[Sca-cooks] Feast costs, was: Master A's Feast; my 2 cents

[Tara Sersen Boroson]

Ted Eisenstein wrote:

>>>Remember that feasts aren't supposed to generate
>>>profit.
>>>
> Oh? Our shire always aims to make enough to cover
> expenses, plus a bit more. I've never heard of another
> group in Calontir _not_ wanting to make a bit of a profit
> on the feast. . .
>
> Alban


I think all groups try to cover their expenses plus perhaps just a
little.  But, they're not trying to make a living like a restaurant.  At
least with some groups, if you suggest charging enough to make more than
a pittance on the venture, you'll get some nasty reactions.  From what
I've seen and done, the cook "bids" on the opportunity to do the feast
by submitting a menu and a per-head cost.  That cost gets translated
verbatim into the feast fee for the event, or maybe slightly higher
($0.50-$1) as Just In Case money, but not high enough to be considered
an attempt to generate profit.  If the cook comes in a bit under budget,
cool - that money is profit.  In any case, the profit per head is very
low.  That is the case with running events, too.  Generally, the actual
cost of the site is divided by the number of expected attendees, maybe
bumped up $0.50-$1 Just In Case, and notable profit is only made if the
event turns out many more people than expected.  I remember one weekend
event where the autocrat decided to drop the price at Troll part way
through Friday night because she'd already covered all the costs and
didn't want to be seen as profiteering.

Basically, it's assumed that coffers will grow slowly.  If you're
running a $6,000 event, it's pretty cool if you can bring in an extra
couple hundred dollars to boost the shire's ability to throw an even
better event next year.  But, if you make $2000 on the event (either
through the feast or the site fee,) there are people who will complain.
    Perhaps this isn't true in newer groups that are still building
their coffers.

-Magdalena