‘The food sells itself’: At Balloon Fiesta, first-time vendors bring flavor and ambition

In a sea full of people and endless food offerings, it was the booth of Balloon Fiesta vendor Mobiyaki that caught the eye of a visitor walking along the park’s main street of merchants Thursday.

Love at first sight, she stopped in the middle of the street in front of Mobiyaki and said, “I think this might be the tent for me.”

Many familiar faces returned as merchants at this year’s 53rd annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, with vendors like Chile Traditions and Red Roadrunner LLC going on more than 20 years of serving fiesta crowds.

Only a handful of first-time Balloon Fiesta vendors joined this year’s lineup of more than 100 food and merchandise businesses and artisans working at the event.

One of those first-timers was Mobiyaki, a local food truck that serves Japanese street food, including stir-fried noodles called Yakisoba, fried rice called Yakimeshi, a family recipe of fried dumplings called Yakimondo, Teriyaki chicken, tofu, golden curry and ramen — all costing around $15 to $20 per order.

Albuquerque native and majority owner Brian Bickett launched the venture in 2022, inspired by generations of family cooking. It started as a means for him to fundraise for the church he works at and evolved into a business when he helped Rising Star Chinese Eatery owner Judy Chiang start the ABQ Food Park nearby. He opened a food truck at the park shortly after.

Mobiyaki found itself at the Balloon Fiesta by a pure stroke of luck, Bickett said.

“About five weeks ago, I got a call from a guy saying, ‘I’m with the Balloon Fiesta. I want to know if you want to join us. I know it’s last-minute, but you get 24 hours to make a decision,’” Bickett said.

The vendor slated to fill the spot, TJ’s Texas BBQ, had to back out last minute, he said. The opportunity stirred up both “fear and excitement,” but those are exactly the kinds of opportunities he’s drawn to.

Bickett agreed and quickly got busy drafting a plan, creating a product list and putting his commercial printer to use. Bickett spent somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000 to take part in the event.

Bickett’s investment is on par with other first-time vendors. Yadira Mendez spent more than $28,000 to bring her Mexican food truck, Flavor of Tabasco, to the event.

Mendez is from Tabasco, Mexico, but lives in Colorado, where she participates in other balloon festivals. A visitor of one of those festivals told her about the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, and she decided to give it a try.

“First year, it’s always kind of hard, but it’s fun,” Mendez said. She added her favorite part is the balloons, noting how many more Albuquerque’s fiesta has.

“It’s been good; we think these next three days are probably going to be the busiest,” said Michael Mares, Mendez’s husband, on Thursday. “It’s not as busy as we thought it would be, but we’ve still done pretty good.”

Mendez said she hopes to at least break even, adding the truck had made $20,000 as of Thursday. She’s open to coming back next year but said it depends on the spot, adding the north end of the field didn’t appear as busy as the south end.

First-time Balloon Fiesta vendor Daniel Hermosillo said he’ll definitely return if organizers let him. Hermosillo is a franchisee of The Cyclone Seat, which sells portable, collapsible chairs.

“This right here supports my family a lot. Without events like these, I wouldn’t have survived,” said Hermosillo, based in Texas.

Hermosillo said he wanted to be a vendor at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta for nearly 10 years before he decided to apply.

“I got lucky because they accepted me really fast, and I know a lot of other people that tried to get in and they denied them,” Hermosillo said. “I think the Lord opened up the doors for me here.”

Bickett shared a similarly positive sentiment, saying his participation in the Balloon Fiesta has been a highlight of his business career so far.

Bickett said he expects to recoup his investment — and then some — by the end of the nine-day event.

“The food sells itself, so once they taste it, it spreads,” Bickett said. “I try to teach my guys (that) one good experience will go two or three ways. One bad will go four or five ways.”

Bickett is already cooking up some new ideas for next year. Ramen has been popular during the morning sessions, but he wants to make it easier for people to hold next year by switching from bowls to cups. For sweet cereal lovers, he also plans to offer Taiyaki, a fish-shaped pancake he’ll stuff with fruit or cream.

“We’re going to invest in a piece of equipment that can pop out 800 of those a minute,” Bickett said.

A conversation with a manager at Dunkin’, another longtime vendor of the Balloon Fiesta, gave Bickett high hopes for coming back.

“He said, ‘Congratulations. Just to let you know, when you get invited to Balloon Fiesta and you do well and you don’t screw up, chances are you’ll be favored the next year,’” Bickett said. “When you’re in, you’re in, so yeah, we hope to come back.”