How To Increase Concession Stand Sales at an Indoor Sports Complex

Are you looking for ways to maximize the revenue that your indoor sports complex makes? Do you feel like there is untapped potential on the event concession side of things? If so, then you need to learn all that you can about how to increase concession stand sales.

Doing so can help your complex in a variety of ways. First, it will leave your customers happy and ready to enjoy the event. It will also help you streamline your in-event income.

See below for an in-depth guide on tips for increasing concession stand sales and maximizing the revenue of every event you have.

1. Sports Facility Management Software

You’ll never know whether you’ve truly increased your concession stand sales without a way to measure it. How can you upgrade your concession stands processes without knowing what needs to be improved? Thankfully, you can use sports facility management software, such as our DaySmart Recreation multi-sport software, to streamline the process. From the concessions point of view, you’ll be able to track all of the concessions through the POS (Point of Sale).

You can separate all of the different snacks and refreshments at your stand into separate categories to make it easier to track. If a few products you offer are selling more frequently, then you can factor that in when you replenish your concessions after each event.

Each category is also represented by pictures, making it easy for your staff or volunteers to speed up the sales process. Customers will have a fast and easy checkout process, helping them get back to action faster.

Our management software calculates the prices of each item right away. It will add everything up automatically, ensuring an accurate sale each time.

Most concession stand sales can be improved by simply streamlining the point of the sale process, our software helps you do exactly that!

2. Have the Big-Ticket Concession Items On-Hand

If your concessions lack a certain item, then you’ve undoubtedly heard about it from your customers. Take that feedback to heart!

The name of the game with concession stand sales is creating the biggest profit margins. In other words: buy a large portion of the food and drinks that people love and a small portion of the ones that fewer customers are purchasing.

It’s always important to take stock of the items your concessions are selling. Make sure that you have the go-to concession items such as:

· Hot Dogs

· Pretzels (with cheese options, preferably)

· Nachos

· Popcorn

· Candy Bars

· Gatorade

· Bottled Soda

· Bottled Water

Did you notice a theme? All of these concessions items are extremely easy to make. Most of them you simply grab from a fridge or container. Even the popcorn, pretzels, and hot dogs can be made by simply turning on a concessions machine.

This allows you to have food ready and fresh for whenever a customer wants them. Make sure that you time up when the big-ticket items are prepared. For example, if one wave of tournament games is ending at 1 p.m., then make sure to have the hot dogs fully cooked by then!

3. Use Different Themes to Attract Customers

Who said concession stand sales couldn’t be fun? Everyone loves a generic concession stand, but they’re even more intrigued by ones that offer unique items, promotions, etc.

You can enhance your concession sales by putting together a theme. For example, during a big tournament weekend, you could throw a happy hour to drive sales during periods with fewer games begin played.

You can also get the little brothers and sisters involved by creating a “Biggest sports fan” contest where the child decked out in the most team gear wins a free candy bar.

There’s no such thing as a bad theme idea! Even offering free snacks for kids under a certain age or buy-one-get-one promotions can intrigue event-goers enough to buy. They’re already eyeing the concession stand as-is… you just need to incentivize them a bit more!

4. Install a Coffee Bar

The term “coffee bar” doesn’t mean you have to hire a barista and set up a full-fledged coffee machine counter. Buying a Nespresso, Tassimo, or commercial coffee machine will suffice!

As you well know, some of these sporting events start super early. By the time they arrive at the venue, parents have already had to scramble the kids, get them dressed, pile them in the car, and drive to the complex… they need a pick-me-up, to say the least.

A coffee bar gets them up to the concession right away. It also increases the likelihood that they’ll be back for mid-morning snacks, early afternoon snacks, etc.

5. Give Healthier Options

As you know, the world is becoming increasingly more health conscious. The shocking statistics in recent years have alerted them that changes need to be made.

For that reason, you might consider investing in healthier concession items. Don’t get us wrong: you shouldn’t replace common concession items with healthier snacks; you should add them to the menu.

A few ideas include sliced apples, granola bars, veggie cups, fruit cups, yogurt cups, and pistachios, just to name a few. You just want to give people options; don’t force them into an unhealthy decision.

Increase Your Concession Stand Sales With These Tips

Now that you have seen an in-depth guide on how to increase concession stand sales, be sure to use this information wisely. Take the time to read this article for more information on how our ice facility management software can help every facet of your business operations. To get started, please click here or reach out to us at 800-881-6515 ext. 2 to request a free demo.