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Sell more food festival tickets and fill your pitches

Sell day tickets with tasting tokens, choose your food vendors with Fai, and collect your share of their takings from one event.

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Ticket Fairy trader panel for a barbecue trader with Approve, Waiting list and Decline, Fai's reading, the pitch and fees, paperwork and history
  • Tickets, tokens and wristbands sold in one checkout
  • The right mix of food vendors, placed and ready
  • Your share of every vendor's takings collected

Sell day tickets, tasting tokens and wristbands together

Food festival ticketing starts with how hungry guests arrive. Start from the One-day festival template, or Multi-day festival for a weekend, and price day tickets in release tiers that step up as each one sells out. Ticket Fairy is food festival ticketing software that sells a token card, a tasting wristband or parking as add-ons in the same checkout. Each add-on has its own price and stock, and you choose the ticket types it goes with.

A tasting wristband suits a festival where one price covers a sample from every stall. A token card suits one where guests spend tokens at the stalls they choose. Both are add-ons, offered only with the ticket types they belong to. When an add-on sells out, it goes off sale and your day tickets stay on sale.

Chef demonstrations, a long-table lunch or a children's cookery class can each be a ticket type with its own price and allocation. When your site can only hold so many guests at once, give the day ticket time slots, and each slot sells out on its own count. On the day, the check-in report groups arrivals by date, slot and ticket type.

  • Release tiers: day tickets that step up as each tier sells out
  • Tokens and wristbands: add-ons with their own price and stock
  • Time slots: when the site holds only so many at once

Add-ons & upsells Ticket types & pricing Seating & timed entry

Ticket Fairy Time Slots dialog with a date range, weekdays, opening hours, slot length, price and maximum sales per slot

Choose the food vendors who make your menu

Food trucks, street food stalls and local producers apply from their phone on your public application page. It shows your pitch fees and extras such as power, water and an extra staff pass. Fai ranks each application against the menu you want, with her reasons, and you approve, waitlist or decline each vendor. As a food festival ticketing system, Ticket Fairy then sends each approved vendor an invoice and a page of their own to accept your terms and pay.

Describe your menu in plain words, such as no more than two pizza vans, plenty of vegan dishes and a dessert stall near the stage. Fai checks every application against it and explains each ranking. You still decide each vendor. The approval, waiting list and decline emails go out in your own wording. When a vendor drops out, the next one on the waiting list is one decision away.

Ask every vendor for their food hygiene rating, public liability insurance and gas safety certificate. Fai reads the expiry date from each file for you to check before you accept it. Vendors who have not sent theirs yet get a reminder. Each vendor names the staff they bring, and their pitch fee can include staff passes, with extras on sale for more.

  • Vendor applications: your fees, extras and the certificates you ask for
  • Ranked by Fai: against the menu you describe, with her reasons
  • Certificates: hygiene, insurance and gas, with expiry dates
  • Staff passes: included in the pitch fee, with extras for more

Traders & markets

Ticket Fairy public trader application page for a festival, with the business, what they sell, pitch, power and photos

Plan every pitch, from the food trucks to the fire lane

Enter your pitch rules the way you would say them, such as keeping the barbecues downwind of the seating and the fire lane clear. Fai plans pitches for the vendors still without one, and you accept or move each one. Drag each vendor onto a pitch on your site map. Their page then shows their pitch, a small map around it and their load-in time. Your electrician gets a power sheet for each zone with every vendor's power and water.

When a vendor asks to move, you see their reason. Offer them a free pitch that meets your rules, or decline with an email that says why. Load-in times sit on your run of show with the vendors booked on each, so the gate team knows which food truck to expect and when.

Share a private map link with the fire service, environmental health or your power supplier for as long as you choose. Vendors enter their own listing for a vendor directory on your website, and you check and publish each one. Guests then plan what to eat before they arrive. The directory never shows a vendor's contact name, email or phone number.

