cotton candy machine

[Acer]

Rented an ancient cotton candy machine for the farmers markets and it went pretty well, looking to buy one now.

gold medal units seem to start $600 ouch
seems like some smaller no name units available at $200-$300
anyone have any experience with the lower cost units?

Thanks

D

[upsmapleman]

I have 2 gold metal that are considered commercial machines. what you want to look for is how many servings they turn out. Small cheap machines don't turn it out very fast. We put 3 servings in a bag. If it takes you several minutes to make that much you won't be able to sell much. also will they run for long periods of time without getting to hot. Bottom line is that a cheap machine is cheap for a reason. I paid around $1000 for each of my machines but they have have run for several years with little care and make a $1000 of candy in a day with no problem.

Dale

[220 maple]

upsmapleman,

I like that 1000 dollars of Cotton Candy a day deal. When I was at the seminars at Leader Evaporator this Spring, I asked the producers who was doing the Candy and Cream Seminar why they didn't mention how much the value of a gallon of syrup goes to when coating nuts?
They agreed with me on the value, but said it no way compared to the value a gallon of Maple when turned into Maple Cotton Candy. They said it goes up to 400 dollars a gallon. I love value added products. And someday I will have a Cotton Candy Machine. But hope to have a concessions trailer to put it in.

Mark 220 Maple

[Brent]

How much are you guys selling your cotton cones at ?

I mentioned it to a few folks at the farmer's market up here and they all licked there chops.

[wiam]

How much are you guys selling your cotton cones at ?

I mentioned it to a few folks at the farmer's market up here and they all liked there chops.

I fill an 8x4x24 gusset bag and going rate around here is $4.

[upsmapleman]

We put 3 servings in a bag for $3. We have done some cones and sold them for the same. It was a hassle to make on demand and if you do a outside show and it is humid it is very hard to make cones. I mix 1 cup of maple sugar with 5 cups of white sugar.

[Maple Hobo]

For the people selling PURE MAPLE though... I don't think they can legaly sell the cotton candy with the white sugar in it.

That would be similar to selling maple syrup cut with corn syrup.
What about maple candy that is actually maple syrup added to compressed white sugar instead of being pure maple sugar?

Seems like it could be an issue there if your not careful.

[maplefarmer]

Selling maple syrup cut with corn syrup is different, you are taking a perfectly fine source and thinning it down. The cotton candy is considered a by product and must be done to get the candy fluffy, totally different.

[upsmapleman]

We do not advertise it as pure maple. no more than a flavored cotton candy is pure raspberry etc. we sell a maple flavored cotton candy the difference is we use real maple for flavor, not artificial. You can not spin pure maple sugar and if you could how much would you need to charge? The flavor would be overpowering.