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Did it.
Well, it worked - for the first time in my life, I made six hundred of something!
It actually went very smoothly, although the main bottleneck surprised me - simply moving stuff from one container to another. I made the choux pastry in 3 kilogram batches, and had to split the batches in half to whip them up in the Kitchenaid. The batter is sticky and hard to manage. Getting stuff like that in and out of things like the kitchenaid and the cuisinart is really annoying.
The profiteroles were not ideal - they were kind of soft, rather than crunchy, and not especially light. But the crowd went nuts over them anyway. The tarragon chicken pate was really good. How can it not be, the whole thing was mostly butter and cream. LOL.
The table:
Shame the background is so cluttered, the flowers were really gorgeous.
Unfortunately my display was in the back of a shop (the Mendocino Barkery, which is owned by a hot guy with a big moustache - so I just can't say no to him) and it didn't get all that much traffic. He had wanted a local winery to set up back there and they refused, so he put me back there to draw people in as much as he could. Which is fine, but the result was that only about half the food got eaten. I can freeze or repurpose most of it, but as far as marketing opportunities go it could have been better.
Close-up of the pastries:
I've achieved really good penetration with my marketing program, and almost everyone in the arts-and-culture set now knows who I am and what I do, but one unfortunate result is that with all this great work I've gotten a reputation for being "unaffordable". Despite the fact that my current prices are insanely low by almost any standard. It's annoying, because judgments like that tend to stick regardless of the facts.
Monday, there's another small event, just appetizers for 15, but it's a very elite group - the board of directors for a local nonprofit. Should be easy and worthwhile. After that, who knows. If the phone doesn't start ringing after all this, I'm going to try another angle.
It actually went very smoothly, although the main bottleneck surprised me - simply moving stuff from one container to another. I made the choux pastry in 3 kilogram batches, and had to split the batches in half to whip them up in the Kitchenaid. The batter is sticky and hard to manage. Getting stuff like that in and out of things like the kitchenaid and the cuisinart is really annoying.
The profiteroles were not ideal - they were kind of soft, rather than crunchy, and not especially light. But the crowd went nuts over them anyway. The tarragon chicken pate was really good. How can it not be, the whole thing was mostly butter and cream. LOL.
The table:
Shame the background is so cluttered, the flowers were really gorgeous.
Unfortunately my display was in the back of a shop (the Mendocino Barkery, which is owned by a hot guy with a big moustache - so I just can't say no to him) and it didn't get all that much traffic. He had wanted a local winery to set up back there and they refused, so he put me back there to draw people in as much as he could. Which is fine, but the result was that only about half the food got eaten. I can freeze or repurpose most of it, but as far as marketing opportunities go it could have been better.
Close-up of the pastries:
I've achieved really good penetration with my marketing program, and almost everyone in the arts-and-culture set now knows who I am and what I do, but one unfortunate result is that with all this great work I've gotten a reputation for being "unaffordable". Despite the fact that my current prices are insanely low by almost any standard. It's annoying, because judgments like that tend to stick regardless of the facts.
Monday, there's another small event, just appetizers for 15, but it's a very elite group - the board of directors for a local nonprofit. Should be easy and worthwhile. After that, who knows. If the phone doesn't start ringing after all this, I'm going to try another angle.
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...
Re: ...
I'm sure a dog would have loved them...
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And lordy yes, those look deeeelish. As in, I am now drooling.
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*duke pants*
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Not counting men, of course.
:)
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The arts-and-culture set now knows who I am
Kiwanis
Chuck
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In any case I think you are on the right track by hitting as many events as you can.
We were recently told about the Chiarito Vinyard over off of Talmudge, and that they host food events. Might be another possiblity..
Most of all, I hope you are having fun!
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I find it hard to understand what people pay for. Like $60 or more (locally) for a one hour massage that isn't really all that big a deal when it comes to capital investment or training. I'm happy if I get a $30/hr margin on my work, and that's paying off a $100K investment in space and equipment. (The only way I can make this work, BTW, is to just ignore capital costs and focus on the margin. If I'd had to borrow to do this, I'd be sunk pretty fast! But that's OK, it's part of the plan.)
I think part of the trouble is that people are so used to hidden, gimmick-laden pricing that transparent no-strings-attached pricing looks "expensive". When they don't have to pay 3x retail for wine, or add on taxes and tips, or the psychological gap between $9.95 and $10, wise people know they're getting a bargain, but the dull majority lets their lizard brain rule their wallet so they don't even recognize a good deal when they see it.