New to Vending

So an opportunity was handed to me and I am trying to see whether I should run towards it OR run away.

A friends wife works a a large food service company. Once or twice a month they bring in some type of vendor to run a lunch service for them. They have had taco bars for $8 a plate, burgers and dogs for $6 a plate. She mentioned that I do BBQ. I want to get into vending and i am thinking this might be a good way to start. Something sort of small with no real competition (unless they brought their lunches that day). We are talking about roughly 500 people in the building. I figure it's safe to assume that not all with want food.

I was asked to provide a menu. I thinking about keeping it simple and do pork and chicken sandwiches, 2 sides, and maybe a BBQ sundae (pulled pork/chicken, beans, and slaw).

I'm stuck on how much to cook. With their being no other vendors, what should I plan on for numbers? I am thinking 2/3 will probably want something. I think I am doing 1/3lb per serving and a 4 oz side.

Pulled Chicken - Doing thighs. I figure 70% yield
80lbs raw should give me 56lbs cooked for 168 servings

Pulled Pork - Butts estimating 50% yield
133lbs raw should give me 62lbs cooked for 200 servings

Prices:
Sandwich - $7
Sandwich w/ 1 side - $9
2 meat - $10 (4 oz per meat)
2 meat combo - $12
BBQ Sundae - $8

Then, thinking on providing everyone a survey on whether they would like to see different items in the future.

What does everyone think?

toymaster said:

Complicated questions with not enough info.

Will this event be advertised in advance? (You might get less people bringing bag lunches if they know you are going to be there)

What is the ratio of men to women at this food service company? Men eat more and will probably be more interested in BBQ.

Giving people the option of 2 meat combo means you won't be able to feed as many people unless you up your quantity.

Has any vendor been there more than once? (If there's a chance of a repeat performance, you might want to consider making more food and possibly taking a loss in order to turn it into a regular gig (if that's your goal, I think your quantities are a little light if you include the 2 meat combo).

Can you do the survey in advance? It will help a lot to see who's interested.

Just my .02 Hope it helps

Click to expand...

It's all in the planning stage right now so I really don't have all the info. I agree with everything you said for sure. Thank you!