SC - Small Feasts

[Decker, Terry D.]

>I'd be interested in other accounts of very small feasts, i.e. why they
>were so small and how people handled that.
>
>Adamantius
>______________________________________
>Phil & Susan Troy
>troy at asan.com

I fear I've never had a truly small feast.  Thirty people is about the
size of one of my really large dinner parties or pizza feeds.

My first feast however meets the criteria of "interesting experience".

The barony held an Althing the weekend before Pennsic and I said, "Sure,
I'll do the feast."  Most Namron events on the Kingdom Calendar generate
200+ people, so I planned a feast for 120 (plus the additional food with
which I feed my servers and entertainers) with a break-even at 90 (I
learned the error of my ways.  My feasts now break-even at 50%
occupancy.).  In addition to the feast, I was running a beer tavern and
beer would be served with the meal.

Two months before the Althing, a major event got scheduled around
Houston.  For the three days before the event, we had torrential rains.
Saturday morning everything was beautiful and bare.  Total attendence at
the event was about 130.  

The site had a refrigerator, but no kitchen.  Most of the food, the
pickled whiting, the pickled eggs, the danish apple pies, and the bread
had been prepared early so that I could prepare the vegetables and grill
the beef using a couple camp stoves and a small fireplace.  Looking at a
major financial setback, Baroness Gwyneth and I started touting the
feast.  By feast time, we had 83 people at the feast.  I put
approximately four pounds of food per person on the tables and was
declared a hero (the populace hadn't seen the accounts yet).  The left
overs were put out for grazing on Sunday.

The tavern saved me.  Between the feasts and the tavern income, we
turned $1.85 profit on the entire adventure (no site fee or cost).  I
was very fortunate on this feast.  I got an education in planning,
pricing and controlling costs.  I also got to experiment with hall
layouts, serving patterns (under a head server I've instructed, the cook
needs to be in the kitchen), and how courses should be organized for the
table (I like to start the feast with breads, finger foods and
condiments on the tables and present two or three courses of three or
four dishes each contrasting in color, texture and taste).

A final sidebar:  There were two Vikings from Caid on their way to
Pennsic, who stopped at this event.  They were so impressed by the
feast, that they were trying to figure out how to get me to Caid.  I
didn't have the heart to tell them that my "groaning board" was intended
to be in less distress than they had witnessed.

Bear
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