A funnel cake is batter, frying oil and powdered sugar: about $1.60 of food, plate and card fee for a cake that sells for $9 at a fair. Like most fair food, the stand's real cost is the fair's commission, often a fifth of sales, along with helpers at the fryers for twelve-hour days, propane and a trailer. Fairs run from June to October, so the plan is a season. In the example, a Pennsylvania funnel cake stand starts with $52,000, ends its first year about $53,300 ahead before the owner's pay, and makes about $9,200 a month at full speed. Below is each part of the plan, the first year month by month, the startup budget, and a free template.
The short version
- Describe the stand in a paragraph: the fairs, the menu, the goals.
- Cost each item: batter, oil, toppings, the plate and the fair's commission.
- Plan sales by product: funnel cakes, deluxe cakes, fried Oreos, lemonade.
- Fairs often take a share of sales; put it in the cost.
- Fry oil is changed on a schedule and hauled away, not dumped.
- Plan for a season, not a year.
- TaroStack makes each funnel cake a recipe, so its true cost follows the price of what's in it. More below.
Part 1: the business description
Sweet Midway Funnel Cakes, a made-up funnel cake stand in Hershey, Pennsylvania, writes:
Sweet Midway Funnel Cakes runs a fry trailer at county fairs and festivals across central Pennsylvania, selling classic funnel cakes, deluxe cakes with strawberries and cream, fried Oreos and fresh lemonade. In a fair month it aims to reach $27,200 of sales.
Part 2: what an item costs
| Item | Batter and oil | Toppings | Plate and card fee | Fair commission, 20% | Cost | Price | Cost share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic funnel cake | $0.80 | $0.40 | $0.42 | $1.80 | $3.42 | $9.00 | 38.0% |
| Deluxe, strawberries and cream | $0.80 | $1.39 | $0.51 | $2.40 | $5.10 | $12.00 | 42.5% |
| Fried Oreos, five | $0.70 | $0.29 | $0.41 | $1.40 | $2.80 | $7.00 | 40.0% |
| Fresh lemonade, 24 oz | $0.48 | $0.45 | $1.20 | $2.13 | $6.00 | 35.5% |
The fair's share is paid at the end of each fair from the stand's register totals. How lemonade's margins work on their own is in lemonade business plan.
Part 3: fairs, the fryers and permits
Two fryers and three helpers work a fair day from noon to 11. Fry oil is filtered daily, changed on a schedule and hauled away by a rendering company. Each fair is a temporary food permit from the county, in temporary food permit. The trailer is restocked from a commissary between fairs.
Part 4: what each product earns
| Product | Price | Variable cost | Contribution | Margin | Units a month at full speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classic funnel cake | $9.00 | $3.42 | $5.58 | 62% | 1,500 |
| Deluxe funnel cake | $12.00 | $5.10 | $6.90 | 57.5% | 400 |
| Fried Oreos, five | $7.00 | $2.80 | $4.20 | 60% | 500 |
| Fresh lemonade, 24 oz | $6.00 | $2.13 | $3.87 | 64.5% | 900 |
At full speed the business sells $27,200 a month and keeps $16,713, 61.4%; classic funnel cakes bring $8,370 of it.
Part 5: the first year, month by month
Fixed costs are $7,550 every month: wages for helpers ($5,500), propane and fuel ($700), commissary kitchen ($300), insurance ($300), permits ($250), oil hauling and supplies ($200), and other costs ($300). Sales start at 35% of full speed:
| Month | Sales | Profit | Cash, year to date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $9,520 | −$1,700 | −$1,700 |
| 2 | $11,424 | −$531 | −$2,231 |
| 3 | $13,328 | $639 | −$1,592 |
| 4 | $15,232 | $1,809 | $218 |
| 5 | $17,136 | $2,979 | $3,197 |
| 6 | $19,040 | $4,149 | $7,346 |
| 7 | $20,944 | $5,319 | $12,665 |
| 8 | $22,848 | $6,489 | $19,154 |
| 9 | $24,480 | $7,492 | $26,646 |
| 10 | $25,840 | $8,327 | $34,973 |
| 11 | $27,200 | $9,163 | $44,136 |
| 12 | $27,200 | $9,163 | $53,299 |
The year's sales are $234,192, and the business ends it $53,299 ahead, before the owner's pay. It breaks even at about $12,290 of sales a month, in the third month. The lowest cash point, −$2,231 in month 2, is covered by the $10,000 of working cash with about $7,800 to spare. The plan treats every month like a fair month once it's built up; fairs run from June to October, so a real year has a long quiet winter, and the working cash is there for it.
Part 6: the startup budget
| Item | Example |
|---|---|
| Used fry trailer | $30,000 |
| Fryers and equipment | $6,000 |
| Generator | $3,000 |
| Opening inventory | $1,000 |
| Permits and licenses | $1,000 |
| Signs and menu boards | $1,000 |
| Working cash | $10,000 |
| Total to start | $52,000 |
The $42,000 before working cash is earned back in about 5 months at full speed. Another fried treat on wheels is in churro business plan, and a stand with a wider menu in concession stand business plan.
Get the template
Download the funnel cake business plan workbook. Four sheets: your products, each with its price, variable cost and units a month at full speed; the first year, month by month, with sales ramping up, profit, cash, the first profitable month, the lowest cash point and whether the working cash covers it; your fixed costs; and the startup budget. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The plan uses one commission and one batter cost. Each fair takes a different cut, oil prices move, and by the end of a fair week nobody knows how many pounds of batter mix and powdered sugar are left.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack makes each funnel cake a recipe, so its true cost follows the price of flour, oil and sugar.
Funnel cakes as recipes. Each funnel cake is a recipe by weight, so its cost moves when the supplier's price does.
Counts with no signal. The cooler and dry storage can be counted on a phone with no signal, and the reorder list shows what runs out first in days of cover.
Waste with a reason. Batter and fry oil thrown out at the end of a fair is recorded as waste with a reason, reported by item.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| What a funnel cake costs this month | Worked out once | True cost from the recipe |
| What to order before the weekend | A guess | The reorder list |
| What was thrown out | Not recorded | Waste by reason and item |
Recipes, counts and the reorder list are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.