Have i mentioned before that i love catering??
it's definitely one of the high points of this job... keeps it interesting and fun... and to be totally honest, is pretty good for the ego.
we catered a birthday party in a spectacular house in langdale last night. Mercifully, it went off pretty much hitchless - the weather was a bit of a bear, and we arrived a bit later than planned, but other than that it went really well.
why do i love catering?
- it's a little bit anal, it forces me to be more organized than usual
- it's outside the daily routine, and as anyone who knows me knows... routine is NOT my thing
- it's usually a little "fancier" than what we make for lunch
- it pushes my boundaries for stress management
- it gets me out of the bistro
- it requires extreme team effort and cooperation
- it pays well
- it's gratifying to know you've helped someone throw a great event, and made them look good by providing great food
- hearing comments like "ridiculously good", "heavenly", "oh my god that is amazing" is kinda good for the ego.
Catering private parties, in private homes, is probably my favourite challenge...
pulling off lots of food for lots of people in an unfamiliar kitchen with no access to "what you might need" is exciting. It's frustrating sometimes, but when organized well, it's mostly exciting... thus the cause for being organized! If you don't bring EVERYTHING you need, it's a lot harder.
The other cool part about private parties in private homes is that you get inside some pretty fabulous houses... and being one who appreciates architecture and design, that is a definite bonus for me.
The house last night was amazing... huge, beautifully decorated, every possible convenience, spectacular view... the type of house i'd dream of owning, but hold very little hope of ever achieving. Catering doesn't pay QUITE that much!
But it's good to have dreams...
anyway... wanna know the menu from last night? it was very well selected by the hostess:
- onion confit & ricotta tarts
- chili lime & garlic shrimp cakes
- mini mac & cheese with gorgonzola & truffle oil
- chili garlic mushrooms
- fresh baked baguette with sweet chili cheese dip and hot spinach & crab dip
- mini spanakopita
then as the main,
- ossobuco with roasted garlic risotto and steamed asparagus
they brought a gorgeous cake from Anna's Cake Shop in vancouver. I must admit i was a bit relieved to not have to provide the cake too... it was a lot of work just doing that food for 40.
what's ossobuco?? braised veal shank, essentially... it's slow, slow cooked till it falls off the bone and the highlight is the marrow in the shank bone itself... you suck that out cuz it's really really yummy. it's quite an impressive looking food, big round chunks of meat wrapped around bone that takes on the colours from the sauce - which is simply white wine, chicken stock, some basic veggies, garlic, rosemary and pepper. It's simple simple food, and absolutely delicious.
so, that's why i love catering... it's fun, it's different, it makes people happy.
having a party? call us...
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
carpooling to wild?
so... if you've driven by at lunch time in the last few days, you may have noticed a PACKED parking lot!
I WISH I could say that's because we were busy...
Sadly it's not the case.
The Salvation Army has made a decision to hold their AA Meetings from 12-1:30pm DAILY... this is the cause of the full lot.
It puts us into a bit of a dilemma... we of course want to support the SA and AA, and the food bank (whose beneficiaries also fill the parking lot regularly)... but it's costing us business.
We can scarcely afford to have our regular customers drive up and find nowhere to park, and thus decide to go up the road to the wheatberries or wherever...
But how do we still be neighbourly without creating a huge ruckus??
If you have a suggestion, please share... we don't want to be cranky or whiny, but this cannot continue much longer. It's 12:30 on Tuesday as I write this and the parking lot is full to capacity and we have 3 tables!
Certainly there are going to be days when it's slow for us - we're not packed full every day by any means - but when our potential for business is cut off by a full parking lot, what are we to do??
that's my whine & rant for the day.
i'm done now.
carry on.
I WISH I could say that's because we were busy...
Sadly it's not the case.
The Salvation Army has made a decision to hold their AA Meetings from 12-1:30pm DAILY... this is the cause of the full lot.
It puts us into a bit of a dilemma... we of course want to support the SA and AA, and the food bank (whose beneficiaries also fill the parking lot regularly)... but it's costing us business.
We can scarcely afford to have our regular customers drive up and find nowhere to park, and thus decide to go up the road to the wheatberries or wherever...
But how do we still be neighbourly without creating a huge ruckus??
If you have a suggestion, please share... we don't want to be cranky or whiny, but this cannot continue much longer. It's 12:30 on Tuesday as I write this and the parking lot is full to capacity and we have 3 tables!
Certainly there are going to be days when it's slow for us - we're not packed full every day by any means - but when our potential for business is cut off by a full parking lot, what are we to do??
that's my whine & rant for the day.
i'm done now.
carry on.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
snow...
So... snow. right here in gibsons. lovely.
NOT.
I likely don't even have to explain how little i enjoy snow from a business perspective.
Two of our worst revenue days ever thanks to this snow... that's a little troublesome. What with the landlord really wanting us to get caught up on the rent, and nobody able to pull into the parking lot, it really makes it a tough proposition.
As I explained to the landlord... um... can you get the lot plowed? I can't pay you if nobody can get to my door and pay ME!
