A festival or event pitch is worth it when, in a normal scenario, it leaves you more than you would have made on those same days at your usual pitch, and when its worst case is a loss you can absorb. To know before you sign you need four numbers: the full cost of the event, the contribution per item, how many you can serve during the busy hours, and what you give up by not being at your regular spot.
Everything the event costs
The pitch fee is only part of it. Add up everything you spend to be there:
- The fee to the organiser.
- Transport: often a bigger van or an extra trip compared with a normal day.
- Extra staff for the busy hours.
- Propane, charcoal or oil for those days.
- Power, if the organiser charges for it separately or you need to bring a generator.
- Anything you must buy to meet the event's rules: a gazebo of a certain size, a fire extinguisher, specific signage.
Ask the organiser what the fee includes and get it in writing. Whatever is not included, you pay.
Items to cover the event
It is the same sum as the daily break-even for a stall, using the costs of the whole event:
items to cover the event = event costs ÷ contribution per item
If the organiser also takes a percentage of your sales, take it off each item before you divide. That percentage grows with every sale; it is a variable cost.
Then compare that number with what you can serve. Measure how many items you get out per hour with your setup and multiply by the busy hours. If break-even is close to that ceiling, the event has no room for a bad day.
Three scenarios, not one
Do not use the visitor numbers the organiser advertises. Build three scenarios from your own records:
- Good: what you sold at your best similar event.
- Normal: what you sell at an average similar event.
- Bad: rain, a thin crowd, or too many traders selling the same thing.
In each one, also subtract what you prep and do not sell. At an event waste weighs more because you bring more stock.
What you give up
If you normally trade at your regular pitch on those days, going to the event also costs you what you would have made there. That number belongs in the comparison. An event that leaves $400 when your regular pitch leaves $500 on the same days loses you money, even though the event's own sums come out positive. The guide to channel profitability applies this idea to all the ways you sell.
Worked example: a coffee cart at a weekend festival
You are offered a pitch at a Saturday and Sunday festival for $450. You would sell lattes at $5.
Contribution per drink
- Espresso, milk, cup, lid and card fee at your provider's rate: $1.40
- Contribution: 5.00 − 1.40 = $3.60
Event costs
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Pitch fee | $450 |
| Van fuel, both days | $40 |
| Extra barista: 2 days × $150 | $300 |
| Generator fuel | $30 |
| Ice and water | $20 |
| Total | $840 |
Break-even: 840 ÷ 3.60 = 233.3, so 234 drinks over the weekend.
Ceiling: with your two-group machine you make 50 drinks an hour, and the crowd is there for 6 hours a day: 2 × 6 × 50 = 600 drinks at most.
Scenarios. You bring stock for 500 drinks. Beans and cups keep; milk you open and do not use is lost, about $0.25 for each drink you planned and did not sell.
| Scenario | Drinks sold | Contribution | Minus event costs | Milk lost | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | 500 | 500 × 3.60 = $1,800 | $960 | $0 | $960.00 |
| Normal | 350 | 350 × 3.60 = $1,260 | $420 | 150 × 0.25 = $37.50 | $382.50 |
| Bad | 150 | 150 × 3.60 = $540 | −$300 | 350 × 0.25 = $87.50 | −$387.50 |
What you give up: a normal weekend at your regular pitch leaves you $250 a day, so $500.
- Normal: 382.50 − 500 = $117.50 less than staying put.
- Good: 960 − 500 = $460 more.
- Bad: you lose $387.50 and also miss $500; the gap with staying put is $887.50.
In the normal case, this festival is not worth it at this fee.
If you negotiate the fee. At $250 instead of $450, event costs become $640. The normal scenario becomes 1,260 − 640 − 37.50 = $582.50, which is $82.50 more than your regular pitch. Now it is worth considering, though not by much.
If they also take a percentage. Say the organiser takes 10% of sales: 5.00 × 0.10 = $0.50 per drink. Contribution falls to 3.60 − 0.50 = $3.10, and break-even at the original fee rises to 840 ÷ 3.10 = 270.97, so 271 drinks.
Before you sign
With those numbers the decision gets simpler:
- Does the normal scenario clearly beat your regular pitch? In this example, only if the fee comes down.
- Can you absorb the worst case? Here, losing $387.50 in a weekend. If that would leave you short for next week's stock, do not sign.
- Is there something to negotiate? A lower fee, power included, a spot near the entrance, or a cap on the number of other coffee traders.
For farmers markets and fairs with a daily fee, the guide to selling at markets and fairs goes further, and weather and demand planning helps you build the bad scenario from your own records. The full method for stalls is in street food profit.
Do it with the calculator
Cost your drink or dish with the food cost calculator, then put the event costs into the break-even calculator to see how many you need to sell before you sign.
Frequently asked questions
The organiser says thousands of people will come. Should I use that?
Treat it as the organiser's number, not your sales. Use what you sold at similar events or, if it is your first, a careful estimate based on how fast you can serve.
What should I ask the organiser before paying?
What the fee includes (power, water, a table, a gazebo), opening hours, how many other traders sell something similar, whether they also take a percentage of sales, and what happens if it rains or is cancelled. Get the answers in writing.
What if the event takes a percentage of my sales?
That percentage is a cost per item, not an event cost. Take it off your contribution before working out how many items you need.
Is it worth doing an event just to get known?
It can be, but put a price on it. Work out what you could lose in the worst case and decide whether you are willing to pay that as advertising.