Dinners for 130

[chefincognito]

Hi, my first post. I am considering creating and producing meals for a local church on Wednesday nights (a steady gig for a personal chef)and there will be no payment but the church covers all costs of food etc and my profit is what's left of the $5 cost to the public of the dinner. I know my profit ratio will be slim and I welcome any ideas from the pros for reasonable dinners (salad/entree/side/dessert) or suggestions you might feel free to share with me. thanks in advance. ruth

[Frantastic]

Depends on who is purchasing the food, does it include disposables, what is the 'meal' including? Tea-Salad-Meat and 3 - Roll/Butter Dessert? Or is it something you can play with from week to week? One week Soup/Salad/Corn muffins?

Tell us more.

[jonesg]

It might cost you $4pp in food. Its gonna be tight.
Caesar salad, simplest , cheapest and quickest to prep.
some cheap choices.

Chicken brocc ziti is cheap due to the pasta.
Or lasagna, use the frozen pre cooked sheets.
Mousaka, similar to lasagna if you can get a case of eggplant, slice and roast it. Or buy frozen and deep fry eggplant slices.
Beef stew, rice, canned veg.

Dessert , a cookie if they are lucky.

I've done $10pp with no dessert and made money, $5 is very tight.

Whats the payoff, trading for kitchen rental?
Otherwise its charity with a tip.
Its a fair amount of work too, steer clear of any dishes requiring you to put labor in such as pounding out chicken tenders for 130pp. Any casserole style food is suitable.

You simply can't buy a dinner including salad, entre and dessert for $5 , it just about costs that much.

Avoid the mistake of buying a case of fresh string beans because they are cheap. With their budget its canned peas and carrots or similar.
Cut every corner but make it tasty, you could make $100.

[drcorey]

5.00 each?
hmm, send them out to jack in the box....

[jeanmarie]

Our church has a similiar dinner, on Tuesdays, and here are a few of the dinners we've been served - all are accompanied by a bread choice, salad and cake or cobbler:

Shrimp and chicken jambalaya (heavy on the rice)
Pulled pork bbq and beans
red beans and rice with smoked sausage
spaghetti with meat sauce
pancakes with sausage and ham
chili (2 kinds, regular and chicken chili)
soup night (3 kinds of soup) and grilled cheese sandwiches
baked ziti w/ mini meatballs
brunswick stew

I hope this is helpful!!

[chefincognito]

I really appreciate all the responses, thanks. Pretty much verifying my gut feelings about this "opportunity".
Looks like casseroles and pasta dishes will be their choices!

[NotYetChef]

$5? That'll be a very interesting challenge. Some cheap and flavorful side and main dishes I've done for big parties that were fairly easy to manage:


Beet and carrot chips
Mashed potato and turnip
Baked beans (easy to season and make "interesting" cheaply)
Sweet potato (yam) fries
Kale and barley soup


When I need to do something on the cheap, I love using barley. It thickens, and makes any stew more filling for very low cost.

[Tvoegeli]

Is this plated or a buffet? Do you have an account with a large food provider exe.. sysco, GCF. I do a buffet in my hotel every day that is $7pp and we usually get a pretty good profit. But we use a lot of cheaper products, like butter flavored oil Instead of butter, frozen vegetables IQF, thin chicken breast, frozen swiss steak, pearl potatoes, A lot of pasta's. They are paying $5 they are not going to be expecting a 5 star meal, and might get mad if you get to fancy. $650 is a lot of money just for food, If you play your cards right you could walk away every week with around $500 and have many happy guest. And If you think about it what have been under class food in the pass, stews, sausage,fijata, and stir frys, they eat that stuff because that is what they could afford, made from that the scrap meat.

[jonesg]

"$650 is a lot of money just for food, If you play your cards right you could walk away every week with around $500 and have many happy guest."

You're hired !

[chfbdawg]

if you dont have one you should consider getting a "Sams" card, you could buy your food at close to wholesale and thereby decrease your food cost, it will pay for itself quickly

[JewelsQ]

You need to be very careful about using warehouse markets. Often, their prices are not that much better and for sub-quality food.

[chfbdawg]

are you referring to food at Sams as warehouse food?

[JewelsQ]

yes

[chfbdawg]

if you are a chef, you should be able to distinguish between correct foods to buy and a little help on your food cost can go a long way