SC - Re: SC- feast options was rant

[Siegfried Heydrich]

    I've had mixed experiences with 'on board' meals other than feast. I've
found that the overwhelming majority of people who expect (quite vocally, in
many cases) to be fed breakfast and lunch did not pay for feast. (Generally,
what people wanted for breakfast was *COFFEE*, and don't let the urn run
dry! I consider coffee to just be site overhead.)
    I've done events where I put out both meals, and wound up tossing most
of it because so few showed up to eat it. I've done others where I've
prepared what I thought was enough food for those who paid, and had it
vanish in a matter of minutes. Got REALLY upset the time several knights
came in and loaded up a sheet pan with lunch (for what I'd conservatively
estimate at 30), and then took it out to the field. No asking, just came &
got it. Major surprise for me, of course, when I went to check on the lunch
situation. None of them had bought feast, BTW, and didn't bother bringing
back the sheet pan or other utensils.
    Our last Coronation (saturday) feast was something of a debacle; the
feastcrat had set up for 250 people, and had 340 sit down to eat. A few
gatecrashers is one thing, but 90 moochers is a bit much. This has prompted
the Kingdom Seneschal to establish a Kingdom Policy that feast tokens WILL
be checked at the door from now on! The food, BTW, was wonderful, but no
amount of creative stretching can deal with that many unexpected (and
non-paying) guests. I did the sunday feast, and the events of the previous
night prompted me to put my foot down hard on the matter.
    Now, unless the autocrat specifically tells me that he wants other meals
(and gives me budget for them), I don't bother. If someone has paid to eat,
that's one thing, but I get really annoyed when aggressive freeloaders chow
down. I'll keep the coffee perkin', but that's as far as I'm willing to go
for freebies.
    Except for our last major event, (don't know what happened there) there
were always several food vendors on site, so if you didn't bring anything to
eat, there was still food available. For whatever reason, the food vendors
have all ceased operation of late, so I'm considering a food booth/tavern
myself. All those posts about doing a Pennsic Inn are proving quite useful .
. . I'm thinking of calling it 'Sieggys Schloss o' Noshes'.

    Sieggy

- ----- Original Message -----

> Well since no other Trimarian is typing away-- down here things are done a
> bit differently.  Most of our events are camping weekends.  Fees run,
> daytrip, one night, two night ( three nights for really big dos like
> coronations), feast is an add on as are cabin spaces.  Sometimes lunch is
> sold seperately for a kingdom fundraiser.  Personally I don't like that
> because I never know how much food to buy.  BTW feast is a package deal of
> five meals.  Off-board doesn't exist down here, I tried but it went over
> like a lead ballon.  No one can understand giveing seats to people in the
> hall that are not paying full price.