Selling food at night market this year?
 

I know this topic had been talked about before but management changed and it's been several years so it's probably better to start a new thread

Me and some friends are thinking of opening a booth to sell some food yet. anyone dones it before? how much does it cost? do we need licenses of some sort? whats the new owner for nightmarket like to work with?

The 2nd and 3rd question can be answered properly (and directly) if you contact the owner. Contacting them is probably your best solution as you will have a definite answer and not just hear say.

yes I will contact them tomorrow but just wanted to get some opinions from RS as well.

You might not get back the money you put into it.

chinatown or richmond?

if you want more information for the richmond night market, you can PM or email me

You need a license and health check or something like that...

All i know is, the new management has toughened up their standards, that's why last year had less booths and food stalls.

Im just waiting for more fahn bahn stuff + jb's then i propose an RS RNM meet!

you are right that the standards are tougher
but its not due to the new management, its because that the city of Richmond asks for it

What are you going to sell? Lets hope its not fishballs or crepes or bbt or any of the other crap that is already there.

i believe at least 1 person will need some sort of food safe training on the premises, just like any other restaurant operation would. even if you're just selling snacks or w/e, as long as theres cooking involved, you need food safe.

btw, i remember somebody quoted you in their signature, saying you tasted your own semen before? i hope you're not serving semen flavored food because no matter how you try and argue it, you will fail health inspection for sure.

But.. curry fish balls are so damn delicious...

Yes.. but we already have 5 curry fish ball places there so we don't need more. Did they have pig skin at night market last year?

why not something easy and healthy? most of that stuff is pretty greesy, it'd be nice to have something refreshing too that's not laced in coffee creamer or pop

as much as i despise eating oily grease balls and etc, i don't think people going there is exactly looking for a salad or anything

^ I just well not necessarily a salad, but anything that's even remotely refreshing :)

Or go for a missing niche?

I think there was a taco place last year....

^Fuck the niches, we just need cheaper food to be honest. $5 for 3 wimpy ass sticks of meat?

Imagine the amount of money you'd make by offering better food at a better price point!

jizzballs...BBT with extra sperm in it....sticky tofu
japanese squid balls serve with pubic hair :lol


me and my high school friends spent 3 summers opening food booth at night
market (I bet only few remember the good oldie lansdowne mall night market)
it wasn't that pleasant. At the end of the night, you will be so tired and split
that few hundred dollars with 10 of your friends. I should have worked at
mcdonald, it makes more money.

Ice Cream! We all scream for Ice Cream

think about the overhead involved with selling those 3 sticks of meat for $5...
you have to pay your friends who are also wasting their fri/sat/sun SUMMER nights to hang out at the nightmarket... you have to pay material costs for your meat and consider the time it takes to prep it for sale, daily vendor fees, and once again, all your valuable summer weekend time... and now you have to try to make a profit.

yeah damn. sounds tough. we were thinking of selling deserts and some bbq and yes bubble tea too haha.

if you're willing to 1 or 2 man it 3 nights a week, then it can make good money but thats a pretty tough job (especially if you also work 9-5 m-f).. most people end up getting a bunch of friends to help out, and once the pie is split 4 or 5 ways theres not much left.

Fried Rice in a cup!!!!

I would like invest in this food stand!!!!

No offence but it has been done before and it is the worst idea from a business standpoint. I have been doing the night market for 4 years in a row before the other management team took over that space last year. The majot players in the food sections are owned by the management team or has been doing it for a very long time. If you get a chance to check out the floor plan, do not take the last row close to the wall, because the traffic there are brutal. The rent is around $100 - $140 per night so you really do have to think about the product that you are selling, and the number of transactions / turnover you are doing from 6-12. If you want to make money, you really have to put your work into it. If people are telling you they've made $50,000 or more, they are full of bs. You really have to think of a food product with a better than average shelf life and would cater to the visitors there.

Also, the majority of the people willing to spend money there are visitors from across the border. With the econmic downturn, the night market will experience less traffic. I would honestly say that over the four years I've been a vendor, the business keeps dropping. I can't really speak on behalf of the food vendors because I sold other products, and the highlight out of the four years was flying to hong kong and getting a bunch of replica world cup jerseys, where I would average $1,000 of sales per night. If I took an average of all my sales over the years, I would say it would equal a part time job of $14-$15 an hour paid cash.

Food stands are way tougher than other vendors and I would not recommend it unless you really know what you are doing. I hope that helps.

So in conclusion...don't do it.

any of you guys interested in opening a food or merchandise booth, email me at victor@summernightmarket.com for more info