  • Pitch rules: checked on your map, with a pitch plan from Fai
  • Power sheets: each pitch's power and water by zone
  • Private map links: for the fire service and environmental health
  • Vendor directory: listings your vendors enter and you publish

Traders & markets Site & logistics

Ticket Fairy site map of a festival with a pitch selected and two approved traders waiting to be placed

Split revenue with your vendors, fairly and on record

After the festival, each vendor enters their takings on their own page with their till or card machine reports. Fai says whether the reports match the figure entered, and you accept it or ask about it. Your share comes from the pitch fee's percentage, raised to its minimum or lowered to its maximum. The vendor gets an invoice with a link to pay, and the Invoices view shows which vendors have paid.

A share of sales rewards you both when the queues are long, and suits a new vendor who cannot guess their takings. A minimum protects you from a quiet stall, and a maximum keeps the deal fair for your busiest food truck. Leave either limit empty when you do not want one. A flat pitch fee with no share keeps the deal simple, paid before the festival opens.

When a report does not add up, ask the vendor about it, and they answer on their own page. Every figure stays on the vendor's record with the reports they sent, so a question weeks later starts from the same numbers. Pitch fees, shares of takings and sponsor money go into your festival budget beside your own costs.

  • Takings checked by Fai: each report checked against the figure entered
  • Share of sales: with the pitch fee's minimum and maximum
  • Invoices view: paid and still to pay, vendor by vendor

Traders & markets Budget & costs

Ticket Fairy Takings view with two traders' takings to review, one accepted, and Fai's reading of each trader's reports

Run food fairs and street food markets all season

Food fairs and street food markets that return every month use the same software as a once-a-year festival. One vendor application covers every date of your season, and you approve or decline each date on its own. A vendor who cannot make a date releases their pitch from their own page, and a vendor on the waiting list takes it. Each month's share of takings is invoiced from that month's reports.

Sell each market date as its own event, with free or paid entry. Email the market's regulars when the next date goes on sale. Each vendor's own page shows their pitch and load-in time, so nobody has to ask the night before.

Tick Food Festival or Culinary Event as your event type. The Traders tab then lists every food truck and producer you book, from application to on site. The Licences and certificates tab lists each health permit and licence with its expiry date, so nothing lapses in the week before you open.

  • Market seasons: one application covers every date
  • Released pitches: a waiting-list vendor takes the free date
  • Traders: each food truck from application to on site

Traders & markets Planning

Ticket Fairy documents asked of outside teams for a festival, with insurance, a risk assessment and a gas certificate

Staff the gates, bins and info tent on show day

Plan shifts for the gates, the waste and recycling team and the information tent by team and hour. Fai suggests who fits each open place, and each person gets a pass with the zones and days they work. Give a sponsor, a local radio station or a food magazine their own allocation, and they hand out tickets to their guests themselves. Door staff scan tickets at every gate with the Entry Fairy app.

A partner allocation suits the cookware brand that wants to bring its best customers, or the magazine running a competition. The partner hands out only the ticket types you already sell, up to the number you set for each. They use one link with no login to your event and never see your sales.

If your festival also runs a bar, set the youngest age you admit and each buyer enters their date of birth at checkout. A buyer who is too young is told why before they pay. Door staff see each guest's age status as they scan, so the bar team serves with confidence.

  • Crew and volunteers: shifts by team and hour, with Fai's suggestions
  • Partner allocations: sponsors and media hand out their own tickets
  • Entry Fairy: tickets scanned at every gate

Crew & volunteers Guest lists & comps Check-in & box office

Ticket Fairy event details step with the dates, event types, venue, minimum age and description

How food festivals use Ticket Fairy

  • A monthly street food market

    A street food market takes one application for its whole season and decides each date on its own. When a vendor cannot make a date, a waiting-list vendor takes the pitch. Each month, the market invoices its share of takings from the vendors' reports.

  • A chilli festival with tasting tokens

    A chilli festival sells day tickets in release tiers, with a token card as an add-on. Guests spend tokens at the stalls they choose, and the token card goes off sale when the stock runs out while day tickets stay on sale.

  • A vegan food fair

    A vegan food fair tells Fai it wants every dish plant-based and a balance of sweet and savoury. Fai ranks the applications against that menu, and the organiser approves the best mix. Approved vendors pay, upload their hygiene rating and book a load-in slot.

