Chattanooga Oktoberfest® 2023 is in the books, and it was another great weekend. The weather knocked us a bit on Sunday (chilly/humid), but sales were solid – and we have some new festival leaders!
The King of Oktoberfest 2023 is Glen with Federal Bake Shop! His vendor sales topped all others, even outpacing every food truck on our campus this year. Congrats, Glen - and thanks for your sleepless nights to prepare fresh pretzels and festival delights. I’m personally a bit stunned by your outstanding success - Prost!
Our other category leaders for this year:
Concessions/Food Trucks
- Joyful Hearts Cafe
- Jonny Poppers
- Jade Lockhart Fire & Smoke
Farms & Agriculture
- Federal Bake Shop (overall leader)
- Sowing Seeds Farm
- Sweet Girl Honey Farm
Home Goods
- Cluster Funk Studio
- KB Artisans and Forge
- Strange Wicks Candle Company
Personal Goods
- Classy Chick Remade
- Gorgeous Chaos
- Wise Leatherworks and Jewelry
Every one of these category winners were in the solid 4-digit sales range, except for the concessions who were all in the 5-digit range. And it was a tight competition; our Top 10 vendors in each category collectively earned:
- Concessions: $68,028
- Farms & Agriculture: $56,339
- Personal Goods: $32,322
- Home Goods: $29,259
Note that the above stats does not include festival merchandise or beer sales, which are separated. On that note, merch sales were almost identical between last year and this, and beer sales were up slightly on Saturday and down slightly on Sunday (it was a bit of a frosty morning).
Overall, with a few no-drops pending, the festival posted combined sales of $534,372 with 332 vendor booths reported. We intentionally reduced the vendor footprint to provide more seating this year, so the aggregate amounts are not as useful as the vendor average comparison:
| 2022 | Vendor Average | 2023 | Vendor Average | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Concessions | $127,412.91 | $2,450.25 | $93,597.47 | $2,034.73 | |
| Food/Agriculture | $132,386.40 | $1,423.51 | $118,895.59 | $1,306.54 | |
| Home Goods | $82,582.25 | $860.23 | $71,538.12 | $786.13 | |
| Personal Goods | $67,699.50 | $981.15 | $71,750.51 | $875.01 |
All averages declined in 2023, and beer sales were off 5%. Weather played a factor, but I personally interacted with a number of customers who had multiple declined credit cards this weekend. Inflation, interest rates and a slowing economy are definitely starting to be felt.
Thanks to everyone for a great weekend, and we’re looking forward to hosting NASA at the Market on this upcoming Sunday!