Help with ideas for Benefit/Fundraiser Cook

[bluegrass smoke]

I have been asked to cook for a benefit/fundraiser.
Gentleman at my wife's office just got diagnosed with cancer.



It will be a large event. But they wanted ideas on what to cook etc.
There will be plenty of people that will bring sides potato salad, coleslaw etc.


So any of you that have done large fundraiser cooks do you cook



-WHOLE BOSTON BUTTS
- BBQ PLATES IN THE STYROFOAM TRAYS ( PULLED PORK, SAUSAGE LINK, WHITE BREAD, BEANS, AND POTATO SALAD?)

- WHOLE RACKS OF RIBS


This just got to me today so any advice would be great
Also here is a link so you can see what I'm working with :-D:-D

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=258564

 

[bluegrass smoke]

Thank you !
Chris

 

[Big Andy]

I would do butts. They are easy and forgiving if you forget about some on the pit, or have to hold for awhile.

 

[bluegrass smoke]

Thank you !
Chris

I would do butts. They are easy and forgiving if you forget about some on the pit, or have to hold for awhile.

To "sell" as whole or to do plates/sandwiches with?

 

[ronbrad62]

When I was in the FFA at school, we did chickens cut in half. You may do the same or quarter them. It's a fast and easy cook.
I would also do the pork butts, chop or pull them, offer up a plate with the sides, pork and bread, and sauce on the side. You can make your own sauce or order packets (like ketchup) online. I did a cook for my daughter's band when they hosted a Winter Guard competition and as luck would have it, it snowed 3" that day and several teams cancelled, but I had a ball cooking and chopping pork in the sub-freezing temps.

 

[C Rocke]

Another way to go at it would be to pre-sell box lunches. Styro box with pulled pork, chicken, beans, slaw, and a roll & sauce - $15 or $20. Customers trade a ticket for a lunch at the designated location. Easy to plan and execute, no waste, and easy to see when you reach your goal in ticket sales.

 

[bluegrass smoke]

Another way to go at it would be to pre-sell box lunches. Styro box with pulled pork, chicken, beans, slaw, and a roll & sauce - $15 or $20. Customers trade a ticket for a lunch at the designated location. Easy to plan and execute, no waste, and easy to see when you reach your goal in ticket sales.

If we went that route how much meat does a boston butt yield after cooking?
What would you say 1/4 lb meat per box? plus all the other stuff

 

[thirdeye]

What a good idea and very generous...., but large is subjective. Is this an event primarily attended by co-workers and their families, or co-workers, families, friends, or larger to allow neighbors and/or maybe involve the general public?

 

[Shadowdog500]

How many is “plenty of people”.

I’d say whatever you can generate the most money’s on. Our local 4-h serves a bbq chicken platter to raise money. For $12adult/$7children you get 1/2 a chicken, veggies a bag of chips, roll and butter, a can of soda and one of those ice cream cups with the flat wooden spoon simulator.
They must make money because they serve a ton of people.

I do several bbq lunch functions a year for 50 to 150 people from luau, crab fest, rib bbq, chicken bbq, etc, but my biggest moneymaker is always Oktoberfest. I also like it because i don’t have to worry when the food will be done because we don’t start making the sausage until about 20 minutes before the people show up. We boil them until darn near done and brown them o. A hot charcoal grill, cut them and serve on a hoagie roll. The big rush is getting the pepper and onions done and in the steam trays before the sausage run starts. Once the peppers and onions are done it is clear sailing. Like the 4h fair I started serving ice cream a few years ago. it’s easy, inexpensive and people love it. I get Klondike bars and nestle drumsticks.I used to serve cakes and pies, but there was always a lot left over and we had to provide dessert plates, forks and spoons.

 

[kynmo2010]

If we went that route how much meat does a boston butt yield after cooking?
What would you say 1/4 lb meat per box? plus all the other stuff

Easy rule of thumb to make the calculation easy: assume 50% yeild. 8 lb pork butt would yeild 4 lbs of meat. Figure 3 5+ oz servings per lb. You may yeild a little more, and you might give a little more or less per box, but this gives a good estimate.

 

[bluegrass smoke]

What a good idea and very generous...., but large is subjective. Is this an event primarily attended by co-workers and their families, or co-workers, families, friends, or larger to allow neighbors and/or maybe involve the general public?

Its a Real Estate office and there is about 250 people in that office alone and I'm sure they are going to include the other offices in the area and probably other agencies as well...

 

[BDAABAT]

Good for you!

