Mid-show NYRF

Well, it's almost mid-show anyway. We just completed the third weekend, which traditionally is when attendance begins to build. We're playing a weather game this rainy summer; so we've got customers when it's not raining, more than along any normal traffic patterns.

I missed the second weekend (August 8-9) at NY, because I flew to the Texas Renaissance Festival to partake in their hiring fair. Woo Hoo!!! It was *amazing*. I can't believe I didn't do it sooner. At TRF, prospective employees were seated in The Globe Theatre audience, and at 9am, the Vendor Coordinator made a presentation, which included introducing show staff. Then the Entertainment Director gave a great pep-talk about how the workers at the festival are setting the scene and the mood of the illusion, and are, in fact, an important part of maintaining the atmosphere that our guests are expecting. Then each of the employers who were looking to hire were given 5 minutes on stage in which to describe their work-culture, shop themes, and specify what they were looking for in employees. One of my competitors stood up and said she was only looking for people fluent in French or German. I'm pretty sure she actually found people qualified. We all announced where we would be located to take applications as part of our presentation. This meant we got to go wait for applicants that actually had an intention of working at our specific shops, rather than just randomly hoping to work somewhere at the festival. It was marvelous.

I was hiring for my Scottish Bakery, and for The Hubby's Spanish-themed fruit shops. I had 56 applicants, for 24 positions, so I really got to be particular. The Scottish booth employees will begin their dialect classes this week. Today I'm organizing everyone's paperwork, and making an information packet for festival management, so that the photo-IDs for the festival can be produced before I get back to Texas.

Audit Dance

This morning I had an audit from the NYS Worker's Compensation office. Every few years, I have to prove to them that our restaurant's payroll is not similar to other restaurants with 20 employees, because we are only open for 8 weekends of the year. Apparently they don't have a little check-box on their forms for our version of the food-biz.

They wanted to audit us last fall, but we were in the middle of our Texas show at that point. Doing the deed long-distance involved copying and sending about 477 pieces of paper. So I skipped it, knowing we'd be back in NY the following summer. I knew it might get messed up, but really, how bad could it be?

Well, in January I got our first Worker's Comp bill at the assumed rate. Uh ... OUCH. One month's bill was equal to my entire year's bill in former years. And they kept coming. As soon as I got my office set up in NY, I called to schedule an audit, in hopes it would happen in the 2 months I'm here.

Today I spent the 2 hours of the inspector's visit, digging through files to meet the requirements for the 2 year audit. In a few weeks I'll find out what our credit is, although they don't normally provide refunds. I may be paid up for the next several years, as what they had billed me for the year was equal to my entire NY payroll last year.

While I knew that the audit was for my benefit ... I was still stressed about meeting the paperwork requirements (there was that moment when we thought we'd have to reschedule so that I could fly to Texas and get the 2007 pay-stubs).

All's well that ends well, I suppose.

Summer Jobs

I've been hiring people for their summer jobs for the past 20 years. We have food shops at theme parks ... "Grab Shacks" would be the industry term, since we don't really have dining rooms. We don't sell typical grab shack fare, because we're in "Themed" theme parks ... Renaissance Festivals. So we're selling Bangers & Mash, or Scotch Eggs, or Fresh Fruit Tartlets, depending on the venue and the jurying process at that venue.

For a restauranteur, it can be a dream. All of the manic problem-solving and the 85 hour weeks are wedged into a section of the calendar year; so recovery time in the off-season is part of the deal. However, the hiring process can be intense. It's opening a restaurant and hiring 35 people twice a year, in two different markets. What works in one, may not work at all in another. (For example, Craigslist is considered a shopping site in Texas.)

So today I'm hoping to get some new hires from the NY festival's hiring day. Many of last years' employees have moved away for college, or their phone numbers have changed. It's not unusual for teenager's phone numbers to change, but apparently in this age of cell-phones, people are discontinuing their land lines in their homes. Parent's phone numbers had always been my fall-back connection, and some of my key people have been hard to find this summer.

I only need 8 weekends from someone ... you'd think it would be easy to get a commitment. It's not. In fact, this year I'm going to give a bonus of $1 per hour, at the end of the festival, to every employee that has been on time, every day they were scheduled to work. We'll see how it goes.

July 9, 2009

We're heading north to Ithaca, NY this weekend. We sell chocolate covered strawberries, cheesecake, and bananas (amongst other yummies) at a great music festival called the Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance. I first went several years ago, when I was in town visiting our good friends Loretta and Eric. As any festival vendor will tell you, seeing a show before deciding to participate is crucial. Well, maybe not crucial ... but highly recommended.

