Food Trailer for Rent in or near Minnesota?

FYI I found a rig to rent. I've been putting my FEC through its paces and will be up and running when the fair opens on Thursday. I'm at Snelling and Midway Parkway if anyone has a chance to stop by!

hows it going at the fair? I was out on mondaynight but never got a chance to stop by. keep us posted if you get time.

The good news is that I grossed one of the highest on this corner. The bad news is that the "landlord" who rented the space misrepresented the potential for sales, so I wound up going for twelve days for the simple "experience." I did not make money, I actually came out in the red.
I learned a ton though, which makes it worthwhile in the end. IF I could get the same spot for 20% of what I paid this year I would do it again for simple marketing reasons and modest profits (tons of people go by this intersection).
I found out that no matter how good your 'que is, Minnesotans want fried food at the fair. I stuck with the pulled pork sliders, but added in freshly battered corn dogs (smoked the dogs in the fec before dipping and frying of course) and deep fried cheese on a stick! Sales were 50% que and 50% fried stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by BBQDUDE:
... Minnesotans want fried food at the fair. ...

So, you have a year to come up with Fried Pork or Fried Brisket or Fried Ribs....

Sorry to hear, but sounds like the typical guy that sells something, they always overstate the potential

I'm sorry it didn't work out better. That's a lot of work to end up in the red. That's why vending scares me; sometimes you cook it and they don't come.

hey smokin, remember a team called rib wurx? they had a battered deep fried bbq rib,sounded intersting, so I tried it. ashamed to say it, but it was good! It can be done.

Todd G might have the answer. Be afraid, very afraid!
I'm thinking of dragging the fec around some small comps to see what happens. Maybe even as soon as this weekend in Marshall, MN. We'll see how it goes!

With the NC State Fair coming up next month I'm planning to watch the vendors to see how they're doing and what they're selling. It doesn't seem like there is a lot of wiggle room between the local groups that do the fair every year and have an established following for BBQ, hotdogs, sausage dogs, etc, and the traveling vendors that rent space and hope for the best.

At about $800-1200 per day depending on size and location of space, you've got to be busy all the time for the entire duration of the fair to make a profit. Risky business IMO.

I was asked to be a vendor at a couple of charity events (last Saturday seems to have been the weekend for every running/walking charity event in this area) last weekend and passed on them all even though there would have been no cost to me. Just the risk of cooking and not having any business was enough to scare away my yellow butt. I just wasn't sure what the demand would have been for someone that just walked 20 miles or ran a 5K or 10K race.