California Speedway Sublet Concessions

California Speedway had two major events each year: NASCAR Race Weekend in the spring and Indy Cart Race Weekend in the fall. When I became Controller of California Speedway Concessions, there were six sublets selling various specialty items such as Lemonade, Ice Cream, Kettle Korn, Shaved Ice, and Specialty Coffees. The sublet operators went to the various speedways in the Southwest and other outdoor shows and paid either a flat rent to the main concessionaire, or a percentage of unverified sales.

I decided that the only way to ensure that Sportservice received the full percentage rent to which it was entitled, was to verify each sublet’s sales. As the six sublet operators came to California Speedway to sign their contracts for the NASCAR races, I had a list of rules that I reviewed with each sublet operator and required him to sign.

Each concessionaire had to establish a chargeable item that I would count before he opened for business, and again when the races for the weekend were concluded. For example, the Lemonade sublet’s chargeable item was the cup into which the lemonade was poured and sold to the customer. For the Ice Cream sublet, it was the individual ice cream portions themselves. When the ice cream sublet operator arrived the day before opening with his ice cream truck, I went into the truck, and counted the number of cases of ice cream bars, ice cream cones, ice cream cups, etc. stored on pallets. and multiplied the case count by the number of pieces per case.

I made it clear to the sublets that everything that was to be sold had to be checked by me before they opened for business, preferably on set up day. If a sublet ran low on a particular product and needed to get additional product from off the speedway’s premises, the sublet had to bring that product to me so I could count it and add it to the beginning count.

In the beginning, certain sublet operators thought I wasn’t serious. On race day, I noticed that a couple of them hadn’t checked in with me. When I walked around the speedway premises prior to the gates opening, I saw them ready to sell their products. I asked why they hadn’t checked with me as required in the rules they signed. They replied that they never had to do anything like this anywhere else. I told them that this was the only warning they would get. If they failed to check in with me as required the next time, I would close down their stand and ban them from future events. I never had a problem with those sublets again.

At the end of the weekend, I counted the chargeable items remaining from each sublet and entered the counts into Excel spreadsheets I had previously established. The Excel spreadsheet calculated the rent due. Where main concessionaires at other facilities took whatever sales report the sublet provided and accepted the rent payment based on that report, I told the sublet operator how much he owed me.

Due to the strict controls that I had established over the sublet operators, the Sportservice General Manager was able to increase the number of sublets from six to fifteen. We were able to significantly increase the variety of specialty items offered, including Frozen Margaritas, Thai Food, Corn on the Cob, Pizza, Tacos, Burritos, Fruit Cocktail, Funnel Cakes, Steak Sandwiches, and other items. Sublet revenues rose $250,000 for the NASCAR weekend, Sportservice’s share rose by $100,000, and NASCAR attendees were treated to products not usually seen in concession stands at major sporting events.

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