10/09/2026
🎪 50,000 PEOPLE EXPECTED, 50 FOOD TRUCKS BOOKED… AND ENOUGH CUSTOMERS TO FILL A MINIVAN. 🌭💸😂
Let's talk about events, vendor fees, and why that hot dog or bottle of water sometimes costs a little more at a festival.
People always wonder why food is more expensive at events. Well, here's something most people probably don't realize.
Some events charge food trucks, coffee trailers, craft vendors, and other small businesses anywhere from NOTHING to $1,000, $1,500, or even more just for the privilege of showing up.
That's right. Before we've sold one hot dog, poured one coffee, or handed somebody a handmade candle, we might already be a thousand dollars in the hole.
And let's be honest, sometimes WE, THE VENDORS, ARE THE MAIN ATTRACTION AT THESE EVENTS!
Because I've been to a few where my wife and I look at each other and say, "Who in the hell is in charge of this lame duck?" 😂
Now, here's where things get interesting.
WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF EVENT PLANNER MATHEMATICS. 🧮
"We're expecting 50,000 people!"
Really? That's fantastic!
Then you show up and there are 50 food trucks, 1,800 attendees, and a guy playing acoustic guitar for an audience of six folding chairs.
But let's do some math.
15 food trucks paying $1,000 each.
That's $15,000 in vendor fees before the event even starts.
Now divide 1,800 attendees among 50 trucks.
That's 36 people per truck, assuming every person buys from one truck and everybody gets an equal share.
Which obviously isn't how things work.
Some people don't eat. Some bring their own food. Some spend their money at craft booths. Some just come to walk around.
And there you are, lucky to break even, wondering if you accidentally paid $1,000 to participate in a food truck support group.
I swear, talking to certain event planners reminds me of what I imagine talking to a snake oil salesman would've been like back in the day.
Way before my time, of course, but I'm pretty sure I've encountered a few modern-day versions. 😂
"STEP RIGHT UP! THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE! RECORD CROWDS! THE BIGGEST EVENT OF THE YEAR!"
Okay, but where are these numbers coming from?
Who stood there and physically counted all these people?
Was there a ticket system? An actual attendance count?
Or did somebody look across a crowded field one Saturday five years ago and decide that every year afterward would have 20,000 people?
Because here's the thing.
Just because an event was successful one year doesn't mean it's guaranteed to be successful every year.
Things change.
The weather changes. The economy changes. People's spending habits change. Competing events pop up. Families have other commitments.
You can't take your biggest attendance estimate from years ago, sprinkle a little fairy dust on it, and advertise it as a guaranteed crowd.
AND PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF HOT DOGS, STOP COUNTING SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS AS ATTENDEES. 😂
I've genuinely wondered if some event projections are calculated like this:
"This food truck has 3,000 followers."
"That coffee trailer has 10,000."
"Those other vendors have 20,000 combined."
"And our event should bring 7,000."
BOOM! 40,000 PEOPLE ARE COMING!
WHAT?!
That's not event planning. That's somebody doing math with a calculator they found in a cereal box.
Just because somebody follows a food truck on Facebook doesn't mean they're packing up their family and driving 45 minutes to watch me put mustard on a wiener. 😂
NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT THE MONEY WE HAVE INVESTED. 💸
Imagine being told 20,000 people are expected.
You're hoping to serve 800 of them.
So you stock up.
Hot dogs. Buns. Chili. Cheese. Drinks. Chipis the s. Packaging. Propane. Fuel. Everything.
Between the vendor fee and product costs, you could have $3,500 invested in one event before you've even opened your serving window.
Then the event turns out to be a complete dud.
And guess what?
The organizer already has your money.
It doesn't matter if it rains, if it's 95 degrees, if the crowd doesn't show, or if half the people leave after 20 minutes.
THAT CHECK HAS ALREADY CLEARED.
You're standing there with hundreds of hot dogs, a trailer full of supplies, and enough disappointment to last until next festival season.
Meanwhile, somebody walks by and says, "Wow, $4 for a bottle of water? That's expensive!"
Well, somebody has to pay for this thousand-dollar patch of grass, and apparently it's me. 😂
WHICH BRINGS ME TO MY BIGGEST QUESTION FOR EVENT ORGANIZERS.
If you're so confident that you're putting on the event of the century, and you're promising us crowds so enormous that we're all going to leave looking like SCROOGE MCDUCK DIVING INTO HIS SWIMMING POOL FULL OF MONEY, why can't we pay you AFTER the event?
Seriously.
Let's sign an agreement.
You tell me 20,000 people are coming. I agree to your $1,000 vendor fee.
You produce those numbers, and before I pull out of that parking lot, I'll gladly hand you your money.
BUT IF YOU DON'T PRODUCE THE NUMBERS YOU PROMISED, YOU DON'T GET THE FEE YOU REQUESTED.
How about that?
If you believe in your event enough to sell me on it, then believe in it enough to stand behind the numbers.
Because right now, the organizer can collect thousands of dollars before the first customer arrives, while the vendors are taking nearly all the risk if the event doesn't perform.
I'm not saying organizers don't have expenses. I know they do. Insurance, entertainment, permits, advertising, security, and plenty of other things cost money.
But we're investing our money too.