The festival has a Healing Arts Tent, and my first participation was in teaching a class there. I still volunteer part of my time in that tent, as I fine-tune what the offerings of the Lemonade Brigade might be in our goal of easing peoples fears around the breast cancer issue. (That's obviously another post entirely ... I promise I'll get there.) Joanne Kingsley does a beautiful job of orchestrating the varied offerings of donated time by alternative health practitioners.


We stay in Trumansburg, in a 200 year old barn that has been outfitted with summer bedrooms. It is one of the most magical places I know, and we have admitted that one of the major reasons we do this show is the gift of living in that space on our friend Ruth's property. Not to mention the magic that is Ruth herself.

The Hubby is designing a solar powered show booth. We're practicing with it in Trumansburg, but it will be launched officially at the Texas Renaissance Festival. While he's watching battery power levels, I'm packing our personal needs for the week. While I'm excited to be giving the solar booth a try, and excited to have scheduled an extra 3 days for visiting friends while upstate, I still have to hire at least a dozen people for the NYRF show, and I'll have to hit it hard when we return to Tuxedo on the 20th.

NASFT Fancy Food Show

This show is really targeted to gourmet retailers, so it's rare that I find a supplier for one of our theme park restaurants. However ... there are always ideas to steal, and flavor combinations to consider.

The Hubby and I went with our friend Buffey. She happens to be an incredibly talented Culinary Mercenary, and she's currently helping plan a deli for a health food store chain. The day had some magic about it. Every person who I had hoped to network with Buffey happened to cross our path ... either away from their own booths, or even as fellow attendees walking the aisles. Some really great connections were made.

A couple of the gluten free baking mix manufacturers who I spoke with were able to meet my needs for my bakery at the Texas Renaissance Festival, so the trip was a business success also. That was really my only quest this year, although the Fancy Food Show is always dazzling, and worth the trip.

Gagh

This is one of those one-pot quickie meals that friends request on a regular basis. The Hubby calls it "Buckwheat Noodle Crack", and my friend Riki calls it "Gagh" (for the Klingon wormy dish).

As with anything that one makes often, it's never exactly the same, so I'll make a rough approximation of the recipe amounts.

The veggies are flexible, but you want a lot of color to balance the taupe color of the noodles. Last night I used:

Minced Ginger
Minced Fresh Garlic
2 tsp. Olive oil

(Saute in a wok, but try to find a lid big enough to help the steaming process later. A pizza pan works well.)
Also have a pot of water boiling nearby for the noodles... they are fast.

Add in this order, firmest to softest vegetables, cooking each a bit before proceeding to the next step:
Sliced Carrots
Cauliflower (small chunks)
Red Bell Pepper, diced or sliced
Brocolli (small chunks)
sliced yellow squash (small)
spinach

The amounts are really eyeballed according to color ... it's important to have sweet veggies in there, as the noodles themselves can be bitter. Do not add more oil ... add water and let the veggies steam. Try and get the firmer veggies softened before adding the next veggie.

When you get to the spinach, stir it in, cover, and turn off burner. Drop noodles into boiling water. When noodles are al dente, drain, and then in a large bowl, begin layering and dressing.

Spoon a layer of veggies into the bottom of the bowl. Cover with a layer of soba noodles. Dress with Braggs Liquid Amino Acids, and Rosemary Infused Oil (Avocado is best, but Olive will work ... the Rosemary is what is important.) Continue layering and dressing the noodles until complete. Toss to coat and blend, then taste to make sure you got enough dressing, but not too much (I know ... not very precise for a recipe ... sorry).
You are aiming for an even amount of veggies to noodles. Practice makes perfect. One little bundle of soba noodles should serve one person, unless you're feeding carpenters, athletes, or teenage boys ... In that case, double it.

This is a delicious cold salad on day 2 or 3.

NYC visit

The visit is almost over and I still don't have any justification for it, other than the fact that my life is always enhanced on many levels when I get together with this particular group of women.

We spent the evening in Park Slope, having a quiet (sort-of, other than the uproarious laughter)dinner at the home of Catherine Bohne. She owns Community Bookstore; which in all of my travels, remains one of my all time favorite places on earth. Her website does a good job of communicating the vibe of her store, but you still need to pet a cat or dog while shopping for or discussing book selections.

Food is always part of a NYC visit. The trip is mostly about time together, so we've refrained from parking for hours in the midst of some poor server's livelihood; and instead have enjoyed the very European experience of fresh cheeses, bread, wines and fruit at home. Normally I have some personal food rules that keep dairy and wheat at a minimum, but I'm also a Southern Girl, so I can use that ingrained politeness as an excuse to relax and enjoy my visit. (Besides, the Union Square Farmer's Market was today ... yum!)

Tonight is our last night in town, so dinner and a brainstorm session with The Lindas, and Wendy Dubit.

Before I left, The Hubby said, "Please promise that if you women manage to take over the world this week, you do so without pissing off too many people."