Would echo the advice to do butts as the primary protein. Relatively inexpensive, really forgiving, and people tend to enjoy porky goodness. Would supplement with other inexpensive, easy, and filling side options (e.g., loaded smoked beans [do a search for Carries baked beans], smoked mac n cheese), smoked green beans...a couple #10 cans of green beans are usually pretty inexpensive if you can get them from RD or from Costco.

Good luck!
Bruce

 

[Big Andy]

To "sell" as whole or to do plates/sandwiches with?

As plates. You could also sell by the pound, but it would be easier to do by plates since it's your first time doing something like this. It can get hectic getting the assembly going, and everyone learning their role.

 

[smokeisgood]

Best return would probably be on pulled pork and pulled chicken.

 

[thirdeye]

Its a Real Estate office and there is about 250 people in that office alone and I'm sure they are going to include the other offices in the area and probably other agencies as well...

That's a considerable pool to draw from. So, crunch time will be the noon hour?

The larger fundraiser events like this I've been involved with usually had a couple of people that organized and advertised, then had 10 or 15 people that volunteered for food and another handfull that helped with clean-up, icing down bottled water, soda and the like.

All of these were 'grazing events' rather than selling a full plate of food with sides. The 'grazing tickets' were $10, but there were additional donation jars scattered around for folks to give more. Only two or three had all cooks grilling or serving barbecue, but on those they had some friendly competition in the form of peoples choice awards, which was some incentive for the cooks to make fancier things. The others would have 5 or 6 cooks making everything from hot-dogs to pulled pork. Sometimes a few folks would volunteer to make chili. Other people signed up to bake cupcakes, brownies, cookies. And like you mentioned others made or bought potato salad, macaroni salad and the like. Some times there would be 10 pies or cheesecakes that were donated, then raffled off.

One tip after you get the shopping list together is to talk to grocery store managers and offer to buy all the food from them, if they either offer a discount or donate additional food to be cooked.

Some of the easiest things I've cooked was pulled pork 24 hours ahead of time, and served sliders all day. Or for onsite cooking I took my drums and hung 12 or 15 pork loins. These only take about 90 minutes to smoke, there is no waste to speak of, it's always tender, and make killer sliders.

 

[C Rocke]

If we went that route how much meat does a boston butt yield after cooking?
What would you say 1/4 lb meat per box? plus all the other stuff

Figure on 40% loss from precooked weight - 8 lb butt = Little less than 5 lbs cooked. 1/4 lb is a good basic amount. If you did 1/4 pork and a leg quarter, with sides no one would be disappointed.

 

[bluegrass smoke]

Good for you!

Would echo the advice to do butts as the primary protein. Relatively inexpensive, really forgiving, and people tend to enjoy porky goodness. Would supplement with other inexpensive, easy, and filling side options (e.g., loaded smoked beans [do a search for Carries baked beans], smoked mac n cheese), smoked green beans...a couple #10 cans of green beans are usually pretty inexpensive if you can get them from RD or from Costco.

Good luck!
Bruce

I really like the loaded smoked beans and smoked mac and cheese idea!
I could do those in the warmer on the back of my Langley ( Lang/Shirley :wink

 

[bluegrass smoke]

I couldn't find Carries baked beans? I can get that thread link?
thank you

 

[BDAABAT]

Sorry, couldn't find the original Carrie's baked beans recipe after a quick look (which means I don't know how to spell "carrie"), but did find Wampus's recipe:
https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109907

Similar concept: take existing canned beans and enhance! Add a bunch of seasonings, add a bunch of previously smoked protein, then add a sweet component (in Wampus case, peach pie filling. I believe Carrie's recipe was for apple pie filling. Doesn't matter, they're both outstanding). I've never had the opportunity to try Famous Daves anything. I just used Sweet Baby Rays when I've made these beans because that's what I had available. Didn't have maple fatties, so I used regular fatties. The specifics for the recipe aren't important. I've made these several times for groups and the feedback has always been very positive. We've also made these for Scout fundraiser cooks.

The really nice thing about the beans is that it's super easy, relatively modestly priced, and most of it can be done in advance. If using canned beans, it can be tossed together quickly then popped into the cooker warmer and just left for a while. Allows you to utilize your time efficiently (and time is the one thing that is always in short supply when doing fundraiser cooks!).

Good luck!
Bruce

 

[BDAABAT]

Bah! Found the other enhanced baked beans recipe. Was from Keri not Carrie: :doh:
https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?p=423407

Bruce