Local food vendor preps for Minnesota State Fair

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(ABC 6 News) – Thursday, the Minnesota State Fair will open its gates which also means hundreds of vendors will be serving up food, including Regal’s Concessions in Rochester.

If you’re looking for quesadillas and crab fritters, Regal’s Concessions has it with their Quesadilla Junction and Ollie’s Crab Fritter food trailers. 

A family business started in 1985, Oliver Regal now joins his dad in running the business. It wasn’t until 2004 when Regal’s Concessions got into the Minnesota State Fair. A process, literally years in the making.

“Ironically, the funny thing is, my father was applying for 20 years before we had gotten in,” said Regal. 

“A lot of it was due to you know, you got to have some sort of little history that you’ve been to a lot of events. Also, having nice equipment to pump out the food that requires you to do the volume.”

Regal said his favorite part about working the state fair is meeting all the people, but what does it take to prepare for Minnesota’s 12 days of fun? Regal said it’s about packing enough supplies and planning ahead.

“We got to plan way ahead. Sometimes months ahead. With our product, we make everything from scratch so we have to prepare it in our catering facility that we have here and just kind of get geared up for the summer.”

Regal said after the state fair, he’ll take a few weeks off. Then, it’s full steam ahead to plan for next year.

You can find Quesadilla Junction right next to Ollie’s Crab Fritters on Cooper Street between Murphy and Lee Avenues.