[Sca-cooks] What would you do?

[Johnna Holloway]

If you are experienced enough, you do not find yourself in this situation.
This is why you do yourt own feast bids and just don't accept someone
else's numbers and conditions.
Bids ought to contain costs per plate or serving with costing worked out.
There's also a break-even point figured in and a fudge factor that allows
one to work around small price increases or other factors. Also
feast bids, if it's important, ought to carry the warning that the pricing
is based on pre-shopping and being able to take advantage of sales.--
Numbers are an unknown factor here and there is quite a bit of difference
between a "simple feast" for 40 or a simple feast for 200. 40 can be done
overnight by one or two cooks in the right kitchen with the right 
equipment.
(How many slow cookers and roasters plus a convection oven does it take 
to cook for 40?)
The feast was pre-sold with pre-paid reservations, so where did that money
go and why wasn't the cook responsible for the feast demanding her/his share
for the pre-buying? Especially if Katheline van Weye is correct and the 
feast closed
some three weeks prior to the event. The money was then on hand for 
pre-buying and the numbers
were known. At that point the menu could have been revised from 6 ounces 
beef to
two ounces beef with additional something else to compensate for price.
This sounds to me like a matter of one group not wanting to front any 
money to help
out another group. It also reads like someone desperately wanted to do 
the feast, despite
all the restrictions being placed on it. This seems like a no win 
situation as the cook in
this situation got his/her feast but didn't provide what was presold on 
the menu. It then looks
like the cook failed to live up to the truth in advertising part of the 
menu. There are some
situations that just simply don't work and should be walked away from 
posthaste.

Johnnae llyn Lewis

Patricia Collum wrote: snipped

>Recently a simple feast was planned for an event. The feast was to include
>bread butters and fruits, salad and two veggie dishes, one casserole type
>meat dish, another meat dish and a very simple dessert. The menu was printed
>and pre-paid feast reservations were made.  I am not
>  
>
sure what happened to delay paying the cook. It was the event of a larger
group who would pay back the smaller group after the feast for the smaller
group fronting the money. The larger group was also up front about the fact
that they would a) only allow the cook to be paid after the reservations
were paid for and b) only pay for the original budgeted amount per person no
matter what (and not including any food for servers or kitchen help unless
they paid for feast). Due to the last moment payment by the local group, and
the other policies, the cook did not receive enough money to pay for the
food in the original posted menu due at least in part to being unable to
bargain shop. Cecily
--------------------------

>I am slightly familiar with the situation that Mistress Cecily brought up and I
>can tell you that there isn't any negation of the agreement under any
>circumstances.  Without prior written approval from the Larger Group financial
>committee, you do not get reimbursed for anything more than what was originally
>agreed to.  It might be possible to get the difference in costs out of the
>Smaller Group but I wouldn't count on that happening either since the Smaller
>Group was the one that was unable to front the money to the Cook earlier.  So
>if someone tries to do the menu no matter the cost, he is risking making up the
>difference out of his own pocket.
>
>Further, the most that a person can be reimbursed from the Larger Group is # of
>pre-paid feast reservations * feast fee $.  Which is why any sort of comping of
>volunteers is highly discouraged.  I do believe, however, that the feast
>reservations window closes about 3 weeks to a month before the event so there
>is time for the Cook to shop based on the number of attendees.
>
>Yours in service,
>Katheline van Weye
>
>  
>