Concessions

Purpose:

To provide quality concessionaires for the membership. To solicit concessionaires, coordinate and assign floor space, and collect fees.

Responsibilities:

Determine how many booths your show site will hold. Do this in conjunction with your grounds chairman and your show chairman.
Do a graphic layout of your booth space. Booths should be at least 10' x 10' with 10' wide aisles. (10' minimum width acceptable by AKC)
How many of these booths have access to electricity? Will your club provide tables & chairs? If so, will there be a charge or are they free? If you have an outside show site, will your club be providing tent space or must each vendor provide their own?
Decide how you will charge for booth space. (i.e. by the day, or for the whole show?)
Determine your rates for booth space. Regional Clubs get discounted rates over regular vendors. The next year's Specialty as well as the BMDCA should not be charged for booth space. You should give these two booths premium space.
Determine the date when booth space reservations must be made, or if you will continue to take reservations until all space is reserved.
Look for unique vendors the membership would enjoy patronizing.
Send out invitations inviting vendors to book booth space. Make sure all pertinent information such as dates, times, location, booth size, what is and isn't provided etc. are included.
Collect fees and coordinate with Specialty treasurer deposit of all monies.
As booth reservations are received send out a confirmation letter. Include when they can come in and set up, and how the parking and unloading will work.
Come show time, have booth space marked off. It is a good idea to use your graph, numbering spaces and assigning each vendor their numbered space. Be at the show site on the day your vendors are setting up so you may direct and answer questions. DO NOT leave this portion of your job unattended.
As well as set up, be ready for take down and clean up at the end of the show.
Write a report at end of show regarding your committee, comment on additional recommendations and responsibilities you think should be included here.

Timeline:

Immediate and ongoing: Once you are awarded the specialty, begin collecting business cards of vendors you like that you run across at various shows and events.
Summer prior to the show: mail out "applications" for concession space and stated rates.
Approximately 2 months prior to show should be your cut off for booth applications.
1 month prior to show mail out any additional information your vendors may need.

Budget:

Item	Income	Expense
Booth Reservation Fees	xxxxx
Table & Chair Rental		xxxxx
Stationary		xxxxx
Copying Fees		xxxxx
Postage		xxxxx
Supplies to mark booth spaces		xxxxx
Other		xxxxx
Total	xxxxx	xxxxx

Total Income less Total Expenses equals Net Profit or Loss

Recommendations:

Get a commitment from your host hotel concerning the number of tables and chairs available and any costs involved. It is not unusual to include one table and a couple of chairs in the booth fee. It is expensive to rent tables and chairs, so be sure that if you are going to need to rent them, that this cost is included in your booth rental charge.

Set a reasonable booth rate. In 97 at Estes Park, booth space was $40 for Regional clubs and $70 for commercial vendors. This was for the whole weekend. All fees should be collected with the booth application. Determine what your refund policy will be. Possibly if cancellation is early enough and you re-book the space you will return the fee, if not, then you won't. It is good to consider these things up front.

Concessions are usually by invitation and the concessions' chair approval. Everything should go through the chair! (Be prepared-people will have special requests and expect favors, Life will be simpler if you treat everyone equally.) It is good to have at least one dog supply vendor, exhibitors do forget things, and it helps if there is a vendor they can pick up these forgotten items. Try to get a good assortment of vendors and don't accept anyone who might have "junk".

When mailing out concession applications be sure to get the company's name, address ,phone#, email ID and type of merchandise that will be sold. Have them list any special needs such as electricity, storage etc.

Be sure that at a minimum your booth application clearly states: "It is the responsibility of the vendor to collect and submit to the IRS all appropriate sales tax.". To be really thorough you could include a special sales tax /event license application for them to complete and submit to the state.

Think about how you will assign booth space, will it be simply first come first serve. Take into account where you have electric hookups for those that need it, and placing vendors with fragile wares against the wall where the would be least likely to be "bumped".

Have a cut off date for vendors. Give yourself plenty of time to send out confirmation notices and booth assignments. At least one month prior to the show date is not too much time.

Be sure to send applications to all BMDCA regional clubs. This is their club and they should all have a chance to have a booth if they are interested.

Vendors will be inquiring about concessions several months in advance. To save time-consuming and expensive phone calls, leave a recording on your answering machine to leave name/address/phone # and anything else needed. Then mail out the information to the caller in a timely manner.

Send all vendors confirmation of their space reservation. Be sure to include dates and set up times, unloading/parking instructions, and any special rules. Vendors will want to know what time the show will start and approximate end time. Will their booths be located in an area where there is security or will be locked? If they are indoors and the room will be locked what will be the opening and closing times? At the end of the show what time will they have to have their wares removed. How will general trash collection and removal be handled? Vendors often have lots of empty boxes etc. that need disposed. Vendors would also appreciate information on lodging and exact driving directions to the show site and set up.

Prior to the show, tape off and label concession spaces. Draw a diagram showing where everyone is situated. Post the diagram in a central area where it can easily be referenced.

If at all possible have the vendors within site of the show rings. Vendors enjoy seeing what is going on during the show, and it helps their sales if they are close enough for spectators and exhibitors to browse without going too far from the rings.

When planning your budget, your primary expenses should be stationary, copying and postage. If you stick to using the mail you will save on expensive phone calls. If you have internet access you should include your email address on your applications, and request their email addresses, if they have one. It is very easy to do confirmations or even send your applications by email.

You should be in communication with the Specialty Website Coordinator and Planning Book Chair, being sure they have any information you would like included in a public notice.

To summarize, PLAN! Plan how many booths, how much they will cost, your application, your refund policy, if you have to rent tables and chairs. Plan your rules and make them consistent for everyone. Anticipate that people will ask for favors and you can point out your rules.

Last modified: July 7, 2008.