Deep-Fried Sticker Shock: It’s Not Just Fairgoers Grappling with Higher Prices This Year

More than 2.4 million people visited the State Fair of Texas last year, hankering for fried food, games on the Midway and a few rides to make the little ones squeal. Big Tex is an icon, as are corny dogs, funnel cakes, and please don’t forget Boris, the 1,000-pound Yorkshire pig snoozing away all day, every day in the livestock barn. Oh, and if you’re not on those deep-fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, you’re missing out. 

But in this economy?

After the first week of the fair this year, instead of videos of this season’s fried sensation — like cotton candy bacon on a stick of 2024 — videos show near-empty esplanades. Headlines call out high prices and the unaffordability of it all.  

But fairgoers aren’t the only ones struggling this year. Concessionaires are paying higher prices and finding ways to avoid outpricing their customers. They know budgets are tight and dollars are stretched, because theirs are too. Chocolate alone is up 71% from just last year. Turkey legs cost more than double what they did just two years ago. Everyone is feeling the steaming heat of inflation. 

It’s Still Cheaper Than Disney

So, how much does it cost a family to go to the fair? With a bit of strategizing, a family of four could get a full experience for about $200, or $50 a person. This includes riding DART to avoid $30 parking, discounted tickets (there are many options) and sticking to the value food options (actually a great selection; deep-fried Pop-Tarts are 9 coupons). 

Bringing your own water is a smart move, and everyone should budget for a couple of beers, because that’s the least we can do. The $200 also includes a ride or two and a couple of games. However, if you want to ride the big Ferris wheel, that’ll set a family of four back 64 coupons (16 per person), and each coupon costs $1. 

Trying to stick to a budget at the fair can get messy, however, especially with kids. Fairgoers usually underestimate the number of coupons they need the first few times, often returning for more. DART can be complicated and crowded on busy weekends. Eating before you go seems counterintuitive, but take it from experience, hangry kids in long lines don’t make for a pleasant day out. 

We were fair first-timers once, and now we’re old pros. We like to go on Thrifty Thursdays after 5 p.m., when the temperatures are cooler and concessionaires have smaller portions at lower prices. You can also find cheaper parking, as parking lot attendees haggle for fewer cars (the State Fair of Texas only owns a couple of lots; most lots surrounding the fairgrounds are owned by independent business operators, and their prices fluctuate based on demand).

Two hundred bucks, though, is much less than a trip to Disney, and the food at the fair is decidedly better. But, $200 is also a week’s worth of groceries. Some choices are made for us. 

The Unfair Cost of Business

Mark Zable’s family has had a stand at the State Fair of Texas since 1964; when he was in diapers, he slept under the counters. 

Zable has 20 workers covering his two stands, which sell a variety of foods (Belgian waffles are a mainstay); they each work all day for 24 consecutive days, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The thing about employees is that they can also haggle for wages, literally walking around the fair asking vendors if they need help and what they’re paying. However, most vendors have steady crews who return every year.

We caught up with Zable the first week of the fair. He’d compared his bulk food order from supplier Ben E. Keith from last year with this year’s; costs have increased dramatically, not to mention increased labor costs, which he said have doubled since the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Shrimp went from $62 a case to $74,” he says, and he goes through almost two cases a day. 

Last year, strawberries were $26 a flat. This year, he was quoted $34.50, but then found a lower price. 

“The big one, though, is chocolate,” he says. “Last year, for 20 kilos I paid $339.29, and this year it went up to $580.51. That is a huge change [71%]. I think that is probably the most terrifying change for me.” 

Chicken is a dollar more per pound. The price of liquid margarine has increased by $10 per case. 

The only way to cover his costs and labor, plus the 25% every concessionaire pays to the fair, is to increase prices. “There is no other option,” he says. 

At the time we spoke, only a few days into fair season, he wasn’t worried yet about how these incremental price increases would affect his bottom line — it’s too soon to tell. However, that was also a day before the government shut down, which he was worried would negatively affect business by adding further pressure to the economy. 

Beating a Drum

Glen Kusak receives 42,000 pounds of smoked turkey legs every week for the fair. He owns Farm Pac Kitchen in Yoakum, a small town near Shiner in South Central Texas, where he smokes and packs turkey. He sells these at his huge Hans Mueller tent at the fair and also supplies several other vendors. 

“Proteins are high just across the board,” he says. “It seems like in agriculture somebody always loses, but right now the ranchers are winning. They’re getting really high prices for the livestock. But everyone down the line gets squeezed.” 

The bird flu has affected the poultry business, but Kusak says there’s another disease that hasn’t been covered as much, which is affecting the growth patterns of turkeys and limiting weight gain. “Something’s happening with some other virus,” he says. “The birds just aren’t gaining, and there’s a shortage of supply.”

Tight supplies, combined with a rise in the popularity of drumsticks at Renaissance festivals, Oktoberfests and fairs, have created a perfect storm for prices. 

Kusak says the turkey price was around $0.60 per pound two years ago and about $0.78 per pound last year. Now, it’s $1.72 a pound. That’s an increase of $0.94 a pound from last year to this year. For his 42,000 pounds, that’s an increase of $39,480 a week, or a total of $72,240 a week in turkey legs. 

