FLL Tourney - food concessions

[KathieK]

I'm going to be running the food concession stands at the FLL Local Tournament in Vernon, CT on Dec. 4.

If you ran a concession, or ate at one, can you tell me what kinds of foods were most popular?

[Tuba4]

I would think hot dogs, nachos, pizza by the slice and pop (or soda depending on your region of the country) would be must haves. After that go for whatever might be a biggie regionally.

And adults must have cafffeine!!! Either in coffee or Mountain Dew!!!

[Jeff Rodriguez]

No, no caffeine. I don't need my LEGO kids jumping off the walls! They're already energetic enough as it is.

[Tuba4]

NO caffeine for students!!! Just for the adults!! After weeks of chasng students and stray Lego pieces, we need all the help we can get!

[Gamer930]

Being part a team that ran concessions at many FLL Tournaments and others we normally sell:

Hot Dogs
Sloppy Joes (Easy to make in slow cooker)
Nachos
Candy (Small stuff like MM's and Starbursts)
Water
Soda
Gatorade

[Katie Reynolds]

Originally Posted by Gamer2028

Being part a team that ran concessions at many FLL Tournaments and others we normally sell:

Hot Dogs
Sloppy Joes (Easy to make in slow cooker)
Nachos
Candy (Small stuff like MM's and Starbursts)
Water
Soda
Gatorade

93 sold all of the above plus ...

Chips
Decaf and regular coffee (don't forget to have creamer, sugar and those little stir-sticks!!)
Little Caesar's Pizza (We got a deal where we bought the pizza for $4 from LC and sold each slice for $1! The pizza place also gave us a portable oven to keep the pizza warm in)
Cookies (from a local cookie store; they were donated and we sold them for $0.50 each)
Milk (in the little cartons, like you get with a school lunch)

[Lisa Rodriguez]

Can you define "kids" cuz as a ref, it's certainly like some caffine throughout the day. It's thrilling, but i need caffine to stay alive

Thanks to the RAGE adults for doing the concessions!!!
I look forward to the fantastic cuisine provide by them.

[devicenull]

Pizza went very, very fast. I think we had somewhere around 16 boxes.. and they were gone in under a half hour it seemed.

[Arefin Bari]

At my local FLL qualifying... i needed caffine all day in order to stay up and do announcing, head reffing and to keep up with the scores.

the conession stands had pizza, hotdogs, chips, soda, water bottles (wish if it was FIRST bottles), coffee and tea (for adults only).

The volunteers had free lunch and some of us had lunch with the vips... good luck...

[Jon K.]

Originally Posted by Ogre

No, no caffeine. I don't need my LEGO kids jumping off the walls! They're already energetic enough as it is.

Yeah Keiko will definately agree with me on saying that our lego kids were hyper as well. They definately don't need the caffiene although I might.

[Rich Wong]

At small FLL tournaments (10-20 teams) that I help organized, we get
the vendor machine size snacks and soft drinks (water for the adults). Individually wrapped pretzels, chocolate, cookies and trail mix are top items from COSTCO, SAM's Club or BJ'S.

This eliminates the need for a lunch break and the events are usually wrap-up by 12-1PM.

Lollipops are very popular with everyone; especially the referees and crowd control people. They are the best thing to keep the troops working.

[IMDWalrus]

Originally Posted by Tuba4

I would think hot dogs, nachos, pizza by the slice and pop (or soda depending on your region of the country) would be must haves. After that go for whatever might be a biggie regionally.

And adults must have cafffeine!!! Either in coffee or Mountain Dew!!!

This is almost exactly what we sold, along with a few smaller items (candy bars, chips, etc.).

Breakfast could be a good idea too, depending on when you open the doors. We sold doughnuts and bagels, and they were relatively popular.

One word of advice, though: NEVER tell the team members that they can have free food because they're working. I enjoyed it, and so did everyone else, but we may have eliminated whatever profits that 818 would have had entirely...

Or not. It's better than throwing away the food...

[Billfred]

Well, you could always do a coupon for a free (insert meal of substance here). Slice of pizza, chips, dessert, drink. Something like that. If your team members show up couponless, they can still get food--if they shell out their money.

[Jaine Perotti]

Don't forget vegetarians!

I am vegetarian and sometimes it is tough to find enough options.

[KathieK]

Originally Posted by BurningQuestion

Don't forget vegetarians!

I am vegetarian and sometimes it is tough to find enough options.

Yes, I will keep that in mind - we have several food allergies on our team as well, so I am trying to keep this simple, but offer enough of a variety for everyone. If you can suggest something that vegetarians would enjoy for lunch, I'm open to suggestions!