  • A food and music weekend

    A weekend festival sells day tickets with a stage line-up and a street food village. Fai plans the pitches to keep the barbecues away from the seating. The electrician works from the power sheet, and guests plan their meals from the vendor directory.

  • A festival with chef demonstrations

    A three-day food festival sells chef demonstrations and a long-table lunch as ticket types with their own allocations. A cookware brand hands out its own guest tickets, and the check-in report shows each demonstration's arrivals.

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Everything you need to run your food festival

  • Traders & markets

    Get the right mix of traders, with their paperwork and payments in before load-in. Place each pitch on your map and invoice your share of sales.

  • Add-ons & upsells

    Earn more from each buyer. Sell parking, camping, merchandise and upgrades with the ticket. Take VIP table bookings with a deposit and sell passes that cover several of your events.

  • Ticket types & pricing

    Earn more per ticket with releases that open by themselves, hold tickets back for guests, and group day and weekend tickets so buyers choose fast.

  • Seating & timed entry

    Sell timed entry with a capacity and price for each slot, follow sales and arrivals slot by slot, and sell numbered seats or seated areas for shows.

  • Checkout

    Win back buyers who left checkout, collect the answers your door team needs, and approve orders and check ID before tickets go out.

  • Check-in & box office

    Your door team scans tickets on their own phones and fastens the right wristband on each guest. Walk-ups buy at the door, and you see who has arrived as the night goes on.

  • Guest lists & comps

    Send guests free tickets your door team scans, upload a whole list at once, and let partners hand out their own allocation.

  • Site & logistics

    Get your site ready before the gates open. Map your site, work out hire lists from riders, book deliveries into arrival times and hand kit out and back by scan.

  • Budget & costs

    See the all-in cost of each act, work from one budget your whole team shares, and compare costs and sales pace across your events.

  • Crew & volunteers

    Fill shifts with offers to the people who fit, keep one record of your crew across events, and recruit, look after and reward your volunteers.

  • Referral rewards

    Sell 20% more tickets through your buyers' friends. Buyers earn back part or all of their ticket price as friends buy, fans chase prizes you choose, and you see what each referral brought in.

  • Front of house

    Balance your box office each night and check ages once. Give VIP guests a host, keep merch stocked, guide fans through their day and take cashless payments on wristbands.

  • Control & safety

    One live control log for your whole site, the pass holders in each zone, official weather warnings for your venue, and medical care, barriers and permits on track.

Run your food festival step by step

Questions About Ticket Fairy for Food Festivals

Food festivals

Yes. Each is an add-on with its own price and stock, sold in the same checkout. You choose which ticket types it goes with, so buyers see only the extras that belong with their ticket.

You set a percentage on the pitch fee, with a minimum and a maximum if you want them. After the festival, vendors enter their takings with their till reports, Fai checks the reports against the figure, and each vendor gets an invoice for your share.

No. Fai ranks applications against the menu you describe, with plain reasons, and your team approves, waitlists or declines each vendor.

Any file you need, such as a food hygiene rating, public liability insurance or a gas safety certificate. Fai reads each expiry date for you to check, and vendors who have not sent theirs yet get a reminder.

No. A pitch fee can include staff passes, and each vendor names the staff they bring. An extra on the pitch fee adds more passes.

Yes. One application covers every date of a market season, and you approve or decline each date on its own. A vendor who cannot make a date releases the pitch for a waiting-list vendor.

Up to 5 till or card reports, each a PDF, photo or spreadsheet of up to 25 MB. The takings must be in the pitch fee's currency, and the vendor can split the total into card and cash.

No. A listing shows only the name, what they sell, the kind of vendor, the words guests filter by, a website and an Instagram name.

No. The Entry Fairy app needs an internet connection to scan tickets, so check the connection at each gate before you open.

Beer and wine festivals have pages of their own, with tasting sessions, glasses and the age check at the gate. Food ticketing for a festival with a bar uses the same minimum age and checks at the gate.

Ticket Fairy in full: ticketing platform for event organisers, with the features, pricing and support behind this page.

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