Giving EarthFair Attendees an alternative
to standard fast-food concessions

One of the goals at EarthFair is to give the 60,000 attendees good, healthy alternatives to the usual hot dogs and hamburgers you generally find at public facilities. To this end, we offer exhibit space for food vendors. If you are interested in providing food service at EarthFair, this section is intended to give you the information you need to decide whether this opportunity is right for you.

    Exhibiting in this area is also of interest to organizations who are promoting specific food or beverage products and want to sample them to the public.

What can we serve at EarthFair?

    The only restrictions are:

• All food items served be vegetarian
• ALL food service items must be compostable or recyclable.
  (see below)

     Many vendors serve full meals; others serve beverages (smoothies, tea, health drinks, etc.), snacks (e.g. kettle corn), or drinks (e.g., coffee, lemonade). Due to space limitations, we will give preferential placement to vendors offering a full menu.

Where Does EarthFair Food Service Take Place?

    This year, we will provide food service in locations are listed in the following table, and you can find them on these maps: North Area and South Area.

    Note that only Area 8 food can accept food trucks.

How much will we sell?

    You sales will depend on many factors, including the weather, your service, and food choice and quality. In 2018 - a typical year - 28 individual food vendors reported total sales between $900 and $9,900 (combined sales from 3 booths). The average sales per vendor was $2,913, and the median sales volume (i.e., half the vendors sold less and half sold more) was $2,265.

What does it cost to exhibit?

    Unlike the standard EarthFair exhibitor fees, which depend on organization type and size, there is a single price schedule for all EarthFair Food Vendors. Click here for 2022 Food Vendor space descriptions and prices.

    All food vendors are required to file a sales report within one week of EarthFair, and remit 10% of their gross margin to EarthWorks (gross margin = total sales minus exhibitor fees already paid to EarthWorks); food vendors will want to take account of this fee in their pricing.

Don't Forget the Health Department!

    All groups distributing food items at EarthFair must have a health permit issued by the San Diego County Department of Environmental Health (DEH). In addition, you must follow all the DEH guidelines - DEH inspectors will be at EarthFair and will close down any vendor not complying.

Click here to download the Temporary Food Facility Permit and Food Vendor Guidelines.

    Specifically, if you are preparing food you will need to have a screened-in food booth with flooring. You can provide your own, or we can provide one for you.

     We do provide a 3-comparement sink and hot water for use by food vendors.

What about cooking?

    If you plan to cook food - whether with gas, electricity, or charcoal - you must follow the Fire Marshall's safety rules. The Fire Marshall will be inspecting each food vendor in the morning, and will close down any vendor not complying with their safety standards. Typical problems include not having the correct fire extinguisher, and having frayed or worn flexible gas lines.

Click here to download the Fire Marshall's rules for Portable Cooking at Special Events

Is electricity available?

Except for food trucks with their own internal generators, exhibitors may not bring their own generators due to permitting restrictions.

    Electricity is available at $100 for each 110-volt, 20-amp circuit you need (we rent a generator for this; there is no house power provided by the park). We can provide 110 volt service only. If you have special or extreme needs, please contact us directly.

Food service item requirements

    Food service generates a lot of waste. Instead of dumping this in the landfill as waste, EDCO takes our wasted food and turns it into compost.

    To support this recycling effort, all food service items must be either COMPOSTABLE or RECYCLABLE. This means:

• No styrofoam at all.
• Utensils (forks, spoons) should be wood or bamboo.
  Most of the corn starch utensils that are advertised to be compostable - in fact do not compost.
• Plates, bowls and other food containers should be paper. UNCOATED paper is required.
  Paper plates with a plastic coating make recycling more difficult.
• Paper cups must be uncoated.
• Plastic cups can be used if they are #1, #2, or #5 plastic.
• No plastic condiment packs (e.g., ketchup, soy sauce).
  Provide condiments from bulk dispensers at your booth, or in compostable containers.
• No plastic straws, stirrers, lids, etc.

End-of-day Leftover Food Donation

You will be contacted by Zero Waste San Diego about donating your leftover edible food to a local pantry.

Food Vendor Registration

San Diego EarthWorks is handling all EarthFair Applications via our on-line registration system. You can create an account for yourself, fill-out your Food Vendor application, review and change their application at any time, and can download your event logistics information before the fair.

     To use the system, you do need to have an email account that you use regularly. If you don't have or use email, please call the office at 858-272-7370.

Important Dates

• March 30, 2022: Last day to register and pay in full without incurring a $75 late registration fee.  
• April 18, 2022: Last day for exhibitors to register and pay in full.
• April 28, 2022: Sales reports due for exhibitors conducting sales at EarthFair.

Supporting Materials

    We recommend that you review the following document. If you have exhibited before, you will find this familiar. If you have not exhibited before, please look it over carefully; you will need this information to complete the application.

• EarthFair Participant Guidelines. As part of the application process you are required to agree to comply with these rules and guidelines. Please read them carefully.
• EarthFair Food Vendor Space Description and Prices.

Using the Registration System

Click this link for instructions on how
to access and use the registration system
to fill out your application form

Afterward, you can use this link
to acccess the registration system directly

Questions? Send email to ef22exh@earthdayweb.org
or call the office at 858-272-7370