extremely large rib feed

[okjsmoker]

Ok so I offered up an idea at work to do a rib feed as a fundraiser for a local food bank. On a much smaller scale.

To date our company has donated around 6 million pounds of food, and this year our goal is another 900,000 pounds.

Every year we have various fundraisers, breakfasts, burger cookouts, bake sales etc. so I figured the rib idea might take off. It looks like the idea is being mulled over by management, and so far I think they are 100% behind it and want to make it available for the whole company.

It also looks like they are looking at sometime in October to do this, so there is still some time to plan.

The company I work for currently has over 12,000 employees, which 6 to 7 thousand are "local" meaning they all work within a mile of where the main plant is. Im guessing that around 50 to 75% of the local employees will attend, so how many rack of ribs will it take to feed 3-5 thousand people?

This is the part that scares me, Ive never attempted anything even remotely this size. The logistics of it all just seem imposible. And since i passed this idea on to managment Im pretty much out of the loop. I sit and wonder how this can possibly happen? Does managment have a football field size smoker I dont know about?

I did hear that they have a contract with a local butcher shop to supply the meat so that is a start I guess.

Has anybody out there done any REALLY large events like this? any ideas?

HELP!

 

[icemn62]

Sorry I cook for the family only and after doing ribs to feed 10, I can not comprehend 3 - 7 THOUSAND. No matter how much you like to cook, do not volunteer to handle the cooking. You will need a team to handle that many ribs, and by team, I mean a BUNCH of help.

 

[okjsmoker]

Im eagerly awaiting what management has to say about it. I came up with the idea and all, but my version was on a much smaller scale.

I sure hope they dont expect us to do all the cooking!

And yeah, it would definetly take a TEAM, more like a small army.

Ill keep you posted.

 

[bob-bqn]

On the "how much", I figger 3 to 4 people per rack for spares, and 2 to 3 per rack for babybacks.

Have plenty of sides.

If you can, get the butcher to peal the membrane off the bone side, otherwise, forget removing it .... too much work & trouble. The final product may not be as good but you'll never be able to pull 1,000 plus membranes. :(

I also wouldn't bother wrapping the ribs in foil for the 3-2-1 method (if that's how you normally cook them) your smoker would be opened more that it was closed.

 

[monty]

Well, OKJSMOKER, I would sponsor a cook off and advertise it well! Only way I can figure to make a feed like that and at a minimum of effort! Make it a Pro-AM type thingy and that will atract twice the crowd of food producers!
Cheers!
Monty

 

[bob-bqn]

Monty that would sure beat having to cook it all by yourself. :D

A rib competition with the the meat provided! I don't see how cooking teams could resist! 8)

 

[goat]

Did this event ever take place??

 

[okjsmoker]

No, the company put it on their schedule, but when it got close...they bailed!!

I imagine this will never happen, Management thought this was a great idea, but they wont let labor in on running the thing, they want complete and absolute control over everything.

I also think the only way for something like this to take place is to go with Monty's idea of bringing in cooking teams with the meat provided.

Oh well...we'll see what happens for next years food drive.