FUNNEL CAKE EXPRESS

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By Trevor Hill

June 16, 2014 (San Diego)--When attending the San Diego County Fair at Del Mar, any local will tell you that there are some certain “must-do” features that are required to get the full fair experience. These include attending the pig races, riding the ferris wheel, watching the amazing Bandolini, trying some bizarre fried foods, and, of course, eating a delicious funnel cake.

Lorrie Sutton of Funnel Cake Express has been hauling her frying trailer to the fair every year for over 20 years now. She and her husband, Pat Sutton, leave their home in Orland, California every April and begin a latitudinal campaign which features stops at fairs all over the state, and then return home in October at the end of fair season.

This has been their routine since 1992, when they purchased Funnel Cake Express from Pat’s parents. Lorrie’s in-laws had started Funnel Cake Express as a retirement project, but gave it up quickly. They sold the two-trailer funnel cake operation to Lorrie and Pat, and within a year, the number of frying trailers had doubled to four. Currently, Funnel Cake Express owns eight trailers which operate at different fairs all over the state at the same time. Because of Funnel Cake Express’s popularity at the Del Mar Fair, Lorrie and her husband bring two trailers with them. “We need two so we can double the frying power,” she told ECM interviewers.

For their first 17 years of bringing their operation to the Del Mar Fair, Lorrie told ECM, their stand was stuck in a corner where foot traffic was low. And even then, customers loved the tasty dessert so much that Funnel Cake Express still raked in a very healthy profit. “Then, three years ago,” she said, “a spot opened up and they asked us, ‘hey, would you like to move?’ And we said, ‘uh, yeah?’”

Now that Funnel Cake Express is on one of the main thoroughfares of the fairground, they are constantly swamped with customers. When asked about the secret to the success of their recipe, Lorrie told us that, “Well, we have Gold Medal Flour to thank for that. But I think the success we've had really comes from our experimentation with new flavors.” Funnel Cake Express offers approximately 33 flavors wherever they go. In addition, they invent one new flavor each year which is then discontinued at the end of that year’s fair season. “Nutella has become a big one,” Lorrie said, “but my favorite has always been the classic cinnamon and sugar. You can’t beat that.”

Lorrie and Pat expect to continue bringing their funnel cakes to the fair for many years to come, but even once they retire, Funnel Cake Express will be run by Suttons. Two of the Suttons’ children have joined the frying team and are poised to take over the business when Lorrie and Pat retire.

The San Diego County Fair at Del Mar continues through July 6 .  For more information visit www.sdfair.com.

 


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