One festival. One dashboard. The traders book back.
Sell session and weekend tickets, take trader applications with menus and licences attached, and watch the gate fill in real time. Built for the operators running the food weekends people queue for.
- Free to try
- No card needed
- Live in minutes
The problem
You're running a festival, not a Google Form.
Trader applications buried in your inbox. Menus and food hygiene certificates landing on WhatsApp. The Saturday lunch session sells through and the queue at the gate goes round the corner. By Monday the spreadsheet is a wreck and next year's contact list is gone. You're the one holding it together with goodwill and a clipboard. Popup Pal puts ticketing, trader pipeline, and gate control on one screen, so you can run the weekend instead of firefighting it.
What you get
Built for food festival organisers.
Every feature you need to run the event, sell the tickets, and bring the same crowd back.
Fill every session, control every queue
Sell timed lunch and dinner sessions, single-day, weekend, family, and VIP. Cap each session so the gate flows and the food vendors don't burn out at noon.
Trader applications, not inbox sprawl
Open a public pitch application form. Applicants upload menus, food hygiene ratings, public liability, and PAT certificates in one go. Approve, decline, or waitlist from the same screen.
Pitch pricing that matches the patch
Charge what each pitch is worth. Premium frontage near the entrance, mid-tier on the main run, standard round the back. Add electrics, water, and vehicle access as paid extras at booking.
Live capacity at the gate
Volunteers scan tickets from any phone. The dashboard shows attendees on site, session capacity remaining, and any duplicate scans flagged automatically. No more guessing how full the field is.
A trader directory worth browsing
Every approved trader gets a public listing with photos, menu, and dietary tags. Visitors plan their lunch before they arrive, and the festival looks busy online weeks in advance.
The contact list that survives the weekend
Every visitor who bought a ticket and every trader who pitched is there next year. Send a save-the-date to last year's crowd, rebook your top traders in two taps, and start the season already half-sold.
How it works
How food festivals run on Popup Pal
Set up the festival, open both sides, work the pipeline, and run the gate. One workflow, one weekend, one place.
Set up the festival
Add dates, sessions, ticket types, pitch zones, and the extras list. Drop in your branding and you're listed.
Open tickets and trader applications
Push tickets live and open the trader pipeline. Applicants upload paperwork as they apply, so nothing chases you later.
Work the trader pipeline
Review applications, approve the line-up, and invoice pitch fees through Popup Pal. Returning traders get a one-tap rebook offer.
Run the weekend
Scan tickets at the gate, watch live capacity per session, and direct traders to pitches with the right hook-ups. Refund or roll over with one click if the weather turns.
FAQs
Common questions
Can I run timed sessions to control crowd flow?
Yes. Set up lunch, dinner, or any window you like, each with its own capacity and price. Once a session sells out the next one opens, so the gate never overruns and the food vendors don't get hammered all at once.
How do trader pitch fees work?
You set the fee per pitch zone and charge whatever the patch is worth. Traders pay through Popup Pal at the point of booking, so you're not chasing bank transfers the week of the event. Pricing for ticket fees lives on the pricing page.
Can traders upload menus, allergens, and food hygiene certificates?
They do it during application. Menu, allergen statement, food hygiene rating, public liability, and PAT certificates all attach to the trader's profile. If your local authority asks, you've got the paperwork in one place.
Do I get live gate capacity during the event?
Yes. Volunteers scan from any phone and the dashboard updates live, showing attendees on site, session capacity remaining, and duplicate scans. You can pause a session, push extra tickets, or open the gates wider on the fly.
Can I sell single-day, weekend, and multi-day passes side by side?
Yes. Run any combination, including family bundles and VIP with food vouchers. Each ticket type gets its own price, capacity, and sale window, and they all share one checkout.
What happens if I have to cancel or refund part of the festival?
Bulk-issue refunds from the dashboard, or credit attendees against next year. You can refund a single session, a single day, or the whole event. Traders get the same treatment, with credit or refund decided per pitch.
How does rebooking returning traders work?
After the event, your top traders get a one-tap rebook offer for next year, with their pitch held for a window you control. Most line-ups are well over half rebooked before public applications even open.
Build the food festival traders queue to get into.
Open ticket sales, take applications with the paperwork attached, and run the whole weekend from one dashboard. Free to list, and we're here when you need us.