Any suggestions what type of food will sell most for 3 hr. event?!
Any suggestions what type of food will sell most for 3 hr. event?
I am leading a company fundraiser 2x a month for the next 3 mos during lunchs hours. 11-2pm.
Answers:
Depends on the kind of people who work in your company. But assuming they're all fairly young (under 50) and not stuck in a rut, just try foods that are easy to make, don't cost a lot, but are a little out of the ordinary from what the cafeteria serves.
Taco bar
Taco Salad bar
Baked Potato bar
Stuffed Pizza
Bratwurst and Cheese soup
Shish kebabs and couscous
Muffalatas or pannacottas
hot dogs
Hot dogs or nachos.
Hotdogs will give you the best profit margin.
are desserts included in this question?
Then definitely Brownies! everyone loves 'em! at my school bakesales we always ran out...
Anything that people can't regularly get their hands on: funnel cakes, kettle corn, things like that.
something quick and easy. people will probably be busy so something that the person wont need to sit down and cut up with a fork and knife.
Hot Dogs, burgers, corn on the cob, bbq chicken. Drinks, Ice Cream.
hot dogs and chili
Depends on where your location is and what culture your around. My company would go for the all-american like hot-dogs and hamburgers. Try also cookies, who doesn't love cookies??? You definitely want something fast to cook at a fund-raiser. Good luck!!
little individual pizzas; sandwiches; mexican food usualy flies - tacos, quesadillas, flautas; vegetagle and pasta salads.
From a catering perspective, I can tell you the stuff that people ate the most at events.
Stuffed mushrooms. Man, people went NUTS over stuffed mushrooms! Get a chafing dish, broil some mushrooms in the oven with a sausage or seafood stuffing (not *all* meat, put in some bread crumbs and stuff), put the pan in the chafing dish, and people go crazy for them. However, they despise salmon mousse (fish mush? Who thought fish mush was a good idea) and little vegetables. But they might eat vegetables if you put them on plates with a hefty blob of a good dip in the middle. It's not totally healthy, but it's crunchy and tastes good and at least has a few vitamins and minerals. Sandwiches only go when everything else is gone, unless they're like paninis or wraps or something other than two pieces of bread with goop in the middle.) And people totally went bonkers when I passed a tray of potato pancakes with sour cream and caviar. The pancakes were COLD, and people loved them--mind your condiments and garnishes to really lure people in.
Fried food. Duh. Try fried pierogies or donut bites or something that people recognize but want to try. Those little cream cheese wonton things would probably be good, too.
Fajita bar. Whoa. Stand back. Try nachos, too. Heated tortillas, heated fajita-style chicken, cheese, sour cream, salsa, onions, olives, chips on the side. It's not that pricey if you do it in bulk.
Bar food--stuffed potato skins, chicken fingers, buffalo wings, egg rolls, stuff like that. They'll also buy more drinks that way.
Pizza. As usual. But make it good pizza, with gourmet toppings.
One of the favorites in catering was black bean chicken--split chicken breast with a black bean filling and white Mexican cheese sauce over the top. It was gooo-oood and people loved it.
And desserts--people can't resist desserts. Brownies, cookies, cheesecake, tartlets, tiny pies, little turnovers, baklava. Cupcakes and muffins (which, let's face it, are cupcakes without icing.) Coffee cake, layer cake, pound cake, cream cake. Sell coffee and cute desserts and the people who don't want to eat "real food" will still buy, buy, buy.
My corporation decided to hire a chef to do specialty items, a cut above the usual fare.He set up shop in the cafeteria, and put together the dish in front of you. I can tell you what sold. He had chicken alfredo pasta, with bread sticks, but they quit having that.
Chicken Caesar salad with bread sticks, taco salad, barbecue pork steaks with potatoes salad
There was a hot bar, and the baked potato bar, with everything you could think to put on a potato, and the chicken wing bar did well, they sold things by the ounce there, but you could sell by the wing, and so much for each side dish. [ the wing bar had side dishes available]. There were country, barbecue,plain, and mexican wings, there were dipping sauces available. Any
kind of salad would do well, hot dogs with everything did well,they had chili in a crock pot, and the rest of the condiments lined up in a row. Popcorn did well, icecream sundaes might do well. Our place had several bake sales, they sold out every time long before the hours of the sale were over. You could offer some healthier choices, too, at a bake sale. Ours had individual serving sizes, and had some whole cake and pie, for people to take home to the family. Hoagie [Subway] type sandwiches do well, have them in a couple flavors, have healthy and decadant chips and a dessert option available, too. That last one could be totally prepared in advance.
