Hello and welcome back to Life in Business Casual! This weekend my school hosted a carnival called ThurtenE, which is largest, and oldest student run carnival in the NATION! Each year the business fraternity I'm a part of hosts a funnel cake making booth to raise money to donate to a charity of our choosing. This year we chose Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital
I worked a morning shift and a night shift and my goodness, the two could not have been more different!
Morning Shift:
The shift went from 10:30a.m.-1:00p.m. and the customers were few and far between. To combat this,I stood at the front of our booth calling out "Funnel cakes funnel cakes! Get your funnel cakes here!" and "Step right up and get your ~freshly made~ funnel cakes! All proceeds go to the wonderful work being done at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital!" "There's nothing like a nice, warm funnel cake to complement this lovely Spring day at ThurtenE!", and even "funnel cakes, funnel cakes, yum yum yum, they're beloved by everyone!". I got the true "carnie" experience. More and more people started coming over to support the cause and to treat their bellies to some funnel cake deliciousness. People came up to me eager to support the cause, or would let me know they'd come back later in the day. Words like 'fresh', and knowledge where the proceeds from the booth are going, will allow your product's value, and potential benefit to shine through to your customers.
Night Shift:
The night shift was a completely different story, The shift ran from 7:00p.m.-8:00p.m. The amount of customers had to have been quadruple that of my earlier shift. The carnival ended at 8:00 and those responsible for running the carnival notified us we had to stop selling at 7:55! It was clear we 1.) we weren't going to be able to meet demand due to the time constraints. and 2.) We were running low on supplies (funnel cake batter, plates, napkins). We ended up having to turn away over half the line. Upon hearing this members of the line who hadn't been turned away began to increase the number of desired funnel cakes! Due to the mass influx of customers and an inadequate amount of capital (fryers) to keep up with the demand, customer's patience wore thin as the night progressed. It is important during these times to ensure your customer leaves happy, and feels that the product is worth the wait.
Tips when doing promotion for a bake sale/fundraiser:
SET A GOAL:
Create a gofundme page or another medium for contributors to see how close you are to reaching your goal.
Highlight the cause:
- Let your consumers know where their money is going!
- Add as much detail as possible to posters without overwhelming those reading them
Quality Customer Service
- Interact with your customers, be friendly, and make sure they get what they're paying for! In our case it was copious amounts of powedered sugar OR the addition of chocolate or strawberry syrup.
Quality of Product
- When vending food, a good rule to follow is to serve your customers a product you'd want to eat yourself. (Don't allow burnt, or undercooked dishes to end up in the hands of your consumers)
- It's a poor reflection of your booth, and could inadvertently slight the cause your striving to support.
- News about poor quality food can spread around venues of this type incredibly quickly!
Do you have any customer service tips? Leave a comment below! If you enjoyed this post feel free to give it a like!
Until next time, keep it (business) casual.