My Donut Business.com

Below is Part 4 of the email I received from a successful vendor who sells mini donuts and other items at his trailers. Thanks Dave for sharing this info with our readers!

Also, you never want to get too far ahead of yourself with making the donuts. I'll start the morning off with one batch, which gets me about 12 bags. When I get down to 2 bags, I'll start another batch. When I start frying, I turn my exhaust hood on, and the aroma gets drawn out of the trailer into the field. And this aroma draws people to my trailer! Smell sells when it comes to donuts! I've seen some vendors with smell-sensitive things like kettle corn or mini donuts who want to make their entire product first thing in the morning, so they can just sit there and sell and collect money for the rest of the day. Then they sit there and wonder why they can't move their product. Smell sells... trust me! Make them as you need them, that way the smell will keep drawing people to you, and people will get them nice and hot when they're best. And if people get donuts that they think are really good, they'll be repeat customers. It took me 5 years selling at the same location to build my business to where it now is. That trailer is a stationary unit by the way... it stays at the market year-round, and has not moved from that spot since 2006. I usually sell between 150 and 200 bags of donuts on a typical day now... I think my record day in 2010 was 236 bags. There are days I cannot keep up with the demand... I've got people placing orders and waiting, and I just keep making them as fast as I can. It takes the machine about 1 minute to make 1 bag of donuts. So there are mornings I'm literally making $3 a minute for hours. And that's just on donuts. I sell so much coffee that I needed to invest in a second commercial airpot coffee maker. I could not keep up with just one machine. I sell usually around 30 airpots worth of coffee in a morning. I also do tea, hot chocolate, iced tea, iced coffee, smoothies, canned soda, and bottled water. It is a relatively simple menu, but the trailer runs like a well-oiled machine, and everything I sell is very high profit. I buy bottled water cases at Costco... it amounts to about 15 cents a bottle, and I sell it for $1.50. On a hot summer day, I could easily sell 50-70 bottles of water. Another thing I should mention, which I think is a large part of why I have been successful there at the market, is because I keep my trailer very clean. People like to see that. I also like to use all professional signage... I think hand made signage is tacky and looks unprofessional. I got those "Dave's Donuts" signs made up last year at a professional sign shop. People want to shop at a trailer that looks professional and clean, and if you have a good aroma coming from it, that's a plus as well.

Back in 2007, a fresh squeezed lemonade stand opened up 2 spots up from my donut trailer. It was a simple setup, just a table and umbrella and ice bucket, but damn... they did a good business! They'd have a line on any sunny hot day during the summer. That space had been vacant for a while, and I was kicking myself for not starting up something like that on my own. I told myself, if and when the time comes that they close, I'll take over. Well, 2009 came along and they never returned. 2010 came and the spot was still vacant. So I finally took some initiative and talked to the market manager, and he agreed to rent me the spot to sell lemonade. So then I had to find a trailer, outfit it how I would need it for lemonade, and get it to the market ASAP because the hot summer days were quickly ticking away. I found a used 6'x10' concession trailer on Craigslist that I thought would do the trick. It's my only "real" concession trailer... a Haulmark, not a homemade job. And what a difference in quality! I will NEVER buy another homemade concession trailer. The Haulmark is very well built. No leaks, and a solid floor. Here's a video of what it looked like when I first bought it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V2w5cNmDIU

Stay tuned tomorrow when Dave talks about the importance of your stand or trailer and why it should look good.  He gives you some advice on where to find wraps and things to make it look its best!

Still wondering where to sell your donuts?  Ever thought about selling them concession style?   Below is an excellent site to get you started, it will help you answer a lot of questions you may have.  There is no limit to the number of questions a future business owner can ask,  this site really breaks it down for you.  Definitely a good read.

Click for Help with Starting  your Concession Business