Thought I'd give a report. We had BBQ beef sandwiches, potato salad, beans, and ceasar salad. I learned a few things. I made way too much food. There were 23 people and they ate less than half the 21 lb. (before cooking) chuck roll I brought. Then they all started grabbing plate fulls to take home and feed their whole families before I could get it out to my car. (It's customary at our safety dinners to let the Employees take home the leftovers.) Next time I'll make way less.
I learned that I suck at smoking a 21 lb roast. I let it smoke for 19 hours but it was still raw inside. I put it in the electric roaster and cranked it up to 400 for a couple of hours. I think for one thing it's hard to get good results with a pellet smoker in cold weather. I'll be looking for advice on this soon. Feel free to post Your thoughts.
I learned not to say what I'll cook before I know what they'll pay. Actually the potato salad didn't cost much and I had everything I needed to make beans but it was still money out of my pocket one way or another. I found out after saying what I would bring that they only pay $7.00 per person. I was under the impression that I would give them my price. This was mostly my fault. It was a miss-understanding that I'll be sure to avoid next time. Since I know what they are willing to pay I can decide what I'm willing to make and I'll submit a menu for approval before agreeing to do it.
When it comes to business I'm a novice but I learn fast. I think next time I'd do something like, for instance some chicken and rice dish with green salad. I think I have the potential to make $100.00 a pop for 2 or 3 hours of work. I'd like to continue doing this because it's a great way to learn. Also a lot of the prep work I do is done on company time. So I'm getting paid pretty good actually. Not trying to rip the company off. It just works out that way. They say if You want to be happy with what You do, do something You'd be happy to do for free. I love feeding people.