One more question about vending (tomorrow!)
 

So my trailer is all set up and the meat is on for my first vending gig tomorrow! There's one thing that I didn't think about, though.

How do you keep track of your orders? I hoped to put in a little slider track to hang tickets from, but totally forgot. If it starts getting crazy, I'd like to be prepared. I should have one person taking orders / handling cash, one person assembling plates, and one person refilling containers & dealing with the meat.

Since I don't know the details on your sales process I am not sure if this applies. Our method is to count buns, sides containers and beverages (bottled water and soda cans) before/after the event. We pre-fill 6 oz stryo containers with 4 oz of sides (hot & cold) so this works for us. At the end of the event we calculate up how many of each we sold and compare that to our gross sales.

We use the slider track, works for us.

ooops I misinterpreted your question (insert embarrassed face here). Slider bar. :wink:

Lacking a slider bar, and time, you might consider a makeshift system. Paper clips on a piece of wire or string, clothespins work as well.

What doesn't work well:
Tape: it falls off, and often at the worst time
Laying out tickets: They can be knocked or blown around
Post-Its: see tape

OK- I just checked back here after 2 days of vending. The night before, after a couple drinks, remembered that I should try and figure something out. Took index cards and numbered 'em on the top and bottom. Pre-cut the bottom so the number could be ripped off easily. Took order, ripped off the bottom & gave it to the customer, like at the dry cleaners. Placed the orders down in order on the counter for the kitchen to prep 'em- then the number was yelled out when the order was done.

It worked pretty well, and thank goodness I came up with something because we were swamped, sold out in an hour and a half (144 sandwiches, 60 4-bone rib sections, and a couple meat platters). I now see the issue with just placing them on the table- WAY to easy to get mixed up, dropped, left on the counter (causing later confusion).

I want to get one of these slider bars- google isn't turning up much on 'em. Any suggestions on where to order these?

No worries. I like your idea for keeping track of stock anyway. I planned on keeping a pile of the tickets so I could go over them later and track what we ordered. Not sure how eager I am going to be to do that after another day of vending tomorrow, though!

So nice to hear of your successful event. Yes, vending can be HECTIC but it is also a LOT of fun imho. I meet so many wonderful people at vending events. And these events have gained us catering customers and public exposure to our product.

A quick search, using "ticket slide rack" obtained these results.

LINK#1
LINK#2

We use a slide bar in our vending setup. Most restaurant supply companies carry these.

I picked mine from rest depot, on the net restuarant supply has them..However I quit using them, take the order that person calls it out and keep the line moving..This past saturday moved 620 brisket or sandwiches pork between 3 pm and 6 pm , along with ribs, mac n cheese, brisket stew, turkey breast sandwiches...if the person serving has a question the customer has the receipt in hand....or just pass the receipt down...too much time wasted writing orders down...my cash register tape has product description on it and this really SAVES lots of time

when you run the Z report it automaticly sums how many of each you sold, no need to hand count tickets. Z report will also keep track of what time the sale was made so you know what time was your busy time..
I know how many rolls are set out, so if you set a 1000 for the day or weekend and sold out and the Z report shows 900 sammies sold, there would be a skunk in the wood pile..I personally do the count...I dont let them know..

Jesus. I can't imagine doing that kind of volume! On Saturday, we sold 144 sandwiches and 60 servings of ribs in 2 hours. All I had for sides were (pre-packed) 4oz containers of potato salad & slaw and pop. It was me assembling the sandwiches, and my girlfriend taking orders & building the "combo boxes". I couldn't imagine doing any more than that between the two of us, it was hectic!

Do you have any photos of what your setup looks like at events? Do you run it right out of the trailer window or do you set up an outside station?

serving
 

take order at man door, first person assembles pork samie, 2nd person brisket samie and stew, 3rd mac n cheese, 4th ribs and slice turkey breast, slower hours 1 person on till, 1 person making samies, one person mac..my time on picture is 12 hours off. But to move the line Ihad 4 helpers between 2 and 7, I cut ribs and kept the warmers filled. I had 3 cambro 400 filled at 11:00 and at 3 I started to warm up another 8 trays of brisket, 8 pork and 12 macs...
What it cost for the extra help was well worth it,
I have to keep one person dedicated to the mac and I moved that outside due to the mess associated with it.
put your sauces at the end and keep the line moving

another shot, this was slow time about 11 45am, only had 2 of us servinig

How about a picture of the inside? Thanks