SC - duck and bread

[Susan Fox-Davis]

Sieggy, while I agree with you on most points, I'll have to beg a difference with
you on one or two:

> It's extremely unlikely you'll be able to get regular food
> deliveries out to Coopers lake, so you either need a large storage facility,
> or someone with a reliable truck or van. Odds are you're going to have to go
> for your own supplies on a daily basis, and New Castle didn't strike me as a
> town with a lot of resources for that sort of thing. Youngstown might, but
> it's across a state line, which can make matters difficult.

This is not entirely correct, Sigfried
Every morning as I walked out to the Fencing field (taking the shortcut
through the food court), I noticed at least one or two delivery vans for 
local foodstuff distributors, meats distributors, and grocers and the like.
Plainly this _is_ an option, and one that the going concerns feel that it is
profitible to utilize.  Refrigerated storage (and clean prepspace), are 
another matter, but getting daily deliveries of fresh meats and veg is
not the hassle you are positing.

>     Another matter is security. If you're doing serious business, you may be
> dealing with 1,000 customers a day. At (say) $5 a head, you're looking at
> close to $50k in cash flowing through your hands over the course of the
> event. That's a choice target. Since you're going to be on a cash basis with
> your vendors, that means people with lots of money running back and forth.
> Choice targets. I'm not being paranoid, just aware that there are predators
> out there.

Isn't there some kind of bank operation (not the ATM) on site? 
Perhaps we should ask some of the current merchants how they handle 
this, clearly they do handle this, even if it is just opening a checking 
account in a local bank, and then making payments by check, and 
depositing cash recievables (less payroll, which will probably be 
- -daily- coming out of the cash pot, so good books are a requirement)
by taking a zipsack to the "night depository" box at that bank, once or
twice a day.  You can get a waiver of some kind from Coopers to keep 
a car handy for runs to town, for this and emergency resupply purposes.


>     I think what I'm trying to say here is that you need to approach this
> kind of project with a gimlet eye. Yes, there is a major opportunity to not
> only feed the populace with wholesome period food, educate them that period
> food really isn't icky, turn a tidy profit, and have a huge amount of fun
> while working yourself straight into the ground, but if you go into it with
> unrealistic expectations, you're going to be eaten alive. Crunch numbers,
> make plans, and bear in mind that no business plan ever survives contact
> with the customers.

Here you speak profound truth. Your caution is well advised, thank you.

Brandu