He understands, to a point, i guess... but apparently not quite enough to get the plow here again... today the parking lot is a slushy, icy disaster... took me FULLY 8 minutes to park cuz i kept sliding and spinning... it was ridiculous. If the lot had been plowed, I would have considered opening today, but there was no point. Nobody could park, and it was unsafe for walking on regardless.
Ya, I see.. Panago opened. It's nice that most of their customers have 4x4's!
Do I sound bitter today? Ya, i think I do. Snow bugs me. Things I can't control that interrupt what I'm trying to achieve bug me. It's a character f law and I'm trying to deal with it.
It's been a really hard year. Can I be that honest?
I suppose some would advise against it... but well, I'm not all that good at hiding the truth.
In our effort to maintain the vision of creating a place where people like us could come and eat more than once or twice a year, we got ourselves into a bit of a financial pickle... that being, that we paid out more than we took in and are thus deep in the red.
It's a sad state of affairs when we can't even afford to eat at our own restaurant... isn't it?? And that is precisely what we were working to avoid. Our entire premise is that regular people with regular jobs, and irregular people with regular jobs, and regular people with irregular jobs should all be able to treat themselves to a meal outside their own kitchen more often than once or twice a year... maybe even more often than once or twice a month! I don't think that's too much to shoot for...
Why should the luxury of having someone else cook & clean for you be exclusively the domain of those who earn more than $75k a year??? Ok, let's re-frame that... You and I should be able to eat somewhere other than A&W a couple times a month without it becoming a major budget consideration.
We've gone over our limit a few times... we've even eaten at Smitty's a couple times when we really shouldn't have... but jeeezzzz... we work hard... don't we deserve those little luxuries? You work hard too... and YOU deserve them too.
If you've got some ideas about how we can achieve this vision - maybe you've got some cost saving ideas, or some free promotional ideas, or would be interested in volunteering a little to help us get some of the work done for less overhead... let us know. Would ya? We're open to suggestions and ideas and help.
Meanwhile...
May you all be blessed with a healthy, happy, peaceful and more prosperous 2009.
NOT.
I likely don't even have to explain how little i enjoy snow from a business perspective.
Two of our worst revenue days ever thanks to this snow... that's a little troublesome. What with the landlord really wanting us to get caught up on the rent, and nobody able to pull into the parking lot, it really makes it a tough proposition.
As I explained to the landlord... um... can you get the lot plowed? I can't pay you if nobody can get to my door and pay ME!
He understands, to a point, i guess... but apparently not quite enough to get the plow here again... today the parking lot is a slushy, icy disaster... took me FULLY 8 minutes to park cuz i kept sliding and spinning... it was ridiculous. If the lot had been plowed, I would have considered opening today, but there was no point. Nobody could park, and it was unsafe for walking on regardless.
Ya, I see.. Panago opened. It's nice that most of their customers have 4x4's!
Do I sound bitter today? Ya, i think I do. Snow bugs me. Things I can't control that interrupt what I'm trying to achieve bug me. It's a character f law and I'm trying to deal with it.
It's been a really hard year. Can I be that honest?
I suppose some would advise against it... but well, I'm not all that good at hiding the truth.
In our effort to maintain the vision of creating a place where people like us could come and eat more than once or twice a year, we got ourselves into a bit of a financial pickle... that being, that we paid out more than we took in and are thus deep in the red.
It's a sad state of affairs when we can't even afford to eat at our own restaurant... isn't it?? And that is precisely what we were working to avoid. Our entire premise is that regular people with regular jobs, and irregular people with regular jobs, and regular people with irregular jobs should all be able to treat themselves to a meal outside their own kitchen more often than once or twice a year... maybe even more often than once or twice a month! I don't think that's too much to shoot for...
Why should the luxury of having someone else cook & clean for you be exclusively the domain of those who earn more than $75k a year??? Ok, let's re-frame that... You and I should be able to eat somewhere other than A&W a couple times a month without it becoming a major budget consideration.
We've gone over our limit a few times... we've even eaten at Smitty's a couple times when we really shouldn't have... but jeeezzzz... we work hard... don't we deserve those little luxuries? You work hard too... and YOU deserve them too.
If you've got some ideas about how we can achieve this vision - maybe you've got some cost saving ideas, or some free promotional ideas, or would be interested in volunteering a little to help us get some of the work done for less overhead... let us know. Would ya? We're open to suggestions and ideas and help.
Meanwhile...
May you all be blessed with a healthy, happy, peaceful and more prosperous 2009.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
holiday hysteria
i'm tellin' ya... the pressure to make christmas cookies could kill a girl.
The lights are up, and generally somebody is home... unless you get here at 5:55, by which time we're often somewhat braindead.
i've been procrastinating for a good couple weeks now but i FINALLY did it... Christmas cookies are UNDERWAY!! That means that by this weekend (Dec 5) you'll be able to start buying cookie tins & gift packs to share the love with your friends & family.
We've got the good old standbys - Pixies, Shortbread of various sorts, chocolate chip, and ginger, plus some new additions this year - Almond thins, Cocoa-Nuts, Double Chocolate Hazelnut, Lemon Coconut, Espresso Brownie, Cranberry Apple... I'm on the verge of experimenting with Chili Chocolate... any opinions??
