misc My booth setup, table and displays

[Sam & Oliver]

had a stellar turnout, 5000 paid (adult) through the gate (under 18 got in free) for my first day at my first event.
 
thanks to SL, i had a great setup, a constant stream of people queued up at both tasting stations and sold 19 boxes of product in 7 hours.  the keychains, not so much. only 6 sold, on a $3 or 2/$5. not sweating it though, as the sauce was the showcase, not the merch.
 
with SL's suggestions, i had a case of 'Thank You' teeshirt bags under the front table, and left room on the front of the table for people to set bags down.
 
i had a nice '16 gauge clear vinyl roll for the table top, for easy cleanup and spills (6 people dropped sauce)
 
had over 250 at the booth, with me and a friends daughter helping me.
 
each person was invited over to try, offered the choice of spoon or chip (i had those small debutant spoons, and tostitos scoops). chips were kept rolled up and samples were poured by staff only. only used 1.5 bottles of each. nearly 3/4 of all visitor who tried bought a bottle.
 
cinder and stoke sold nearly 1:1 with stoke selling 10 bottles more.
 
7 hour day went by in a snap. with 1 hour to go, sales dropped off the cliff and had 1 sale in the last 60 minutes.
 
at the show there were 170 vendors. no one else had a booth like mine. a few tents blew over from wind guats but my weight plates i got with the MightyTent were perfect. zero issues. i used TentCraft.com to manufacture it.
 
tent is a 10x10 mightytent with a 10x10 screened rear, black side skirts with bars, and a custom valence.
 
table is a powerstretch fully printed cover with zipper in the rear on an 8' table.
 
the displays were built by me from crates and bare wood, like the sample trivots.
 
the keychain was from ColdStone Creamery when it went out of business. bought 3 of them for just $5 each, used chalkboard as a dropin back and $30 worth of towel hooks (black) holding 3 of each keychain color.
 
i still need a solution for lighting for the fall.
 
and an anti-fatigue mat for the front table instead of standing on the hard packed ground
 
 
 

edit: had more people at the booth but just over 250 actually samples. very few refused, but every ome that stopped asked questions or was invited over by us. no one was ignored
 
one woman acused me of having bad info on the nutrition panel claiming hot sauce has carbs.  i explained  that cinder and stoke had 0 carbs but she was adamant.  in the end i encouraged her to actually try them and she bought a bottle of stoke haha

 

[tctenten]

Sounds reasonable. Certainly could have been alot worse.

 

[Sam & Oliver]

Because the unit was new, and I took before pictures (hint hint, always take pics of the setup AFTER setup and before the show... something a friend told me to do for a C-Y-A thing)... they saw I had the plates on, and we settled on a fair price, after I told them I had a $500 deductible.  Now, maybe I shot myself in the foot there, because they matched that pretty much.
 
I also got them to give me the two side valences as a discount, so now the new one will have Sam & Oliver on 3 sides (I skipped the rear).  It's not really their fault the wind kicked it up, but I did use the setup like they suggested and it happened.  Freak accident?  Probably.
 
But they did stress that I need to use the corner tie-downs and stakes as well as plates in the future unless on blacktop.
 
They strongly suggested I get another set of half-plates to complete the setup for asphalt or blacktop, bringing the ground weight to 66 pounds per leg, and is rated at 35mph, garanteed by them.
 
I think  it was a judgement call, and the tier of tent I got wasn't just their skimpy tent with the cheapest way out, I took the time to get a better quality one with them.  I appreciate what they did to help me get back up.  They also said they made the call so I wouldn't be running an unsafe canopy.  I also imagine (assume) that they don't want me running a turn up canopy because it would make their brand look bad too!
 
Either way, we virtually shook hands on it, and called it a day. I have 2 more valence screens and a new tent, plus the old one for parts or spare if I need by this 28th.
 
I would recommend them.  They are good people out of Michigan.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

You didn't shoot yourself mentioning the deductible they probably gave this to you at their cost. I'd say it was cool of them!

Good company, you should mention them so others know.

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

Sounds like a good company.

As for the cost, that's about what I've been quoted on a similar set-up.

I decided that I had better things to spend $3k on.

