jonnyboy Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 I have to add that your website is great, all the info is there and easy to navigate. I love a comprehensive site, it boggles my mind when a show doesn't have a site or only has very basic information. On another note, isn't this the school that did Surf on the Turf? Moving this event to show day might drive ticket sales, I'm sure you've considered this already though. Good luck with this show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 I have to add that your website is great, all the info is there and easy to navigate. I love a comprehensive site, it boggles my mind when a show doesn't have a site or only has very basic information. On another note, isn't this the school that did Surf on the Turf? Moving this event to show day might drive ticket sales, I'm sure you've considered this already though. Good luck with this show. Thanks. We just rebranded the website about a week ago. No, this is not the school that did Surf on the Turf, which was a month ago. That school was Watkins Memorial HS in Pataskala, OH (about 30 miles away). Surf was coming through to start their tour heading west and spent two days here. They did a clinic that was branded Surf on the Turf because the school just put down new fields. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcorpsfever Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 (edited) Still, a great show in Dublin even though I wish Bloo was there. Good luck - and as always, praying for lots of sunshine! Hopefully I will be able to make the trip to the show. Edited July 20, 2014 by drumcorpsfever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdm Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Doing a "very detailed analysis" of financial things is something I have a little experience with ( ) and I appreciate your understanding of your food profit margins. The fact is though that, even in our cheap seats, we make profit in dollars that is twice your great experience with BBQ potatoes per person. On our best seats we make more than four times your potato profits. And everyone has to buy a ticket to see the show. Stadium food is not generally considered health food or balanced (lower demand) and the booster concession stand has the physical limitation of not being able to serve all those who might care to eat in a 30 minute intermission window. Part of the rationale of having food trucks is allowing parents to easily feed their kids before the show without guilt. We sell about 65% of the seats our stadium can hold so, to my eye, the best use of our skimpy available volunteer time should be spent getting more BITS. When the stadium is full and we're looking for ways to tweak profits (besides getting a bigger stadium) I'll have the luxury of focusing on bigger potatoes, better BBQ sauce, and enticing more fans to eat them. Until then, it really doesn't matter if I've got good food margins if I can't get more people to the stands to eat. But our show has never profited from food sales - the boosters always get that profit (so if they want to boost profits with BBQ, good for them). This year the food trucks paid a flat fee to serve at the stadium and the show, again, isn't making any of that profit (although we obviously get their entry fee). I appreciate your "beef tips" but, until we pack the stadium, food profit is "small potatoes". I was just giving You a example of how to make profits on food concessions, I wasn't saying you should start selling barbeque potatoes. I am familiar with the Columbus Ohio market/Mindset (lived there for 5 years) there is a lot of local fare there that could heavily increase your bottom line. All it would take is a open mind, the willingness to think out of the box, and not be satisfied with the status quo. But it is your show/event, and you have the right to run it which ever way you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 PM sent G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 I was just giving You a example of how to make profits on food concessions, I wasn't saying you should start selling barbeque potatoes. I am familiar with the Columbus Ohio market/Mindset (lived there for 5 years) there is a lot of local fare there that could heavily increase your bottom line. All it would take is a open mind, the willingness to think out of the box, and not be satisfied with the status quo. But it is your show/event, and you have the right to run it which ever way you want. Please don't think me argumentative, as I'm not intended to be. I'm genuinely curious. What "local fare" do you speak of that could heavily increase our bottom line? I can assure you that we have all of the qualifications you list above. What I'd like to know is if these "local fare" ideas are a better use of our resources than increasing attendance. What I haven't heard yet is why I should put energy into making $.50 more on a box of popcorn when one extra ticket sold generates over $10 profit. But I'm absolutely open to suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdm Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 (edited) Please don't think me argumentative, as I'm not intended to be. I'm genuinely curious. What "local fare" do you speak of that could heavily increase our bottom line? I can assure you that we have all of the qualifications you list above. What I'd like to know is if these "local fare" ideas are a better use of our resources than increasing attendance. What I haven't heard yet is why I should put energy into making $.50 more on a box of popcorn when one extra ticket sold generates over $10 profit. But I'm absolutely open to suggestions! First, don't think of it as ticket sales, or concession sales. Think of it as ticket sales, AND concession sales. Also, I might would try looking for collaborate with someone, since labor seems to be a issue. Have you tried Skyline, or Graters? I also remember a small high end Ice cream maker in the farmers market just north of Downtown Columbus. She did everything in her shop, has a very good product, and she was very, very, hungry. I bet she would love to collaborate with someone. Have them do all the work, in exchange to access to the market you have. Maybe get them to create special products just for your show, that are only available during your show. I will suggest getting to know some of the people at Village Academy, in Powell. My kids went to school there for a while, and they are experts at fundraising, concessions, and events. They have /had a yearly gala that generated almost $200,000 in revenue in one night. They may be willing to help you guys out. I do know they have a good fine arts program, and may be interested in working with a group affiliated with music. Look at the way minor league baseball does it. See these: http://business.time.com/2009/12/07/movie-theaters-make-85-profit-at-concession-stands/ http://www.thundertix.com/ticket-trends/event-concessions-food-truck-vs-venue-kitchen/ http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/queen_city_agenda/2014/06/charlotte-knights-enjoy-big-league-concession.html?page=all Edited July 20, 2014 by cdm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 First, don't think of it as ticket sales, or concession sales. Think of it as ticket sales, AND concession sales. Also, I might would try looking for collaborate with someone, since labor seems to be a issue. Have you tried Skyline, or Graters? I also remember a small high end Ice cream maker in the farmers market just north of Downtown Columbus. She did everything in her shop, has a very good product, and she was very, very, hungry. I bet she would love to collaborate with someone. Have them do all the work, in exchange to access to the market you have. Maybe get them to create special products just for your show, that are only available during your show. I will suggest getting to know some of the people at Village Academy, in Powell. My kids went to school there for a while, and they are experts at fundraising, concessions, and events. They have /had a yearly gala that generated almost $200,000 in revenue in one night. They may be willing to help you guys out. I do know they have a good fine arts program, and may be interested in working with a group affiliated with music. Look at the way minor league baseball does it. See these: http://business.time.com/2009/12/07/movie-theaters-make-85-profit-at-concession-stands/ http://www.thundertix.com/ticket-trends/event-concessions-food-truck-vs-venue-kitchen/ http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/queen_city_agenda/2014/06/charlotte-knights-enjoy-big-league-concession.html?page=all This is a major-league excellent reply. Thank you for taking me seriously and for the thoughtful and complete reply. If the food truck idea is a definable success then we'll likely repeat it. If not then we'll try a different tact. We have two desert trucks coming. Your second idea to contact the Academy sparks an idea that we had a couple of years ago and didn't follow up on. Might be time to resurrect it. And thanks for the business articles. I'll put them on my pile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skywhopper Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Regardless of the show format ideas, the *website* for this show is the best I've ever seen by far. Kudos, garfield, to you or whoever on your team put this site together. This ought to be the standard to which all DCI show pages is held. Keep up the amazing work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FanLib Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Ditto the positive comments about your web site. Very clear info. Love the idea too. Do you market this show to area marching band programs? There are also some decent sized winterguard/indoor drumline competitions in the Columbus area (Liberty HS hosts OIPA premier, Central Crossing hosts, as does Watkins Memorial), not to mention the state OIPA competition in Wapakoneta . I don't recall ever seeing anything at these events and they'd be the audiences who might attend. Would that be considered inappropriate to advertise at these events ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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