Benjamin Franklin once said, "If you fail to prepare... then prepare to fail."
So make sure you plan your food fundraisers thoroughly. Plan what foods you are going to use, how you are going to market and advertise them, and then plan a sales pitch (see below).
Plan and brainstorm ways of boosting your sales and increasing profits... Like giving incentives for larger sale volumes or prizes for best seller!
Set individual and group goals and stick to them. People love to succeed, so if you set a good goal everyone will do their best to reach it.
Choose Popular Food Products!
Always pick Foods that are popular and in demand.
Consider what type of foods your target supporters enjoy and what foods will be most desired, and then choose your products accordingly.
The more popular the food, the more funds you will raise!
Use A Quality Fundraising Product Company:
Fundraising companies are focused on delivering fundraising products and solutions that will make your fundraisers as profitable and convenient as possible.
So using a quality company that provides a range of food fundraising products is of the utmost importance and will really help your fundraising campaigns!
If you are not from the US or Canada then you will need to do a local Google search below to find a company in your country...
(A Tip: Type the name of your local area or country with a plus sign before it, and then add your search query with a plus sign before it as well. Ex. +england +fundraising food supplier)
Advertise & Promote!
Depending on the different food fundraisers, you will have to advertise in a few different ways.
If you have a Food stand at an event or at a shopping mall make sure you have banners up displaying what products you are selling and what the cause is for.
You could even consider sending one of your sales members to go around telling people where your food stand is, what you're selling and what it is helping raise funds for.
(Remember that people are always much happier to buy something if they know that it is for a good cause; it's one of the great marketing tools non-profits have!)
If you are selling a single product through your cause, like chocolate bars or health products, you'll need to be a bit more aggressive with your advertising.
Obviously you will have a sales team who will sell for you and spread the word... Encourage them by offering incentives (see below).
Then Advertise through your website, social networking sites, by emails, newsletters, fliers and posters! Let everyone know about your food fundraiser!
Have a guideline sales pitch for your sales team to learn and use. It should briefly explain what you are selling, and what the cause is for. Try making it exciting!
Use the words help and because... "Please help our cause by buying a chocolate bar. We are fundraising because we need new sports equipment!"
Research shows that these two trigger words will boost positive answers ("Yes I will buy.") by more than 50%.
Then, with your sales team, rehearse and practice it... the more confident they are with what they have to say, the more sales they'll make.
That advice comes purely from my own experience. I used to work direct sales getting people to sign up to monthly donations to charities...
It was hard work, but the more I learnt and practiced my pitch, the more confident I became and the more sign-ups I made! Simple.
When holding food fundraisers you should always offer other options for people to contribute to your cause. It could either be a different food product or something completely unrelated to food!
Because people's tastes are so different I'd suggest you always have a second food product to offer.
For example, have chocolate bars as your main product and then also offer lollipops... That way if someone doesn't like chocolate (Highly unlikely I know!), they can always buy a lollipop.
Offer a few other options as well like maybe "supporter's bracelets" or the most obvious... a Donation, check out the
ScratchCards Fundraiser
for a cool Donations option!
By offering these extra options you will increase the likelihood of a purchase being made!
Ending Notes:
Remember that the planning of any Fundraiser is extremely important... If you are not organised, you will waste much effort!
Take your time when planning food fundraisers. Carefully choose your food products, outline your marketing plan and brainstorm ideas on how to boost your sales. Know your goals. By doing all this you will end up truly rewarded for your effort!
Another last tip would be to market other current or planned Fundraiser campaigns at your food fundraisers. This tip goes for all Fundraising ideas.
And also make sure you always direct people to your website for more information about your cause and how they can help out!
I wish you all the best of luck with your Food Fundraisers!