Plus using it outdoors, and having seen other vendors bad tent experiences - yeah. Not worth it - mostly because for me that stated life expectancy is way off.

For a market vendor who does at least 4 markets a week (I do 4 in winter, 6 in summer + festivals) life expectancy is 1 season - 2 if I'm lucky. I've got 2 shelter logic canopies, steel with plain white tops. They run about $250 and each has a 1-year warrantee. I've replaced one unit, and have replaced the canopy tops twice in 3 years.

Mother Nature is a right bitch.



If you're not doing more than a dozen festivals a year, 5 years is a pretty fair estimate.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Now I can comment on your setup.
 
I like it all except the keychains or whatever they are being showcased dead center, and highest. What is that about?
 
The rest looks awesome.

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

Now I can comment on your setup.
 
I like it all except the keychains or whatever they are being showcased dead center, and highest. What is that about?
 
The rest looks awesome.

Those are recipe gadgets for Pookie's to inspire them to cook and post pictures

 

[Sam & Oliver]

Now I can comment on your setup.
 
I like it all except the keychains or whatever they are being showcased dead center, and highest. What is that about?
 
The rest looks awesome.

 
aha! good eye!
 
here's the thinking behind what it was:
1) two person sampling setup, barrier between me and pther worker
2) sunny day, wanted shiny glittery things as a lure
3) wanted a symmetrical setup
4) was a $150 sign board i got from Coldstone Creamery when they went out of business for $5! i didnt modify it and it had enough room to hold 10 colors so i got creative. for now
5) It is technicalpy a place holder for now. if you can guess what i'll send you a bottle of Cinder and Stoke

 

[Gemini Crow Sauce Company]

Sounds like a good company.

As for the cost, that's about what I've been quoted on a similar set-up.

I decided that I had better things to spend $3k on.

Plus using it outdoors, and having seen other vendors bad tent experiences - yeah. Not worth it - mostly because for me that stated life expectancy is way off.

For a market vendor who does at least 4 markets a week (I do 4 in winter, 6 in summer + festivals) life expectancy is 1 season - 2 if I'm lucky. I've got 2 shelter logic canopies, steel with plain white tops. They run about $250 and each has a 1-year warrantee. I've replaced one unit, and have replaced the canopy tops twice in 3 years.

Mother Nature is a right bitch.



If you're not doing more than a dozen festivals a year, 5 years is a pretty fair estimate.

 
100% agreed. Set up looks amazing, and I have definitiely spent the last several days what my $2600 set up would look like in the end...
 
but, with farmers markets, and dozens of events lined up...it would get beat up and worked over pretty quickly...and i personally couldn't justify spending anywhere close to that.....
 
sucks that it happened within your first couple of events.....live & learn.....

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

I buy all equipment expecting it to break. Up, down, up, down, up, down, lather, rinse repeat. Week after week. Shit happens. As such, while I do spend $ for quality, I don't usually spend $ for aesthetics/logos - I figure I can always get a custom tablecloth & then I Hang an extra banner on the front & back.

When the canopy falls apart, the banner will still look good.

Different applications for different companies. Different strokes for different folks. There's no doubt it looks freakin awesome.

 

[Sam & Oliver]

witg a full time job im a weekend warrior with expos and shows. no markets for me. yet.
 
i bought this with 12 shows per year in mind, 10 of them are multi-day where the tent stays up for 2 or 3 days.
 
i pray for the day when i can quit my day job. i LOVED the show. wish i could do it every week

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

It ain't all sunshine & roses - lol. No one can do it every week.

Finally getting into festival season - winter is long and slow. Soon the stone fruits will be back at the markets.

I love summer time!

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

So I'm finally able to see this on a PC (instead of my tiny phone) and there's a giant red flag: 
 

 
That bottle marked "sample" - yeah, I wouldn't do that.  You're begging the health dept to shut you down or issue a hefty fine or both. 
 
Not sure about your state, but if I had a prototype undocumented with no ingredients listed and no certs or approvals in a commercial setting they'd shut me down and take away my health permit. 
 
Again, I don't know your rules, but regardless of legality you're also setting yourself up for some ambulance chaser to claim it made them sick and sue you. And since that "product" isn't commercially made or covered by your business insurance, that could be seriously problematic. 
 
