Late last spring my youngest sister opened her new food wagon business, The Grandstand Concession Co., which I featured in a post I wrote right here. After a successful, and extremely busy, first season of flinging funnel cakes and churning out cheese curds she is back in action once again. And once again I have signed on to assist with many of her scheduled events.......starting tonight.
So far this summer she's been on the road to Brainerd, MN, for a couple of Friday/Saturday gigs at two different breweries in that area. A light schedule, but at the end of last summer she was A) exhausted, and B) already planning improvements for this summer. Improvement #1 - fewer gigs. We, she, learned quickly that going to an event was only half of the work involved with operating a food wagon; getting stocked and ready was the other half. Last summer we overbooked, leaving little time for inventory runs and, quite frankly, physical recovery. Standing and cooking and serving in a small, hot space for 6-13 hours at a time is mentally and physically draining. It was easy to look back on the summer and realize the schedule was insane, just like we would be if we did that again.
So she said "no" to some of our less-profitable venues, "yes" to the ones we really enjoyed, and once again she is back in business. It feels a little different this year, though. Last year was an adventure, something fresh and exciting, a long-time dream realized, a terrific exercise in living boldly. This year it seems more like a job. As mentioned I haven't worked in the wagon yet - at the end of my final gig last summer I immediately told sister-boss I would NOT be working as much this summer - and whereas last year I saw the concession business as a way out of my current career, this year I know my future is not in food sales. It's a fantastic way to earn money, my sister has created what I'm sure will be a successful business.....but it's not for me. I will help often and we will have some fun and hopefully make some money - but the cautious enthusiasm I carried into last summer's wagon tour has been replaced by willing assistance this year. Maybe once I tie on the apron and resume my role as the Deep-Fry Messiah the enthusiasm will return.
In just a few hours I'll find out, as we debut at opening night of the Summertime By George concert series in St. Cloud, MN. Easily one of my favorite events last summer, for the next twelve Wednesdays we will take our place amongst dozens of other vendors to peddle our delicacies to (hopefully) thousands of music and food lovers. Last year's opening night drew a crowd of 14,000 and holy moly were we busy! I anticipate a bigger night tonight - the weather is spectacularly perfect, and last year we were brand new and unknown. By the end of the summer we had a corps of customers who sought us out each week - Grandstand Jan, funnel cake guy, cheese-curd Chuck, etc. - and a few of our menu items had become pretty popular. So we'll see what difference a year has made.
Here's a link to the events page of the business's website, and here's a link to the menu page. The menu is huge, but we don't serve it all each time out...not even Deep-Fry Messiah could keep up with all that! My favorites? The Blue Ribbon Sliders and the Up-North Corn Pup. The customers' favorite? The Best In Show Nachos. The item I could live without? The Fresh Fried Pie. They are delicious, but a major pain in the rear to serve. We'd love to have you visit our wagon...but if you order a pie I will most assuredly say naughty words under my breath.
I hope your summer is Grand.....and I hope ours is, too.
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