Ann Guttman (left) watches as daughter Emy Guttman scoops caramel corn for a customer at the Sugar Shack. Ann has been selling concessions at Top of the Park for 28 years.
Daniel Brenner | AnnArbor.com
Steve Guttman, the boyfriend who later became her husband, took over as manager of Top of the Park 12 years ago, leaving Ann to run the family’s treat stand.
Today, as she and the next generation of Guttmans set up the Sugar Shack just off to the right of the Top of the Park stage, they are joined by seven other food vendors and a hot dog cart.
“It’s certainly changed since we started, and we’ve changed what we sell as different people opened up shop,” she said.
“Before Stucchi’s came we had ice cream but we gave that to then. We’ve always had popcorn and cotton candy and snow cones, but when there wasn’t a hotdog person we’d do hotdogs and before Tios was here we did nachos.”
The Sugar Shack can afford to adapt its menu every year because it’s the only festival food vendor not attached to another shop or restaurant in town.
Ann Arbor Summer Festival associate director and general manager Amy Nesbitt said the festival purposefully looks for other vendors who will provide different offerings for patrons and discourages direct competition.
“We have a four-page contract with every vendor spelling out as clearly as we can what the expectations are, and one of the things we do is menu review,” she said.
Nesbitt said that turnover at the food section of the festival is rare and she tries to get input from the community and the festival’s volunteer board before approaching restaurants to potentially sell at the festival.
“We try to make sure to give priority to local independently owned businesses, and I try to talk to businesses who have been around for at least a year,” she said.
“Newer business are often very eager to be a part of the festival but they can be really challenged by what is a 21-night operational expense both in terms of product fulfillment as well as staffing. It’s hard for them to understand how it will affect them.” On top of staffing and extra food expenses, vendors pay a flat $4,250 fee to operate at the festival. Food carts that do not require a hut or water hookup pay $1,500.
In addition to the visibility that comes with being associated with the Summer Festival, vendors often get a boost in revenue during summer months when students are out of town and many residents go out of town.
Hut-K Chaats co-owner Sumi Bhojani prepares a dish for a customer at Top of the Park on a Tuesday evening.
Daniel Brenner | AnnArbor.com
“This is our second year at Top of the Park and it hasn’t been quite as good as last year at this point. The first week was great but then weather has been difficult. When it rains and you get shut down for the day, that’s zero business.”
Most vendors prepare menus specifically geared to the festival and serve food that can be assembled, rather than cooked, in the small huts where they operate. Pizza House, which is back at the festival this year after over a decade hiatus, takes a slightly different approach.
“You can buy slices that we have right at the booth, but then most of the rest of regular menu is also available,” manager Sue Baker said.
“Customers can order and then we have it delivered right to the booth. It usually takes about half an hour depending on what’s ordered.”
On a sunny Tuesday evening, patrons walked up and down the row of booths using all of their senses to find the right dish for dinner.
“Well, it’s hard to say no to barbecue and coleslaw on a hot night,” Missy Plegue said while enjoying a sandwich from Satchel’s BBQ Restaurant’s stand.
“And besides, the smell beat everyone else, except maybe the popcorn stand. And popcorn is not dinner.”
It may not be dinner, but popcorn and other treats have kept the Sugar Shack in business as the Summer Festival has changed around it. The outdoor part of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival moved from the Power Center parking structure to the Ingalls Mall in front of Rackham Auditorium in 2007.
Guttman said she couldn’t imagine a reason that her family would not be back next year to sell their treats.
“We’ve just always loved the festival being a part of it, it’s really fun,” she said.
"... And it’s great because it allows me to have the kids here. They’ve always worked here and had a good job for the month and their friends often have a job, too. It’s good having them here with me.”
The Sugar Shack, Stucci’s, Hut-K Chaat, Pizza House and Satchel’s BBQ are joined every night by the Oasis Grill, Sweetwaters Cafe, Noodles and Company and a hot dog cart at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival’s Top of the Park.
Festival goers can also purchase soft drinks from a number of festival-run booths and beer and wine are offered in the beer garden. Nesbitt said the food vendors are not allowed to sell drinks (with the exception of Sweetwaters) because proceeds from the beverage sales help cover a significant percentage of the festival’s operating expenses.
Top of the Park’s last days are Thursday - Sunday this week. The festival opens nightly at 4 p.m.
Ben Freed covers business for AnnArbor.com. You can sign up here to receive Business Review updates every week. Get in touch with Ben at 734-623-2528 or email him at benfreed@annarbor.com. Follow him on twitter @BFreedinA2