State Fair Competition

Hey Veeky Forums. After leaving my shitty job and going back to school, I decided this year would be the year I finally got around to opening a stand at the state fair (Typically held in September with 250,000 attendees) with the smaller pre-show fair being in July (10,000 attendees).
I figured now is the time to hop to it with planning and figuring out the costs, and I wanted to run my menu by you guys. I knew it had to be things that are easy to store, quick to make, and can be stocked IN BULK and restocked quickly. Here's my menu so far:
>Funnelcakes
Strawberry, Chocolate, and Classic. Every fair stand has them, and I haven't scouted out anyone doing chocolate and strawberry at the fairground circuit last year. Funnelcake sticks might be the way I serve them for mobility. I'll just cut the cake with a mezzaluna and serve it in a box like french fries and other stick foods. None of that massive undercooked batter on a stick bullshit though.
>Ice cream
The high heat and humidity makes this a must have, but also requires a good eye on the line so things don't get sloppy and sticky. Considering making this only available in floats (more below) or with your funnelcake (but that makes it a less mobile meal for diners.)
>Nachos
Comes down to either this or burgers. I'll do one or the other, but not both. My big concern with nachos is that, if I want to do anything beyond cheese sauce and bagged chips, I'll have to take allergies into account and not prep as many nachos that just need their finishing touches added. Also, it depends on whether or not I do wet or dry nachos. I do intend to have them be chicken or pork, but not beef. Possibly BBQ nachos as an option.
>Drinks
Free refills with my stands cups. I know stands will upcharge you to like $8 for free refills here but I think a flat take-it-or-leave-it $2.50 with unlimited refills is fine. Soda is dirt cheap, and if I can keep people returning throughout the day to get refills, they are more likely to nab another snack.

You should play it safe and deep fry some burgers instead of nachos. I would do fruit slushes instead of ice cream too.

Burgers, huh? I'll have to make sure a get a good recipe going, as the competition will be strong for burgers. I appreciate the fruit slush tip, too.

If you're going to deep fry the whole thing in batter (which you should, it's a State Fair) make sure your toppings and burger spices can stand up to the richness that frying will bring.

You need a business plan. What you REALLY need is experience working in the kind of stand you're talking about. Have you ever worked with food?

Do you have any clue what you're doing?

I love your idea user, and it's probably going to mean you need a food truck.

Probably you can't mess with a system of drink refills and your cup idea, there will be a corporate sponsor of say Pepsi with some kind of competitive angle that forbids your competition by contract. Just sell sweet tea, lemonade and nothing official beverage-like, and be a nice guy and reward people who return to you to buy something else with a "may I fill your cup again for you?" offer and enjoy your tip jar winnings and positive word of mouth.

I think the money at fairs will be boba / bubble tea drinks and slushies that targets that anime weeb crowd, and healthy mom and manchild dad crowd, too. Advertise it well! Have a giant big screen TV showing the kiddos over in Singapore malls enjoying it, and educating consumers, act like it's a national craze, humor sells, and you can grab the interest of uninformed people walking by or waiting for their drink.

If I was trying to make a killing, I'd go to my target audience, and whatever emerging culture that is...probably Hispanic, even if you fusion it with things you like making. Arepas, Pinchos/skewered meat, Nachos or fries, okay, but with proper toppings like carne asada, jerk pork. Garnish anything with chili-lime salt Tajin, like spiral cut chips. korean food is hot, put bulgogi inside a taco.
You want to know how powerful Hispanic food is? I've been to chili cook offs, and to BBQ competitions in the miami, and the longest line, like 10x longer than any other booth is the beans and rice. Sad they can't break away one meal to get some ribs, gotta have that beans and rice. It's an addicting. Cater to them! Colombian hot dogs are insanity!
Is your demographic black? Southern? Chicken n waffles, nashville hot chicken those skewers.

What State?

I grew up on a traveling carnival. I'm still in the business now. Do you realize how much those joints cost? It's not a cheap business to get into, and if you don't have any connections in the industry, you'll be getting bad locs for years. My family are food concessionaires, but we broke into the craft beer business now. I'll never go back to the oil. As far as food concessions go you'll need to follow this format:
>a staple
Corn dogs, funnel cakes (elephant ears are better), poppers (all purpose candy joints), mini donuts, turkey legs
These items sell themselves. People come to the fair specifically to get these things, and they won't leave without them.
>a gimmick
Donut burgers, anything on a stick, mac n cheese burger, mini donut popsicle, deep fried candy bars/butter/Twinkies
These items create their own buzz. Theyre fucking disgusting and people will buy them based on their oddity alone. I hate these joints, but they make money
>the fastest possible item
Fresh cut fries, pizza, ice cream, (cheap, shitty) burgers, kettle corn
These items deal with the volume of customers. Theyre out the window quick and typically they're so god damn cheap that you can make better money than wings and fries joints if you're just selling fries. You might gross less, but the profit margins are better.

1/2

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You're not going to do well if youre trying to serve that many items. Especially items that are so different. Keep it simple, stupid. Don't try to make good food for the cattle. They'll eat anything. Location is way more important than making a decent product. Might I ask what fair youre planning on playing? It looks like a North American Midway Entertainment operation from the pic, but it's hard to tell. Those crazy mouses and mega drops are all over the fucking place now. I'd say get a 12x12 tent with a couple deep friers and a three compartment sink, then make breaded deep fried burgers and bottled soda like the other user suggested. You'll only spend a few thousand so if you fuck up you won't have to kill yourself over the debt. Also, btw, soda isn't cheap on the lot. You can't buy that shit from Costco. Coke or Pepsi, whoever has the contract for the fair, will distribute on site and if you buy anywhere else you get kicked out. So theyre able to charge $22 for a 24 pack of 20oz bottles or a half size BIB. Soda is nearly a loss leader in that regard. People stock only for customer convenience.

>t. 3rd generation carnie whose parents are millionaires.

Also, have you talked to a midway manager yet? You don't just get to sell whatever you want. People have contracts on lemonade, fries, chicken, corn dogs, hot dogs, whatever. They can add stuff in, but typically they don't want to piss of the person selling an item that has been paying 25% of their daily gross for 20 years.