Doing a Music Concert at a Winery 200-1,100 people

workoutchamp · May 3, 2009

Doing a Music Concert at a Winery 200-1,100 people -

I have been asked to do a Summer Concert Music event at a Winery. The person in charge says, "we will have 200-1,100 people - never sure". "... worse thing is you sell out".

I am nervous I will not have enough and they have a ton of unhappy customers - or I will have feed for 600 and no one shows up OR IT RAINS.

Any feedback, guys? We have fed a couple hundred - and I have the staff for help - friends, family, etc. Input?

fire it up · May 3, 2009

Big difference in possible crowd amount!
Best advice I could offer is do things you can prepare ahead of time and vacuum seal them then reheat at the event as well as whatever you are planning on cooking.
Anything you sealed could get thrown back into the freezer and used if you have another event coming up.

rivet · May 3, 2009

The venue has to commit to the amount of people. If they don't then there is no contract, simple as that.

What is the question, then?

It doesn't matter if 50 or 5,000 show up. It is up to the venue to make them happy. You are a subcontractor to feed them. You have to plan.

If they cannot figure that out, no contract. Really, is there any question?

workoutchamp · May 3, 2009

It is a $5 at the door concert. the vacu-seal deal is brilliant.

I am thinking of cooking for a few days, then (now) vacu-seal and refrigerate, then reheat at the concert. Plus I am going to cook at the event so I can serve it right off the cooker and if needed reheat my vacu sealed stuff.

One issue is - how do I go from "on ice" to reheated in a short period of time. We won't know how many come until they are there - it is a 6-9 event with music 7-9. so we have sort of have only one hr+ to vend the food...

How do I reheat that fast?

workoutchamp · May 3, 2009

Rivet, yes, that is exactly the problem. It is not a contract deal - it is a food vendor deal.

linescum · May 3, 2009

boil the bags.. that way there is no way to over cook

shooterrick · May 3, 2009

Food seal bags made from a roll can come undone dumping the food in the boiling water. Be careful! Also I would insist on a minimum payment up front to cover cost even if the customer knows how many.

fire it up · May 3, 2009

Just want to make clear the sealing idea wasn't mine, for that I have to thank

travcoman45

(Thanks for the Tip)

workoutchamp · May 3, 2009

what is a good vacu sealer?

mossymo · May 3, 2009

workoutchamp
FoodSaver I feel is one of the best brands, there are a few models to choose from. Bags do get expensive, if you are putting somethng in them where the bag can be washed/reused cut it larger than you need so there is plenty of bag for the next use.

travcoman45 · May 3, 2009

I got a Foodsaver V2840, works really well. I use a brand of bags called simply smart, get em bout any size ya need, 1 gl, 1 qt, pint an rolls. I generally use the gallons fer large amounts a meat an the qts fer pound batch's.

There a good heavy duty bag an bout the cheapest I can find. Gallon bags go fer bout 45 cents, less ifin I can get em on sale. Qts go fer bout 35 cents each.

Just bring a big pot a water to a low boil, I turn off the heat (ya could turn the heat down to) an drop the bags in till the meat be over 140° an yer ready ta go.

Our health dept round here don't care much fer the vac bags, but I ain't never had a problem with em. Sometimes a bag won't seal right, but yall will know that soon enough cause it will leak out an get baggy.

bmudd14474 · May 3, 2009

I have a foodsaver also. I have never had a bad open during boiling. You just have to make sure it is a good seal when packaging.

Also if you can sell drinks there is a huge margin in that but if the venue has soda machines they may not let you.

linescum · Jun 2, 2009

i always double seal mine

grothe · Jun 3, 2009

Yup, same here.....never had one open since

workoutchamp · Jun 14, 2009

I lost my ass on this event. We cooked for too many (500 dinners), the weather man was threatening rain (it never rained, it was sunny) and people brought their own food.

Learn from my mistakes, guys. Cook for 500, sell 48 dinners = bad business.

Another forum dedicated to catering told me not to do it. They were right and wrong.

I got a couple other jobs out of it, but I should have brought enough for my minimum catering job (40 people x $15), taken just my wife or buddy (not the staff of 12 that I had) and sold out and went home.

Well, we ate pulled pork for ---- well. we're still eating pulled pork. :-)

ronp · Jun 14, 2009

Ouch, bad news, sorry to hear that.

Lessons learned.

workoutchamp · Jun 15, 2009

Ron,

not really bad news, I now know my team and my Lang 84 can feed 500-700 people.

It truly was a success - we kicked butt, I just needed to sell more food to more people. thx for the input, man.

gnubee · Jun 15, 2009

With your gained knowlege you will eventually come out ahead so you're right not to be too bummed over it.

I once cooked for 450 people at a triathlon race. The Fraternal order of Eagles told me that they had never had less than that and always sold out. Their balcony over looks the race and everyone goes by there twice. The day of the race the 1995 Garnet fire swept thru town claiming 19 houses and one life. So the organizers had to re route the race . Visibility was down to 1/2 mile in heavy smoke. We sold 60 meals to the beer drinkers and bagged up the rest. The Eagles had guaranteed the 450 people minimum so they picked up the bill. The fun part was being informed about 1/2 way thru that Our street had been evacuated and no one knew if my house was still there.....it was.

If it is an annual event the organizer should have some solid figures to go by and should have a minimum number of meals He or She will guarantee in writing. If not I'd say bye bye.

PS this was not great planning on my part just luck that they insisted on giving me a guarantee in writing.

Maybe it was a good thing also that 1100 drunk wino's didn't crash your party.

Doing a Music Concert at a Winery 200-1,100 people

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