Concession stands can be difficult to manage. You have to keep track of the number of items to purchase, which items to purchase, how to price them correctly, and then there’s the issue of getting volunteers.
Once you get volunteers, you have to teach them how to use your POS system, or how to manually count money, manage deposits—the list goes on and on.
Think of a concession stand as a business that generates revenue for your team, league or club, and it needs to run like one. That requires a lot of planning, communication with volunteers and clear methods of how to collect and deposit funds.
Here are 3 easy ways you can manage a concession stand successfully:
- Create guidelines
When multiple people are involved in a process, there needs to be a clear set of instructions on how things operate, and you need a set of rules to help you stay organized. For concession stands especially, which can include many different volunteers, there needs to be a list of rules for how the concession stand should be operated. Create guidelines around the following:
- How inventory should be counted before and after concession begin/end
- The prices of each concession stand item
- How your payment system works
- Rules for assigning roles to volunteers—people managing money, handling food, etc.
- Organize your volunteers early
Getting team parents involved in volunteering can be difficult, especially when it comes to concession stand duty. Creating a sign-up sheet and getting it done ahead of time gives you an advantage, which is being more organized and capable of having your concession stand process run smoothly.
- Keep an inventory list
Concession stand inventory can range from all different types of snacks, drinks and candy items, which can make it hard to keep track of. Making a list or spreadsheet of each snack, drink or candy you sell and how much you have of each can be helpful for both the volunteers and league admin to look at. Make sure to have volunteers count inventory before and after each game—that way you can see what food and drinks you need to purchase more of in advance.
Is your current concession system working?
Our Point of Sale system can help you ensure a safe, profitable approach to on-site concession.
If you’re not already utilizing our concession feature, now is the time to start. Get ahead of your mobile point of sale and get ready for a successful, organized season. Not only will you have access to sell from anywhere, accept multiple forms of payment and go contactless, but you will feel less stressed about your concession stand process.
You can learn more about our concession features here.