All of these would depend on the equipment you have available, if you have a portable steam table, and the proximity of the refrigerator/freezer. The local church cooks the hot dogs in advance, puts them in a roaster oven to keep warm. They didn't think of something to warm buns in, but that would be a plus. Most of what I said were served out of catering pans, with Sterno warmers, everything cooked in advance.
Hope this helps.
OK... ease of preparation and cooking time is key hear. You want something that doesn't require a lot of fuss on the eating end too.
I would suggest kabobs for one. Soak your bamboo skewers in water for an hour at least before adding your meat or veggies. You can use chicken, beef, pork, seafood or veggies. Try a satay or souvlaki or BBQ style for the meats (or all three). For the veggies and seafood you could use a garlic butter baste. Cook up a lot of rice and serve it up. Serve with a little dip too .... peanut sauce for the satay. Make sure you place your BBQ close to the company employees... the smell will drive'em nuts.
Who doest like Chicken wings? Come on, really..... do a variety, Buffalo, Honey garlic, Teriyaki, Lemon Pepper.. etc etc. Serve with a cool dip for the hot wings. Do a variety of salads... potato, Caesar, tossed and feed the masses.
Burgers and Dogs/Smokies...... bump it up a notch though. Have some onions frying on the side for sure... you know that smell that reminds you of the carnival. Try something other than cheddar. A nice Edam or Jack cheese. Offer a variety of toppings... where do you want to go today, Hawaii, Jamaica, Texas? It's up to them, just offer the vessels.
Chili, Chili, Chili - Buns, cheese and sour cream..... uhhhh does it get any simpler?
Take what you want hear, combined with some of the other answers your in good shape.
Good Eats
Cookies.
try hot dogs, cheeseburgers, nachos, chips, pizza, french fries and some chicken will be good
something sugary. cookies, brownies, cake, etc. or, for the health freaks, fruit bowls. i would buy both of these things. ~
GOOD chicken salad sandwiches with lettuce and tomato .......Sweets...green salads, roast beef sandwiches......If the food is better won't they pay a higher price for it and sell more of it than hot dogs? Seriously, there are a lot of people who will just not eat a hot dog.
i'd definitely stick with the eternal favs likes chocolate cake and brownies.
Hot Dogs and burgers, can't go wrong, make sure you have plenty of choices for toppings and condiments
hamburgers, tacos , salads ,cold sandwiches ...always have a dessert cookies, fresh fruit fruit juices
It depends completely on where you are and what the culture is! For example, in my area, where most people are very health conscious and into fresh ingredients and organic fruits and veggies, you would go broke trying to sell hot dogs and junk food.
So here's an option that would be low on prep time but that I think a lot of healthy-minded folks would love: a salad bar. Just put out fresh greens, a variety of chopped veggies, some sliced broiled chicken breast or tuna salad (made with no fat), some fresh fruits, a few toppings like sunflower seeds or soy nuts, and maybe just a choice of plain olive oil and wine vinegar or one or two other low-fat salad dressings. You can bring in a little cooking scale and sell it by the pound. And I'll bet that if you had some kind of sexy hook to go along with it... a weight loss contest or a reduce your blood pressure contest, for example... you would get even more interest. And for those who must have their desserts and snack food, you could sell sugar-free fruit popsicles on the side.
Your employer and/or your employer's health care plan might be willing to contribute info and resources to support this too. They might even send a guest speaker about nutrition to liven things up. Healthy employees are more productive employees (and lead to lower costing health insurance too). And while a few people might grumble at first... I'll bet the majority would end up thanking you.
You cannot go wrong with noodles in a savoury sauce.
hot dogs, sausage dogs, hamburgers, chips, bbq chicken
i would do something fairly easy like brownies, cookies or something along that line