The weather, and the attendance, being major factors. when I first started catering for large crowds I got it wrong more times than right, but the mistakes are what give you the experience to get the balance right by being very much on the ball watching the supporters carefully before kick off, if you see damn well it’s going to be packed you have up till half time (the rush hour) to quickly prep as much as possible, meaning if you do have some waste it is not so bad because you have taken a good few quid.
Virtually every game these days is pre-ticketed – the vast majority of tickets are sold in advance, so clubs have a pretty good idea of how many will turn up.
Reasonable question you ask, but the outside caterers would charge far more to the supporters for the food, I have witnessed that at many grounds where this happens, the club usually charge them an agreed fee for the pitch so the caterers over charges to cover it.
Depends how you structure the contract: do they pay a fee, meaning they have to recover that fixed cost before making any profit? Or do you do it like a franchise where you set the prices but rely on another company’s expertise, economies of scale & staffing structure to leave them headroom for a profit?