For the three and a half weeks of the fair, his increase in costs for turkey legs from last year to this year is around $135,000. 

How’s that play out at the fair? 

“Normally, if we had the markup that a concessionaire would normally take, turkey drums would be at $28 or $30 each. But we wouldn’t sell any,” he says. 

His prices went from $22 last year to $24 this year.

“So we went up $2, but we really needed to go up about six to cover everything. And we felt guilty at $22 last year, honestly,” he says. 

“I feel sorry for a family of four that comes out here. No telling what that costs. I mean, just to park, get in the gate, get a soda water or bottle of water, or things like that. It’s prohibitive,” he says.  

The Hans Mueller tent offers a Thrifty Thursday sausage on a stick for $8, down from the normal daily price of $12. In years past, he set the Thursday price at $7, but those prices are now higher, as are the costs of plastic forks, cups, straws, paper boats and napkins.

Deep-Fried and Double Stuffed

Stiffler Concessions might best be known for inventing the deep-fried Double Stuffed Oreo. It’s dipped and rolled in pancake batter before a swim in bubbling oil. The result is a golden puffy ball, crispy on the outside with a melted Oreo in the middle. A shower of powdered sugar adds another touch of sweetness.

The Stifflers have seven stands around the fairgrounds and burn through more than 80,000 Oreos every 24-day run of the fair, plus 7,000 sticks of butter and almost 3,500 pounds of chocolate chips for their cookie shop. 

Tammy Stiffler was sipping a cold Red Bull on one of the first days of the fair, wearing a cowboy hat and chic overalls, which she said she already regretted under the late morning sun. 

She had to take a hard look at their costs after last year’s fair. 

“Two years ago, in ‘23, chocolate chips were like $45 a box,” she says. “Last year they were $75 and this year they’re $125.” 

Previously, she’d just send a list to Ben E. Keith to get her massive orders filled. As easy as that was, she needed a line-item audit, which consumed most of their off-season. Her son had a giant spreadsheet for everything they buy in bulk, and they all hunted down the cheapest products among Sam’s Club, Restaurant Depot, Costco Business Center and other suppliers. 

“We grew from four stands to 10 in 2021 and just got complacent about costs,” she says. 

Sourcing ingredients from various suppliers requires a lot of work, but it’s the only way to keep prices down for fairgoers. 

“My husband went and picked up a pallet of oil a couple of days ago and lost two 5-gallon buckets of oil down the highway,” she says, laughing a little. “He’s like, ‘You’re going to have to get this oil delivered, I can’t do this.’” 

One of the only things they raised the price on this year was a higher-quality weiner that is thicker and holds its form better. They also had to raise the cost of a cookie bucket by one coupon. 

It’s not that we or anyone else is crying for state fair vendors. Make no mistake, it’s a lucrative business when done right. These are all entrepreneurs out to make money, not just add to our waistlines. But it’s also highly competitive; everyone is hustling for the same coupons. Vendors hawk each other’s prices, a practice that can help keep prices competitive, relatively speaking.

More Than 100 Things to Do

Karissa Condoianis, senior vice president of public relations for the State Fair, says the fair only sets the prices for two things: tickets to get in and parking at its two lots, which is $30 this year; last year was $25 and $40, and it moved to one price for 2025.

Tickets to get in went up $2 this year. The Federal Trade Commission now requires all-inclusive pricing online, so fees are added upfront, making it appear that prices have gone up even more.

As far as esplanades and sidewalks that aren’t elbow to elbow, the fair assures us that traffic is on par with other years. Sure, there are situations where the right angle at the right time can make things seem sparse. But actually, the fair studies heat maps and moves things around each year to make sure fairgoers get the best experience by being spread out.

“I want people to know that the state fair is a nonprofit and that when you come out to have fun at the fair, you’re allowing us to do all the great things we do year-round,” she says. In 2024, the fair gave more than $19.5 million through its philanthropic efforts, which focus on South Dallas and Fair Park neighborhoods. This included $652,000 in community funding and $1.3 million in student scholarships.

The State Fair of Texas funds all the concerts, shows, car shows and art exhibits, which are included in the price of admission.

“There are more than 100 things you can do out here every day with your admission,” Condoianis says. “And we have all other stages throughout the grounds where you can experience up-and-coming artists, or deep-fried comedy on Friday night. So, all the shows you go to, whether it’s Fiesta de Marionetas or our new USA breakdance show or Mighty Mike, that’s all included with your admission.”

This weekend, college football fever will descend on the fairgrounds for the Red River Showdown, pitting Texas against Oklahoma, which has been played at the Cotton Bowl since 1928. (You’ll need a ticket to get into the Cotton Bowl, but plenty of places around the fair will have it on TV.)

Houston rapper Paul Wall will play on the Chevy Main Stage that same night (no extra ticket needed here). Last year, more than 212,000 people packed into the fair on the same game day. Then, Monday is Columbus Day, a traditionally busy day for the fair. After that, it’s only one week left before the fair is over for another year.

Maybe wait for Tuesday or Thursday, when tickets are just $12 online; Tuesday if you want discounted Midway rides, or Thursday if you want discounted food. Because in this economy?