SC - Bidding for Feast

[Diana L Skaggs]

At 01:14 PM 3/25/01 +1200, you wrote:
>Liadan wrote:
>In that the price was much lower than yours, or much higher?

The winning bid was to feed about 16 more people for $25 less.  Her menu
used essentially the same ingredients as mine. 

>> What happens if you underbid the costs of the feast?  Who pays the
>> overage?
A friend of mine did a feast for the same group a couple of years ago.  She
complained to me about her out-of-pocket expenses.  I never did hear if she
was reimbursed.  I cannot personally afford to foot any expenses other than
site and travel.
>
>The group. I'd be horrified to hear that a _cook_ working to an 
>approved budget would get hit for overruns in any normal 
>circumstances.
What I am trying to determine is how important the bid price is in the
bidding process.  I could have underestimated pricing knowing the group
would bail me out. 

>The latter. I think the former is not a bad idea and might recommend 
>it here in future -- it simplifies feast budgeting a bit and makes it 
>clear how much the group is spending on hospitality.
This confused me.  If they say $5 per head, and you plan for 80 paying
feasters and 8 royalty, is your budget $400 or $440?  I planned with $400,
so I used some simpler dishes to keep the price down. I also planned for
larger portions, because the main event draw was for fighters.

>> How do you plan for price fluctuations in ingredient costs?
>
>By budgetting sensibly. If your budget is based on paying the lowest 
>conceivable price for every ingredient, it's a silly budget. If you 
>budget on the "normal" prices you would pay at the suppliers you 
>intend to use, then fluctuations up and down should roughly balance 
>out. If budgetting conservatively, add 5% to those normal priices to 
>give a buffer. (And if some ingredient unexpectedly skyrockets in 
>price overnight, it's time to revise the menu...)
This is what I did.  I wish I had a freezer, because I could have purchased
beef chuck roast for $1.49 on sale, instead of having to work with the
$2.18 regular price. Or purchased brisket when it was $.88 instead of the
regular $1.18 per pound. Does anyone else purchase quantities on sale,
anticipating cooking a feast?  I figure if I didn't do a feast, I'd use the
purchases for myself.  Someday, I'll have a freezer.

>Edward Long-hair
>Southron Gaard, Caid

Thanks for the info.

Liadan