Concessions...

[Airmutt]

There is no doubt that the concessions at AV have gotten better over the years in both quality and selection. I like that EAA has brought in some of the local restaurants. I think it makes some of the other concessioners step up their game. The aforementioned Subway has been a perennial favorite. If you time it right there is little to no line.
As a lifetime member I really appreciate being able to trade in my dinner benefit for a couple of days access to the EAA pavilion. A cold drink, a snack and a place to rest my tired feet is great; especially late in the week.

[Bill Berson]

A 4 hour football game is nothing like a week of camping 24/7 at Oshkosh. The breakfast I got was not bad at $4, but the $6 for a 30 cent baked potato seemed absurd. I guess the management would actually need to camp there for the week to see first hand.

[CHICAGORANDY]

"the $6 for a 30 cent baked potato seemed absurd."

I shall look forward next year to the far more budget priced 'Berson's Taters' stand.

lol

The place has to buy or rent all the equipment and booth, hire staff to bake them, keep them hot, serve them, provide the means to eat them, have appropriate condiments handy, clean up after them, maintain all pertinent health and safety standards etc.etc.etc.

It ain't as cheap and easy as one might think and I for one am THRILLED not to have to provide food for the picky masses. Suffice it to say I don't attend AirVenture for the foodie experience. And the vendors beat heck out of cooking myself or eating something grim out of a can from WalMart.

[Bill Berson]

It's a whole different experience flying in, living in a tent, and not having a car to go off site or cook in your motel.
I will need to see if the new Homebuilt Camping Pavilion has any way to bake a potato. But that still leaves the hassle of finding the potato. They don't have that sort of stuff at the EAA stores.
The onsite servers correctly focus on day users. My point was that some live onsite in a tent for the week.
Things like the Homebuilt Camping Corn Roast was a good idea. (sorry I missed that)

[CHICAGORANDY]

I don't envy the tent campers. The last time i was actually 'camping' it was called 'off-base guard post' in Vietnam. The experience fully sated any pent up desires to ever live in the woods or sleep on the ground. lol I guess campers have the option of Uber or the buses to get off site for restaurant eats or groceries?

These days, since my motel cost is about equal to what they charge to live in a tent, I 'rough it' by having my breakfasts from the gas station hot sandwiches selection and suppers sourced at Culvers.

[Kyle Boatright]

It's a whole different experience flying in, living in a tent, and not having a car to go off site or cook in your motel.
I will need to see if the new Homebuilt Camping Pavilion has any way to bake a potato. But that still leaves the hassle of finding the potato. They don't have that sort of stuff at the EAA stores.
The onsite servers correctly focus on day users. My point was that some live onsite in a tent for the week.
Things like the Homebuilt Camping Corn Roast was a good idea. (sorry I missed that)

Day 1, we catch the bus or a shuttle to the grocery store. That sets us up for one good meal that day, beer, sandwich fixings, soft drinks, snacks, etc. We fill in around that from Subway, SOS Brothers, the bar/restaurant at Sleepy Hollow, and a few other venues. This plan has worked well for us tent camping for 25ish years.

This year, our "nice meal" from the grocery store the day we arrived was a couple of pounds of boiled shrimp. The HBC crowd was quite envious...

[FlyingRon]

The price isn't determined by the raw material as Randy says. In fact, that's not even how regular restaurants run. You price things so that you maximize your profit not based on any particular single item cost to produce. Your job at the end of the day is to make sure you have taken in enough money to cover your expenses (raw materials, labor, other overhead) and make at least a small profit. If you gotta give away a hamburger for a dime so people will buy fries and drinks, that's what you do.

[Bill Berson]

Well, there might be options other than profit. Such as the corn feed I mentioned. Camping volunteers might enjoy doing something after hours at 7pm, for example.