We Survived...

But just barely...

I don't know if you remember, but Allison and I were catering the antique show & sale at the high school this past weekend. In years past my cousin's bakery would cater it and she hired Allison and I to work it last year as she was in the process of closing her bakery. We were thrilled to get the chance to do it this year... We were responsible for providing lunch (sandwiches as the only "cooking" we are allowed to do is microwaving.) drinks and snacks for vendors and customers to purchase.

The plus side of this gig is that we basically have a captive audience as people pay to get into the show and don't usually want to leave and vendors need to stay so they can make sales... Also, unlike the vendors, we don't have to pay to be there...

The minus side is that we have to provide all the food, guessing how much to buy and bake... And since it is all out of pocket, if nobody shows up we are out of luck...

Last year the show was packed with people... We could not keep up with the orders... This year it was crickets... The people who coordinate it said it was the slowest show they have ever done... And since the vendors weren't selling anything they were very cautious about their buying... By the end of day one (the busiest day) we had just broken even money wise, barely... That doesn't count the weeks of planning, days of shopping and 2 1/2 days of solid baking to prepare everything. We were paying Katy to help out during the busiest times and by the end of day one she had made more then we did... It was so discouraging... By the end of day two (crickets again) we had made about $240 each... We made more as employees of my cousin last year and she did all the baking, shopping and prep work...

Ah well...

Here are some pictures of our set up and baked goods... I took these right after we opened Sunday and there had already been a steady stream of vendors seeking coffee and a pastry... I snuck out to snap a few pictures but since a line was forming behind me I took them really quickly... Please ignore the poor photography... and the horrible looks on the girlies faces in the first one... I didn't warn them...

Our set-up

These macaroons were a HUGE hit... I made six dozen of them and they are the only thing we sold out of... By 11:30 Sunday these were the only two left... You can also kinda see the danishes I made on the left... I didn't take a good picture of them...

Turtle brownies... These were also a good seller...

Vanilla Cupcakes with Milk Chocolate buttercream frosting...

Lemon Cupcakes with a lemon cream cheese frosting...

Devils food cupcakes with a peanut butter frosting

Wild Maine Blueberry Muffins

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Cinnamon "doughnut" Muffins

Peanut Butter Cookies

& Chocolate Chip Cookies...

Also, not pictured were the lemon crunch bars, cinnamon rolls, orange rolls and ginger cookies...

We also made sandwiches to order (roast beef, turkey, ham, homemade chicken salad, egg salad and tuna) on you choice of three homemade breads...

Here Allison is (yes I warned her for this one) ready to take lunch orders...

Ah well, you win some and you lose some... At least we broke even... Plus, it was a lot of fun baking with Allison and working with both girlies both days... Memories were made, if not much money!

Thanks for listening,