Musical headliners and celebrities weren’t the only ones making waves at Coachella 2025. Top chefs and well-known eateries also found their way into to Californian desert to feed dancing masses. Festival goers didn’t face a lack of options to stay fueled in between sets, but discovered they had to shell out a lot of money for meals. Attendees already paid decent money for admission to the famed music festival, with tickets starting at $599 and increasing with added benefits like shuttle service, car parking, and VIP access. General admission tickets included admission to various food stands but did not include food or drinks.
What Coachella refers to as its food program is meant to offer a varied experience for guests, complete with a food hall serving options ranging from Italian pizzas to Tijuana-style tacos. In addition to food, a smattering of speakeasies and hidden bars keep palates quenched with cocktails, wine, and brews, and a special ticketed dinner places guests at a private table in which a four-course meal is served. While some fans gave burgers rave reviews and enjoyed brightly colored scoops of ice cream plopped between milky buns, many concert goers were aghast at the prices of meals and questionable food quality. On TikTok, an attendee complained about dropping $17 for lemonade and biting into cold tortillas after spending over $100 for nachos, tacos, and drinks.
In search of fairly priced festival fare
Whether accommodating dietary preferences or nursing specific cravings, Coachella’s food choices included vegan-friendly ingredients and reimagined comforts. Burgers made with mac and cheese patties, spaghetti served between garlicky slices of bread, hot chicken wings, baskets of fried chicken, loaded bacon cheddar fries, and chicken and waffles provided plenty of savory options to peruse. Egg rolls and orange chicken topped with scallions, hot dogs topped with sriracha mayo and dried seaweed, bao sliders, and handmade rice balls offered new flavors to familiar festival favorites. For those with a sweet tooth, churros topping ice cream sundaes, fresh coconut, vegan donuts, popsicles, juices, and fruit sandwiches were plenty.
Understandably, not every attendee was happy to spend $24 on a banh mi sandwich or $22 for an order of fries, and social media users have been quick to label the prices as diabolical. Coachella is certainly not a light-budget experience. Redditors advise festival goers to plan on dropping anywhere from $15 to $30 for a meal. Though several of the food stands took a chunk out of the pocketbook, some guests were able to track down cold cut Italian sandwiches starting at $12 and pizza slices for $10, which, comparatively speaking, seems like a deal in the desert.