And if the whole sales pitch is based on how many people are supposedly coming, there should be some accountability when those numbers turn out to be wildly inflated.
Otherwise, the organizer leaves looking like Scrooge McDuck, and I'm leaving looking like Charlie Brown on Halloween.
"I GOT A ROCK." 🪨😂
AND CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT HOW MANY FOOD TRUCKS SOME OF THESE EVENTS BOOK?
Here's something I've learned.
LESS IS MORE.
If you're expecting 50–100 people, you probably need ONE food truck.
100–300 people? One capable food truck can absolutely handle that.
300–500? Depending on the menu and serving window, one experienced truck may still be enough.
We've served and prepared food for 500 people by ourselves multiple times, operating out of a 4×8 trailer.
With proper preparation, the right menu, and enough serving time, we could handle 1,000 people if needed.
I'm not saying every truck has the same capacity or that large events shouldn't offer variety.
But why does an event expecting a few hundred people need six food trucks?
And even at large events, do you really need 15 or 20 food trucks competing for the same customers?
In my opinion, many large events would be better off with eight or fewer carefully selected food trucks, depending on attendance, service times, and variety.
Because when you oversaturate an event, nobody wins.
The vendors don't make money. The organizer develops a bad reputation. And next year, good luck getting quality businesses to come back.
THEN THERE'S THE EVENT SCHEDULING GENIUSES. 📅
This one really gets me.
Some organizers don't seem to research what else is happening in the area.
There are major festivals that have been around for years, draw actual crowds, and fall on roughly the same dates every season.
So naturally, somebody decides to schedule their brand-new "BIGGEST EVENT OF THE YEAR" on the exact same Saturday as ten established festivals.
Then they're surprised when nobody shows up.
"We really thought we'd get 800 people."
Meanwhile, there are more people standing in line for the bathroom at Heinz Field than there are at your entire event. 😂
DO YOUR RESEARCH!
Look at competing events. Look at previous attendance. Look at the community. Look at the economy. Look at how many food vendors you actually need.
And please stop advertising enormous crowds based on wishful thinking.
NOW, BEFORE ANYBODY THINKS I'M JUST OUT HERE COMPLAINING ABOUT EVERYTHING… 😂
We've been part of some absolutely fantastic events this year.
Great organizers, wonderful communities, impressive crowds, and people who genuinely understand how to put together a successful event.
Those people deserve a tremendous amount of credit.
This has been our first full-time year operating Underdogz, and we've learned more than I could've imagined.
We've seen what works, what doesn't, and what happens when events are planned with realistic expectations versus overly optimistic promises.
And we've learned that the number of people attending isn't nearly as important as the number of people attending compared with the number of vendors serving them.
A well-organized event with 1,000 people and the right number of vendors can be far more successful for everyone than an event advertising 20,000 people and bringing in 50 food trucks.
BIG NUMBERS DON'T ALWAYS MEAN BIG SALES.
At this point, I'm sure some of you think I just enjoy bitching about things. 😂
But I really don't.
I'm an observer of the world around me.
And something I notice more and more, not just in the food industry but across so many different businesses, is how often everything seems to revolve around figuring out how much money one person can squeeze out of another.
It's honestly exhausting.
Small businesses aren't asking for guaranteed profits.
We're not asking event organizers to control the weather, the economy, or whether somebody decides to stay home and watch Netflix.
WE'RE ASKING FOR HONESTY.
Don't tell us 20,000 people are coming when you have no reasonable evidence to support it.
Don't bring in 20 food trucks when your crowd realistically supports five.
Don't schedule your event against every major festival in Western Pennsylvania and act shocked when people go somewhere else.
And don't treat vendors like they're just another check to cash.
Because without those food trucks, coffee trailers, craft vendors, and other small businesses, some of these events wouldn't have much of an attraction to begin with.
TO THE ORGANIZERS WHO DO IT RIGHT: THANK YOU. ❤️
We appreciate you. We recognize the work you put in. And those are the events we're excited to return to year after year.
AND TO EVERYBODY WHO ATTENDS THESE EVENTS…
The next time you see a hot dog for $10 or a bottle of water for $4, remember that the price sometimes reflects a whole lot more than the food itself.
That vendor may have spent thousands of dollars just to be there.
They may have been preparing for days.
They may have driven an hour or more, paid an enormous vendor fee, and taken a financial gamble based on attendance estimates they had no way to verify.
We're not all out here trying to get rich selling hot dogs.
Some of us are just trying to make enough money to afford the privilege of selling them. 😂🌭
And trust me, if I ever do leave an event looking like Scrooge McDuck, you'll know.
I'll be the guy doing a backflip into a kiddie pool full of dollar bills behind my 4×8 trailer.
Until then, I'll just keep slinging wieners and paying attention to the world around me. 😂
NOW I WANT TO HEAR FROM EVERYBODY! 👇
Food truck owners, coffee trailers, craft vendors: What's the most you've ever paid to attend an event? And have you ever been promised enormous crowds only to show up to an empty field?
Event organizers: How do you determine attendance estimates and how many vendors to book?
And customers: Did you realize how much some small businesses pay just to participate in your favorite festivals?
Let's have a conversation. Maybe we can make these events better for everyone.
UNDERDOGZ 🌭 Fun people. Amazing food. A sense of humor.
