SC - From His Grace Cariadoc ::::::]A ROAST OF MEAT

[Seton1355@aol.com]

- -----Original Message-----
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Date: Wednesday, August 30, 2000 6:52 PM
Subject: Re: SC - Period cookshop at Pennsic: Finances


>Tent Rental: 1 large tent
>
>Cooking Equipment rental: Stoves, refrigerators, probably ovens,
>possibly a big (commercial) mixer, possibly microwaves. Are any of
>these things that people are in a position to borrow? Are there any
>that it would be worth buying?
Perhaps a large grill?
Would a generator be neccesary to run these?  As I remember the power supply
is very limited.  Merchants had to be very neighborly with shareing
electric.

>Bowls, knives, pots etc. I am assuming that the participants can
>provide most of this, although it might be worth buying a few very
>large bowls, skillets, etc.
>
>Table and chair rental? Again, participants might be able to provide
>some of this.
>
>Raw Material purchases: My guess is that we can get an adequate
>estimate by looking at local grocery store prices. One of our friends
>is a wholesale butcher (but not in the Pennsic area); I don't know if
>he has contacts that would help.
>
>Bread: We could try baking our own, which would be classy, but it
>would be a lot less trouble if we made arrangements with a local
>bakery.
>
>Consumables: Paper towels, napkins, paper cups, bowls, etc. if we use them.
>
>Bottled gas for the stoves.
>
>Any fees that must be paid to the Coopers and/or the state of Pennsylvania.
>
>Wages. I am assuming that the 2-6 people chiefly running it will work
>for fun and a share in the profits (if any), but that we may also
>have to pay some people. Could you do it with five people on site
>from (say) 10 A.M. to 10 P.M.? I'm imagining two cooks, one cook's
>helper, two people dishing stuff out, running the cash register, etc.
Maybe close down for an hour or two between lunch and dinner.  Its much
easier cleaning and setting up without haveing to stop and serve customers.
>Open for lunch at noon, close at 9:00 P.M., two hours before and one
>after for cleanup, advance preparation, etc. Would that be
>sufficient? Of course, we could be period and offer yesterday's
>leftovers for breakfast ...  .

It would be best to have a full time cashier and someone else dishing up the
food.  Health dept gets fussy about handleing money and food by the same
person.  By FL law if you have one person doing it they have to wash their
hands with soap and hot water for twenty seconds minimum then put on gloves
before touching food.

>If that does do it, assume six cooks working for a cut of the profit,
>each taking a four hour shift each day. Hire the other three
>people--which means you are paying for thirty hours a day of labor.
>What sort of wages are people usually paid to work at Pennsic?
>
>Looking at the other end of it, assume you are getting $7 from each
>dinner customer, $5 from each lunch customer. I think that is a
>little less expensive than the current average. Judging from feast
>experience, the actual materials cost (i.e. the food) should be about
>$3 for dinner, $2 for lunch--less if you make a point of using dishes
>whose ingredients are inexpensive, or have better than normal soruces
>of supply. So you are making about $4/dinner, $3/lunch, from which
>you have to pay all the rest of the costs.
>
>How many dinners and lunches per day could an establishment of that
>size produce? How many could it sell, judging by the experience of
>the other cookshops? Do we have anyone on the list who has worked for
>any of them, and has a reasonable estimate of how much business they
>do?
>
>Speaking as a customer, my rough guess for the Mediterranean place
>when I have been there is two customers a minute. If we assume three
>hours of serving lunch and four of serving dinner, with that rate
>maintained throughout (I suspect that is too optimistic), that would
>be 360 lunches and 480 dinners per day, for a revenue net of food
>costs of 1080+1920=$3000/day. From that you have to pay wages,
>rental, etc.
>
>Looking at the other side ...  . A 10 gallon pot of something gloppy
>should feed about 150 people at 1 cup per. So if half the people are
>eating gloppy things, and each burner produces two potfulls during
>the day (including the time it is keeping the stuff hot), you need
>two big burners. Add burners for frying etc., and I am guessing that
>about 6-8 burners would do it.
>
>I've done feasts but never run a restaurant, so obviously this is
>very much a first pass--probably omitting some important costs and
>misestimating others. Comments?
>--
>David/Cariadoc
>http://www.daviddfriedman.com/