The shortbread, as always, is gluten-free! Plus we'll have those amazing Cocoa Pecan Macarons and some other delicious holiday treats for our gluten-freebie friends. (yes, that's what we call you back here in the kitchen, the "gluten freebies", learn to enjoy it.)
we've got 1/2 pound bags of our fabulous coffee coming - they make GREAT stocking stuffers... and will be packaged with other treats for giving.
And there's a rumour afoot that we'll be breaking out the christmas cheer on Dec 20... but that is still just a rumour as I understand it, so wait for official announcements, but do save the date cuz it could be fun!
As always, we'll be open the ENTIRE WEEK (so that means sunday & monday too) before Christmas, closing at 4pm on Christmas Eve.
We'll be closed from then until Monday Dec 29 Inclusive. We'll be open on the 30th & 31st so you can get stocked up for New Year's Breakfast... closed for New Year's Day (moose milk at the legion, need we say more??) and back to normal on the 2nd.
Let the festivities begin!
The lights are up, and generally somebody is home... unless you get here at 5:55, by which time we're often somewhat braindead.
i've been procrastinating for a good couple weeks now but i FINALLY did it... Christmas cookies are UNDERWAY!! That means that by this weekend (Dec 5) you'll be able to start buying cookie tins & gift packs to share the love with your friends & family.
We've got the good old standbys - Pixies, Shortbread of various sorts, chocolate chip, and ginger, plus some new additions this year - Almond thins, Cocoa-Nuts, Double Chocolate Hazelnut, Lemon Coconut, Espresso Brownie, Cranberry Apple... I'm on the verge of experimenting with Chili Chocolate... any opinions??
The shortbread, as always, is gluten-free! Plus we'll have those amazing Cocoa Pecan Macarons and some other delicious holiday treats for our gluten-freebie friends. (yes, that's what we call you back here in the kitchen, the "gluten freebies", learn to enjoy it.)
we've got 1/2 pound bags of our fabulous coffee coming - they make GREAT stocking stuffers... and will be packaged with other treats for giving.
And there's a rumour afoot that we'll be breaking out the christmas cheer on Dec 20... but that is still just a rumour as I understand it, so wait for official announcements, but do save the date cuz it could be fun!
As always, we'll be open the ENTIRE WEEK (so that means sunday & monday too) before Christmas, closing at 4pm on Christmas Eve.
We'll be closed from then until Monday Dec 29 Inclusive. We'll be open on the 30th & 31st so you can get stocked up for New Year's Breakfast... closed for New Year's Day (moose milk at the legion, need we say more??) and back to normal on the 2nd.
Let the festivities begin!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Price break...
oh lord... here it comes...
we were told by our accountants that if we did not raise our prices we'd be lucky to make it another 6 months.
so... since we have PLANS, and we want to share them with you - and because we get the feeling from many of you that you'd like it if we stayed - we have no choice but to put up prices.
the hard part was deciding by how much.
so, generally speaking - after much painstaking spreadsheet calculating and head-scratching - most everything is going up by 50 cents. A few items went up by a little more, some by a little less... and believe it or not, a couple actually went DOWN by a dime or two.
Specialty items, custom orders and catering will also see increases but we're confident that we're still not out of our reasonable price range. We've had comments that our catering is "very reasonable, almost too cheap," so we feel there's a bit of room to move there, as we know our product is of high quality.
Oh, and by popular demand... THE BLACKBOARD MENU is coming back. I painted the wall for it today, and over the next couple days will reinstate it for old times sake. Many customers have commented how much they miss it, and we had to admit that we missed it too! We'll keep the printed menus for the convenience of taking them to your table for leisurely contemplation, but the blackboard will be resurrected for quick decision-making and to make it more obvious that we do serve more than nanaimo bars & muffins.
and don't forget - christmas is a'comin... so if you want us to do your baking for you, order it soon!!
ciao for now
kera
we were told by our accountants that if we did not raise our prices we'd be lucky to make it another 6 months.
so... since we have PLANS, and we want to share them with you - and because we get the feeling from many of you that you'd like it if we stayed - we have no choice but to put up prices.
the hard part was deciding by how much.
so, generally speaking - after much painstaking spreadsheet calculating and head-scratching - most everything is going up by 50 cents. A few items went up by a little more, some by a little less... and believe it or not, a couple actually went DOWN by a dime or two.
Specialty items, custom orders and catering will also see increases but we're confident that we're still not out of our reasonable price range. We've had comments that our catering is "very reasonable, almost too cheap," so we feel there's a bit of room to move there, as we know our product is of high quality.
Oh, and by popular demand... THE BLACKBOARD MENU is coming back. I painted the wall for it today, and over the next couple days will reinstate it for old times sake. Many customers have commented how much they miss it, and we had to admit that we missed it too! We'll keep the printed menus for the convenience of taking them to your table for leisurely contemplation, but the blackboard will be resurrected for quick decision-making and to make it more obvious that we do serve more than nanaimo bars & muffins.
and don't forget - christmas is a'comin... so if you want us to do your baking for you, order it soon!!
ciao for now
kera
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