My Donut Business.com

The following is per our partner, John Reid:

I talked to two sources today about setting up space for our donut venture.

1.  I spoke to Tim Rollins at Metropolitan Partners (614) 883-1322 and I think this is his cell phone.  I told him we were interested in the concert series at Pullman Square.  Told him I'd spoken to Matt Kelly at the beer tent, and he knew him.  Tim said they have to be very careful with on the street food vendors during those events so as not to upset the restaurant vendors.  That's why we haven't seen many and that makes logical sense.  But, I went ahead and told him we wanted to sell fresh donuts which is a novel concept and something that should not threaten the restaurants.  It's not like we're selling hot dogs and hamburgers.  He agreed and said maybe.  He and some other people from the company will be travelling to Huntington in a few weeks for a series of meetings with local promoters in the city to talk about next year.  He asked for my phone number so he can let me know what happens with that.  I gave him mine as well as the Pinnacle Ventures number.  I thought it best not to be too secretive as telling him what we wanted to do with donuts could get our foot in the door a bit more.

2. Spoke to lady at Milton Pumpkin fest.  This one would be a hard one to get in to.  She said they have vendors that have been with them from the very beginning and that they get preference.  She said there's usually about 5 slots left and it's up to the committee to decide.  I asked if we had a novel concept, something different if that would help us get in.  Of course she asked what it was and using my best judgement I told her donuts.  She was not impressed and said they already have a person doing pumpkin donuts, pumpkin ice cream and pumpkin dumplings.  That info didn't help our cause there.  I went ahead and asked for rental numbers and the procedure to apply.  There's a great website that tells all about it--www.wvpumpkinpark.com.  Basically it's $350 rent and $20 for utilities if in the Baker's Tent.  More if you have a stand outside.  That's for the whole festival and not each day.  She said they would start looking at 2010 vendors about February.

I'm a little dishartened about the Pumpkin Festival as this was the same non-chalant attitude that Donnie and I got at the Milton Flea Market.  It's going to be tough to break into most of these places.  They're not just going to welcome us in.  We might have to start with some new festival that doesn't have a big concession following like the recent Swine Festival in Guyondotte.  But, there are tons of festivals around and they all can't be booked.  We can also get more creative with our marketing and the areas we target.  We're smart and can come up with plenty of good ideas.