiding Several Fatal Errors in Operating your Concessions Business

Recently I came across an article that I thought was full of good information for concessionaires. I think there are several points that are very relative to concession business owners.

There are 10 major points in the article which are described as “fatal errors:”

*Overexpansion
*Poor Capital Structure
*Overspending
*Lack of Reserve Funds
*Bad Business Location
*Poor Execution and Internal Controls
*An Inadequate Business Plan
*Failure to Change with the Times
*Ineffective Marketing and Self-Promotion
*Underestimating the Competition

If you would like to read the entire article, click here.

I think that one way several of these errors could be avoided is in the writing of a good business plan right from the beginning. Please avoid the trap of “getting started first and then writing your business plan.” Don’t jump the gun! Take the time and write your plan. Seek out some professional help. Design an inclusive business plan that gives you a framework for your concessions business and a path for growth and success. In doing so several of these pitfalls can potentially be avoided and keep you on the path to success with your business!

AllBusiness.com is an Excellent General Business Resource for Concessionaires

AllBusiness.com is a great resource for answering many general business related questions. This site is loaded with helpful information on virtually every topic in the business world.

There are sections devoted to business advice, professional journals, business bloggers who deal directly with questions asked by people like you and me and sections devoted to specific industries (the restaurant section is of particular interest in the concessions field). They also have a section that is entitled ‘Tools and Services’ which contains a learning center and a business answers section which appear to be very helpful too. Finally, they have included a section devoted to forms and services. Some of the forms in this section have a fee that must be paid in order to download them. However, some of these forms (hiring and termination policies, and many others) are important to have in place for small business owners. Several of these forms are hard to find on your own and even harder to create for yourself. So, purchasing them may be the best answer for you.

AllBusiness.com is loaded with great problem solving tips and answers to questions that may come up in your particular business. Check it out, bookmark it and use it whenever necessary!

Logo Design for Your Concessions Business

Have you created an identity for your concessions business yet? Have you thought much about how you want to be recognized by your customers and competition? It’s important to factor that question into your decision making process when it comes to designing a logo for your business.

David Ogilvy, who is widely considered the “father of modern advertising”, had four major principles that he adhered to in every facet of his business. These four principles not only apply to designing your logo, but also carry over into many other areas of your business. These four principles are research, professional discipline (knowledge), creative brilliance and results for clients (customers).

To learn more about his principles as they are applied to logo design, click here. This article is an in-depth look at some critical components of great logo design.

Resource: Food Booth, The Entrepreneur's Complete Guide to the Food Concession Business

While I have not personally read this book just yet, it seems like it might be a valuable resource. Whether you are just thinking about entering into the concessions business or are a seasoned veteran, it would probably be a good read.

Along with being able to order the book directly from their website, they display the table of contents for it too. Judging from that, it seems to be full of helpful information.

Check it out for yourself. If you have read this book, please let me know what you think of it! Thanks!