2025 Festival Spending Trends: Merch, Food & Drink

As the 2025 festival season is fully underway, early fan spending data is showing a few clear patterns—and some important shifts. From what’s selling to how fans are buying, here’s a breakdown of the latest festival spending behaviors, based on hundreds of festivals worth of data so far this year.

‍

Let’s get into it.

‍

2025 Fan Behavior Trends Summary

‍

• Food Price Ceiling: Festivals raising food prices over 10% are seeing YoY declines in average daily fan spend on food.
• Merch is Up: Festival merch sales are up 8% YoY, driven by demand for premium and genre-branded items.
• F&B Spend Varies by Genre: Rock and metal fans are spending more on food and drink, while other genres show slight declines.
• Mobile Ordering Drives Results: Fans who use mobile ordering are averaging a 13% higher order value than fans buying in person.

‍

Is Fan Spending Up Or Down In 2025?

Fans are still spending, especially on merch. Food and drink are steady overall, but behaviors are shifting by price point and category.

‍

‍

When breaking down by genre, some categories, like rock and metal, are seeing increased spending, while others, such as pop and folk, are experiencing slight declines.

‍

‍

‍

Have Food and Drink Prices Increased or Decreased?

Average drink prices have increased, and festivals that have raised prices by more than 10% have seen slight declines in average fan spend compared to their prior-year metrics per day.

‍

‍

‍

• Food prices rose 8–10% on average across festivals in 2025.
• Festivals that increased food prices by more than 10% are seeing a decline in average fan spend on food per day.
• Drink prices are up 5–8% on average compared to 2024.
• Double-shot drinks have dropped in price by 3–5%, and we’re seeing a slight decrease in sales.‍
• Water sales per fan are up, signaling a shift in hydration habits, not a decline in beverage sales overall.

‍

‍

Festival Merch: Spending Is Up

Fans are spending +8% more on festival merchandise in 2025—not just in dollars, but in volume. The average items per fan are rising, as they want more apparel and accessories.

‍

‍

‍

‍

• Fans are buying more per person—up from 1.7 items in 2024 to 2.1 items in 2025.
• Mobile ordering is growing in popularity as a fan experience trend - allowing fans more time to enjoy the festival rather than waiting in line and showing higher average spend and items per order.

‍

Top 5 Merch Items

‍

Is Fan Spending Up or Down?

Fans are spending more intentionally. In 2025, some music festival genres show growth in food and bar sales, while others decline. Stay tuned for a detailed breakdown by genre. What are successful festivals doing differently? Overall, average daily fan spending on food and drink remains flat compared to 2024, though it varies by event type.

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

We'll be sharing more details and breaking it out by festival genres and more in our full year in review: festivals

‍

Cheers!

‍

The atVenu Team