Save your prorotypes for friends and family, and the occasional trusted customer. Don't ever put it on the table where you're selling your products. My best advice to you. 

 

[Wicked Pepper]

It ain't all sunshine & roses - lol. No one can do it every week.

Finally getting into festival season - winter is long and slow. Soon the stone fruits will be back at the markets.

I love summer time!

That's funny. Here in Florida my festival season is winding down. Summer is so hot and humid here. I hate summertime!

 

[AJ Drew]

I am so very incredibly happy for you.  Kind of a weird thought, not knowing you or having anything to do with your product, but also feeling kind of proud on behalf of small business. Your set up rocks!

 

[salsalady]

I guess I need a new set of glasses cuz I can't see "sample" on anything, but I do see the un-labeled looking bottle......
 
+++ to what Scott said about serving an unlicensed/prototype sauce!
 
 
which reminded me of something a very experienced sauce person mentioned- if they sell out of a sauce, they pull the sample.  No matter what sauce it is, if it's not available, THAT is the one the customer wants and will even walk away if they can't get it cuz the business is sold out of that one sauce.  If the sample of the missing sauce isn't available, 9/10 they will choose/buy another sauce that is available at the event.
 
I also now noticed the Tostitos bag.  For Samples????

PS- I like the open space on the table.  Did you notice people using that for purses and packages?

 

[Sam & Oliver]

people didnt comment on the space but yes, they put their bags on the corner of the table sometimes. thanks for that tip SL
 
the BBQ is finalized just waiting in a label. i had a card with ingredients on hand. the inspector even came by and tried it, and said as long as i was serving with gloves it was ok.
 
the tostitos scoops were 2 big bags for $7 i gave each person a choice:
 
try it kn a spoon or chip. some cant handle straigjt sauce so they chose chip. some couldnt eat corn chips so they chose spoon.
 
i used 1.5 bags of tostitos total and about 400 debutante spoons.
 
i went through 500 business cards because people tasted the bbq and wanted to know where my next show was when id have the bbq it was that popular.
 
i understand what your saying about the risk of sampling a sauce without product, but this had people saying "oh my i want that when is it ready. we'll be waiting".. next show it should be ready in the actual packaging by then
 
i think it worked out ok.
 
the bbq samples were from a professional manufacturer. 

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

No ingredients statement leaves you exposed.

I would never serve from an unlabeled product. Too many food allergies & ambulance chasers in the world & your insurance would say you were negligent for not labeling if someone claimed to get sick from it.

Sounds paranoid I realize, but this is the world we live in. Be careful. Glad your health inspector was ok with it - mine would flip out. lol

 

[AJ Drew]

No ingredients statement leaves you exposed.

Curious why free samples would be any different than the free chips and salsa at the local Mexican style restaurant.  For that matter, hot dogs and hot pretzels at a baseball game.  Seems like the rules are enforced differently for different things.

 

[Lucky Dog Hot Sauce]

Curious why free samples would be any different than the free chips and salsa at the local Mexican style restaurant.  For that matter, hot dogs and hot pretzels at a baseball game.  Seems like the rules are enforced differently for different things.

Yes, they are.

Especially at organized events a where they often have clauses in your contract stating that you can't sample anything without an ingredients label.

In restaurants the consumer is responsible - e.g. If they have a peanut allergy and order Satay, it's up to the consumer to ask the restaurant "are there peanuts in this?"

At a festival, the person sampling is responsible for informing the consumer.

I'm not sure why this difference exists - I just know it does.

And regardless of whether S&O's recipe is approved for that sample bottle, the fact remains that it did not go through the manufacturing process, which includes test & release of the product by a state inspector. Which likely means it's not commercially acceptable, and the liability would be on S&O's.

maybe it's different for S&O's state.

 

[salsalady]

He said the BBQ was from a professional manufacturer, not sure what the regs are in his state as far as testing and releasing like what LDHS has to deal with in CA.  In WA there is no quarentine or state inspector test before the sauce can be released.  If it's got the PA approval and made in an approved facility by a licensed person, that's all that's needed.