Carnival & Fair News

For midway food concessions this fair season, what will be the biggest challenge?

Rey O'Day, NICA: Every aspect of assembling their business has increased in price, wages have not kept pace for the general public, and the perception is that the fair experience has become too expensive for many attendees. So the biggest challenge is what to charge for the items they sell while considering high Inflation, late H-2B labor arrivals, changing rent structures, soaring gasoline prices, attendees with less discretionary money, and earning a livable profit.

Nate Janousek, Fun Biz Concessions: The biggest challenge is wholesale costs for us. The prices of beef and other items continue to trend upward. The cost of everything is rising. We've seen 2+ years of inflation, but it's been particularly bad on the cost of food items and ingredients.

Richie George, George's Fun Foods: Staffing is a major challenge and that's true for us and the ride companies. Trying to deal with the new H-2B laws has been a nightmare because we are dependent on a foreign labor force. The other challenge is inflation with food costs. Because of gas prices, our operations are expensive. As concessionaires and outdoor amusement companies, we give them perceived values, but if our costs keep rising we have to pass that along, so dealing with fair boards and carnival companies about pricing is a challenge.

What fair food trend in 2026 are you most excited about?

Nate Janousek: Birria is a type of Mexican meat, and it's really good. It's traditionally served with bread and a dipping sauce, but we are serving it with pizza and potato.

Richie George: There are a few different trends, but one of the newest and biggest is Biscoff cookie dough funnel cakes.

Rey O'Day: The addition of international flavors and street foods, like Tanghulu (clear candied fruit), chocolate-covered fruit (i.e. oversized strawberries & grapes), Korean corn dogs, “Dubaiing” food items (ground-up pistachios and shredded phyllo pastry), Birria beef products (made with flavorful red chili broth) Pickles, flaming hot Cheetos are still hot. Gluten free is making headway at many fairs this year.

The Biscoff Funnel Cake by George's Fun Foods

For midway food concessions this fair season, what will be the biggest challenge?

Nate Janousek: Biggest challenge is the cost. Food prices are high, the price of beef continues to trend upwards and that's on top of other costs rising, keeping refer trailers, everything that affects the bottom line. For three years, beef has gone up each year. Compared to pre-pandemic levels, prices are 120 percent higher. Chicken is high but beef is being affected by a number of different factors. There's been a strain on the domestic cattle supply over the botfly, which has been detected in the U.S. but has also impacted other sources. We rely heavily on beef from South America and we can't risk having it on US produced beef. Prevention is rising the costs of beef here in the US, but also from Argentinian and Canadian beef.

Richie George: The bottom line is that this year, starting in January this year, the venues have been down, because of the economy. We used to be a cash business, but we are seeing more credit card usage. Everything used to be cash in hand, but now with the POS systems, they get a percentage. We are definitely seeing more credit card instead of debit cards. My insurance also shot up 20 percent.

Rey O'Day: Wholesale food prices—as measured by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index for Processed Foods and Feeds—increased by an aggregate of roughly (12.3 percent) over the last three years (spanning from spring 2023 to spring 2026). That is the overall, but individual items vary greatly. Commodity items like beef, pork, and poultry are up. For example turkey legs were around $2.39/pound last year and this year we are seeing them at $3.39/pound. That is approximately a 40 percent increase. In speaking with our core suppliers they speculate that the past three years have seen 15-to-25 percent inflation in compounding patterns.


Birria Tacos by Fun Biz Concessions

How have this year's price increases affected prices to the fairgoers?

Richie George: Here's our problem, we can't increase the prices but we are working with fairs for new packages. People are price shopping. The average person who goes to the fair, the lower to middle class, are looking for bargains. But rural people like everybody still need entertainment. I'm hoping prices are not going to go higher. But people want value so I think in terms of vacations, people are going to stay local and look at a day at the fair as an affordable alternative, but they will also be looking for deals.

Nate Janousek: Internally, fair boards and my company are apprehensive about rising prices. We're very sympathetic to those people coming to fairs as affordable entertainment. We're positioned as less expensive than an amusement park, which is an expensive trip. But consumers are getting squeezed at the pump and grocery store. Concessionaires are being creative with portions, we try not to raise prices and are definitely doing more price promotions. The fairs we work with are sensitive to guests' concerns about prices and it does need to be a collaborative effort between vendors and fairs. We are definitely having more conversations about price.

Rey O'Day: The CPI of product cost at the manufacturing /wholesale level is being driven up by rising labor costs. Rising prices at the wholesale level are passed onto food and beverage vendors and the vendors pass them onto the fairgoer. At the end of the cycle the end user (fairgoers) experience higher prices at parking, ticketing, rides, food and beverage and retail shopping often with less entertainment and special exhibits. This is a fair and vendor partner's challenge that can only be managed by the entities collaborating together.

With affordability on everybody's mind, what food promotions are working best?

Richie George: Two dollar days may not be right for this year because it's too low, but the ‘$5 before 5' promotions are working. The Taste of the Fair days, where for X amount, a value package price, are working great, People want a bargain, and the all one price, advance sales, mega pass, discounts at food stands, are being used to our advantage.

Nate Janousek: The $10 combo meal, with food and sides, work the best. We are seeing more grazing menus, with smaller portions for $3 or $5 dollar items. The Blue Ribbon Cup discounts, which is a souvenir cup with $2 refills all day. We are offering more deals this year, we and our fairs are very aware of the perception that fairs are becoming overly expensive.

