If you survey 100 people anywhere in the US, 95 of them will list funnel cakes as their favorite fair food. For years, fairs and carnivals were the only outlets for that tasty treat. That is certainly changing.

While most of the funnel cake guys still do the fair circuit, more and more of us are finding other venues for our business. I don't do fairs, but have specialized for the past 6 or 7 years in sporting events. There are many reasons for this but the most important is that I don't show up at a race or a football game and find a dozen other funnel cakes guys there vying for a share of the business. As a result, I am usually quite successful at every event I book.

Nationally, there has been a trend of chain food establishments to compete for a share of the funnel cake market as well. Most recent are Burger King, with their funnel cake sticks and Jack In The Box. Since I am not privy to sales figures on either of these companies, or on any other companies that have periodically offered funnel cakes, I have no idea of their success.

However, if the chatter on Twitter and other social media mediums are any reflection, both should be doing quite well.  In my Tweet Deck, I have a search column set up for funnel cakes so that if anyone mentions them, I get the tweet. It allows me to follow where the fairs are, the amusement parks that offer funnel cakes, etc. plus the talk of Jack In the Box and Burger King. Certainly, one indication of the success of those companies.

As a result, I am developing a marketing strategy for anyone that owns a restaurant and wants to try an item to draw in some new customers with little or no investment. If you are in the food business, let's talk. Email me at chillie@houseofalls.com.

After a week off for Thanksgiving, the Big Red crew are back at Liberty this week for three basketball games. And, I've put funnel cakes back on the menu. As you know, I tried just crepes and lemonade at Liberty to cut out my labor of using a runner to get funnel cakes from the trailer outside the arena to the stand inside. It didn't work.

Crepes, while an interesting item for the Vines Center, and a fun item for me as I put on a little show cooking them, they didn't pull well enough to sustain my lemonade sales. Funnel cakes will do much better, although, for now, I'm offering both. I also added fried oreos, an item that came out of the fair circuit a few years ago and seems to have stuck around.   Oddly, the first game with funnel cakes (women's game on Tuesday night) crepes outsold funnel cakes. That should change tonight as more of the kids realize they can get funnel cakes once again. Updates will follow.