Throughout my career, I’ve run many different businesses. From blogging to writing books to selling over $10 million worth of product on Amazon, I have to be honest:
Vending cotton candy might be my favorite of them all.
But whether you’re experienced businessperson or just want a fun – but very profitable side hustle to bring in some extra money, it doesn’t get much better than cotton candy.
In this article, I’ll be sharing 8 reasons why cotton candy is such an incredible business to run – even if you’ve never operated a business before!
1. Cheap To Start
Compared to almost every other business model, vending at live events has some of the lowest startup costs available.
This means that even if you are worried about following through or losing interest, you can’t lose that much money… even in a worst case scenario.
Think about it.
A nice, small cotton candy machine will run you about $400. Everything else – the sugar, packaging, card reader, generator, and other miscellaneous materials might run you another $400.
In total, you can get this started for under $1,000. And if you decide it’s not right for you, you can probably get half of your money back.
Let’s say you sell a bag of cotton candy for $6. You would need to sell less than 100 bags to break even, if you count the resale value of your equipment.
This is very possible to achieve in a single day – and at some events, even in a single hour.
The risk is low.
2. Very High Margins
Another thing that’s so great about cotton candy is how insanely high the margins are.
After all, it feels like a special snack that people can’t just make at home… but ultimately you are just using flavored sugar and a commercial machine to produce it.
Let’s say you sell a bag of cotton candy for $6.
- Your sugar fee will be around 20 cents.
- A bag will be about 5 cents.
- If you use Square for credit cards, that’ll be about another 20 cents. This fee isn’t there if people pay in cash.
- Finally, if you live in a state with sales tax, you’ll have to collect that. Let’s pretend that you live in the highest sales tax state in the nation, and end up paying 10% in tax. That’ll be 60 cents, unless you pass it on to the customer.
That means at an absolute worst case scenario, you’ll be spending $1.05 to make $6.
If you’re left over with bags unsold, you’re only down the sugar and the bag – your losses are protected.
High margins means you can start with little money and multiply it very quickly. Almost no other food product has these kinds of margins.
3. It Takes No Sales Skills – The Product Sells Itself
This is one of the biggest benefits of cotton candy, in my opinion.
When I first started vending, I would sell leftover products from when I used to sell on Amazon. Mugs, car decals, shirts, and other print-on-demand products. However, very few people at a live event have an impulse to buy a cup. That’s just the reality.
Cotton candy on the other hand… it’s part of the event experience.
Even if you had no sales skills and no ability to market your cotton candy, you will still make money just from people walking by your booth and seeing it.
It’s one of the few products where if you simply put it in front of people, you will make sales. Period. It’s impossible not to, even if there are other food vendors there.
As long as people show up, you will start making your money back the very first day you start selling.
4. You Can Become A Local Celebrity
This one is fun!
Everybody remembers the person who shows up to events, offering cotton candy to the locals.
They will come to expect you there, remember their past experiences with you, and even actively tell other people about how delicious your cotton candy is!
If you run any advertising for your local town that features you in it, you can bet that people are going to recognize you when they see you out and about – even outside of events.
After all, cotton candy is fun. People like to remember things and people that are fun.
5. The Earnings Per Hour Can Be Very High
Because cotton candy has such high margins – and because it’s a product that sells itself, it is possible to move A LOT of cotton candy very quickly.
I mean lines of 30+ people at a time, ready to purchase one or more bags.
Big commercial machines like the Gold Medal Whirlwind or Tornado can pump out 4 full bags a minute, easily.
At $6 a bag, that is $24 a minute, or $720 an hour.
At big events, sellers can make over $5,000 a day in profit. Not revenue, profit.
Even if you decide to focus on private events (which are often an ‘all you can eat’ model), you can still comfortably ask for $150 an hour or more. My pricing right now is $300 for 2 hours of unlimited spinning, and $100 every hour after that. I charge it that way to cover travel time and setup, plus people tend to eat less cotton candy as time goes on.
Many people have their big events on weekends anyway, so this is a great way to make a considerable amount of extra money without having to give up hours at your main job.
6. No Overhead – Vend As Little Or As Much As You Want To
I quit my very profitable Amazon business because the mental toll was just too high.
There were too many recurring bills, too many obligations. Too many issues that always had to be fixed ‘right now’ – I NEVER felt like I could take a break from work, and my personal life suffered as a result.
If you have other obligations like a job or you want to spend more time with friends and family, you want a business like this one.
One where you don’t have monthly bills you have to pay regardless of how much (or how little) money you make. One where you aren’t required to show up every day just to stay in business. One that gives you the freedom to work when you want… and take a break when you need rest.
(Trust me – I suffer from a disability and this freedom alone is HUGE.)
With cotton candy, the only ongoing expense you have to pay is insurance, which will run you $200-300 a year. Everything else, you only need to buy if you’re actually out there selling (and making your money back immediately.)
Don’t feel like doing an event right now? You don’t have to. You won’t be penalized by shifting your priorities or just wanting to relax a little.
There are no customers bothering you when you’re at home. Even with private events, you can organize this so you have to reach out to them – not the other way around.
These two things eliminate 99% of the stress that comes with running a business. And most businesses fail because they either have cashflow issues (not relevant here) or they become too overwhelmed and burn out.
Don’t be afraid to take a rest when you need it. There will always be more events to sell at.
7. It’s Family Friendly
Cotton candy is one product that is both easy AND fun for kids to help out with.
This was one of the reasons I started my cotton candy business myself. I wanted to demonstrate entrepreneurship to them in a fun way that made sense.
Spinning cotton candy is very easy to learn, even for someone who has no prior experience.
Going to local events – even just to vend, is a great way to spend quality time and bond with your children, while also showing them how to make some extra money as well.
One of my favorite things to do when I’m selling cones is to make a big one for one of my nieces, and walk around with her as she very enthusiastically enjoys it.
It never takes long before somebody asks, “where did you get that?” and start pulling people to our booth.
If you do want others to help out directly, make sure that they meet all legal requirements to do so. To handle food, they may need to be a minimum age – 14 in my state of Washington, and pass a food handler’s test.
Younger children can help out in other ways, like setting up the booth, talking with customers, labeling bags, or even just holding a sign directing people to your booth.
Young children may be allowed to handle money or act as the cashier, but it depends a lot on local laws. Events themselves may also prohibit minors from handling transactions. To be sure, check with your local laws and read any rules for vending at the event you’re going to.
8. It’ll Bring You (And Others) Joy
This is one of the most rewarding reasons of all.
When I sold products on Amazon, the only time I ever heard from a customer is when there was a complaint. I’d imagine it’s the same in most customer service roles – people don’t bother contacting you unless they’re angry or have a problem.
With cotton candy, you get to witness happiness with every transaction. It’s not just good for your bank account, it’s good for your soul.
Seeing kids run up to the stand in excitement, seeing the surprise on the parent’s eyes when they try one of our unique flavors, that kind of stuff just feels nice.
It’s hard to stay in a bad mood when everybody around you is happy.
Getting paid good money while enjoying the happy atmosphere of a good event?
It feels like a dream job!
Conclusion
There’s no such thing as a ‘perfect business’, but vending cotton candy comes close.
I loved it so much that I started vending popcorn as well, which shares all these same benefits – cheap startup cost, high margins, no overhead, etc. And genuinely, this has been one of the happiest periods of my life so far.
It probably won’t make you rich. But it can make you quite a bit of side cash if you take it seriously, and some people end up making over $100,000 a year from vending alone.
So, what’s stopping you?
Let me know in the comments below – I’d love to help ease your fears!
– James McAllister