Rey O'Day: Promotions with a certain price (above $5/under $10) at a certain day/time (weekdays after 4:00, everyday opening to 5:00, Tuesdays all day), in which all vendors participate with a specific item of their choice. Refill drink programs with $2 refills. NOTE It is important that promotions are designed to drive attendees TO the Fair or event, not be discovered after the attendee arrives. They need to be well advertised and documented PRIOR to the event.

Are there non-price marketing promotions that will work well in 2026?

Richie George: You got to stay up with social media. It's interesting to see how much discussion there is about the fair, what stuff is selling across all segments of a community. You see it with local schools or local employee days, local dairy days at fairs, so on and so forth. Community outreach is so important, especially when it comes to the perceived value of the fair. It's where you get the real hometown feeling.

Nate Janousek: Food competitions are great promotions, and social media marketing in advance is crucial. Using different social media platforms to promote the fair and all the food items for sale encourages sales. Also, making the stands new and exciting visually appealing so they look great on social media is important.

Rey O'Day: For quite some time Fairs have successfully been holding “New food Idea contests” with judges being influencers, press, foodie experts, and or the public. In speaking with fairgoers I have learned that they often plan their fair visit around eating their favorite foods and finding the new ones that sound interesting to them, so these contests are a good tool for attracting people to the fair and managing movement on the grounds. Pre fair they provide great photos and conversations in all forms of media. During fair time, television coverage, seeing what people are eating, long lines, word of mouth, and social media platforms drive food sales. Influencers and public sharing of photos are crucial to new items being found and becoming standard items. On site food eating contests add to the free entertainment and value of the fair. Cooking contests seem to attract a small niche, though enthusiastic group of guests.

Out of all the fair staples, which one is always the top seller and which one is not as popular with today's generation as it was back in the day?

Richie George: Corn dogs are the number one seller. Some products that come and go would be a corn fritter that was once a hot commodity, but not anymore.

Nate Janousek: Corn dogs are always huge sellers. Turkey legs are always big hits, but some cotton candy and popcorn don't seem as popular, same thing with pizza, You can get those foods everywhere but what sells best are foods you have to get at the fair. Funnel cakes are in that category, but with prices that are guest friendly.

Rey O'Day: Corn dogs continue to remain the top selling staple; Cotton Candy/ Red/Caramel Candied Apples are not as popular.

Richie George of George's Fun Foods cooking Turkey Legs on the grill

What are some of the new twists on fair-food staples that whetted fairgoer appetites?

Rey O'Day: The layering of toppings on fair food staples that are creamy, smooth and/or crunchy; or that are sweet, savory, and/or spicy; or are fruit, grains and/or protein. It is a fast, easy way to create a new product with very little additional cost because the vendor chooses bases that they already serve and the chosen toppings are smaller portions then they would be if they were a singular item.

Richie George: Honey dipped turkey leg! That keeps on getting more popular, it's been a good one.

Nate Janousek: Wrapping foods in bacon is exploding in popularity. We are seeing some interesting social media ideas for sticky Chamoy and tamarind. Bubble drinks with fusions of flavors are doing, pretty well.

What has been the social media impact on food concessions on the midway?

Rey O'Day: Yes there is some pushback from some fairs and others say charge what you have to charge. The fairs that require permission tend to say 3-4 percent increase is acceptable or provide us an explanation of why the increase is higher than that. The second part is our Industry must get control of our own narrative and stop allowing social media influencers to be the industries primary story tellers. Influencers care about the number of worldwide viewers, not necessarily local viewers and as most media does, they follow headline trends. Our story is the story of food in our country AND in our local regions. Some of the fairs cited provided enormous value to the fairgoers for their admission price, but we let the influencers change that perception. The recent IAFE economic impact study is inspirational and informational and the kind of stories we need to be telling. Also there is a wealth of stories amongst the small businesses at our fairs that need to be told, and the public enjoys hearing them. Let's share them.

Nate Janousek: My company does its own social media. We've hired a PR Team to handle that. We have a niche and nuanced presence in our posts. Our social media is organic. You have to reach outside of your normal structure, so we enlisted the help of professionals and internally with our own team, we did more social media and always involve the fair. We have gotten a new sort of exposure, that's the benefit of being on social media with the fair.

Do you have a forecast for this year's fair season?

Richie George: Weather, weather, and weather. You have to take every venue at face value, look at every one uniquely. The fair is a strong product, they're still driving customers, people are going to the fair. I hope it will be as good as we all are hoping it to be, but only time will tell.

Nate Janousek: This fair season is going to be a good one. I see the carnivals and fairs as more approachable than going to an amusement park or extended vacation. With the price of gas going up making everything more expensive, the local county fairs are going to be the go-to vacation. Those fairs are going to be very happy. So far, we've seen great turnout. People are excited about the value promotions and we engage with customers and the fair.

Rey O'Day: One of the big things to take into consideration is the effects of the very embraced use of Ozempic and similar drugs to further weight loss. Grocery stores are already noticing the effects of this Ozempic trend. Are their enough users “not eating” or “eating less of everything” that one has to wonder will counter orders be smaller or fewer, which would trickle straight down to the supply chain and lower food grosses. When people are medically eating less and therefore buying less it directly effects the entire food and beverage chain operationally and financially. This will be interesting to watch this year. Though I always have a Plan B, I am not a forecaster with a crystal ball. There are many challenging elements in the economy that are happening outside of our sphere of influence. Our job is to provide the fairgoer great service, tasty food, and a high quality day away from their concerns no matter what. If we can do that and tell that story, we have met our mission.