NEW MENU DISCUSSION

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Nevadanteater
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NEW MENU DISCUSSION

Post by Nevadanteater » Tue Nov 15, 2005 12:42 pm

The Kitchen Managers met a few weeks ago to discuss how to change the menu. This is what we've come up with. If anyone has any ideas, suggestions or anything, please let us know.

Current Menu –

Burrito: A staple. Keep.
Mexican Burger: Costly. Kill.
Veg Burger: Cheap & Easy, maybe Jane doesn’t like it due to the competition? Keep
Falafel Burgers: New falafel is good, could be better. Look for new supplier.
Salads: Keep.

Specials: Use whenever possible. Create recipe book for easy preparation.

Value Menu: Keep everything except sandwiches. Remove for the time being.

Drinks: Remove smoothies (have as occasional special?). Remove English breakfast, raspberry & fennel. Find new fruit, ginger and mate teas. Look for cafeteria pump coffee – keeps coffee good and fresh. Says Ryan, ‘much easier, better and cheaper than big machine.’ Keep juices the same.

Cakes: Keep, re-cost, maybe up prices. We make no money from this stuff. Find new supplier? Gareth wants muffins.

Breakfast: Keep museli (we could feed an army w/ our current supply), maybe add yoghurt – if we can serve this.

Actions: Look for new falafel supplier. Start listing specials recipes. Kill sandwiches. Look for new teas from green city. Research cafeteria pump. Look for muffins! Look for yoghurt. Re-cost everything.

NEW MENU STUFF –

Baked potatoes – We have all the toppings, can undercut everyone, will be great. Just need to figure out how to implement this.

Toast bar – Gareth’s baby. Have toaster and spreads (butter, jams, -mites) in the café. We provide the bread. Implementation could be a problem, but it will be cool.

Value Menu – expand. include olive bowl, toasted pitta & hummus. MORE!

Nachos – Everyone loves but Mat. Costing needs worked out.

Quiche – Would be easy and quick to serve. No oven = no quiche. Make at home and bring? Serve as special?

Soda Floats – Easy and good. Need to decide on icecream source.

Night Menu – Stop regular menu at 8:00pm and begin serving only simple stuff. Toast bar, cakes, nut bowls, chips & salsa, olive bowl, cheese & crackers, pitta & hummus, etc. etc.

Action: Research Research Research: Potatoes, implementation of toast bar, look for more value & night menu stuff. Cost nachos. Cook quiche at home to test. Look up ice cream suppliers. Cost everything!

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Tentative Menu:

Main Meals:
Burrito Meal
Veggie Burger Meal
Falafel Meal
Salad Plate
Nachos

Value Meals:
Cheese and Beans on Toast
Falafel Burger
Veggie Burger

Snack Menu/Night Menu:
Olive Bowl
Nut Bowl
Cheese & Crackers
Tortilla Chips & Salsa
Pitta & Hummus
Muesli
Yoghurt

TOAST BAR

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Nevadanteater
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Post by Nevadanteater » Tue Nov 15, 2005 12:53 pm

i think this is all well and good, but the initial reason for changing the menu was to make everything easier for everyone working in the kitchen.

i can't see how this will change much. the prep remains mostly the same (guac, salsa, cheese, salads, burritos). roast veg is the only thing we get rid of (but if we get potatoes we'll probably have to do that too, yes?).

lately though the kitchen has been running really well...maybe there aren't many problems?
God is great.
Grass is gentler.

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beev
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Post by beev » Tue Nov 15, 2005 3:12 pm

Yes major changes are perhaps not necessary. The range of choice is currently good. In light of current situation, perhaps should stick to changes that increase value for money for the forest.

Overall price increases would mean either more cash coming in or less demand therefore less work for KMs & vollies. Also more incentive for people to volunteer and get a discount!

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beev
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Post by beev » Tue Nov 15, 2005 3:16 pm

Btw, more nut bowls will mean less beev action in the forest. But I try to avoid touching things as it is, so probably wouldn't make that much difference.

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Magda
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Post by Magda » Tue Nov 15, 2005 8:32 pm

Make those lovely lovely roasted nuts you made for a volunteer meeting once!

Magda

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dan
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Post by dan » Wed Nov 16, 2005 3:08 am

hey pump cafeteria coffee - this isn't just americana drip coffee is it? if it is this is no good. it's the dirty brown of the coffee world, compared to the white pony of espresso...

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Post by Nevadanteater » Mon Nov 21, 2005 9:07 am

the pump coffee won't be to replace the espresso machine/milk steamer, just to quickly make black/white coffee with cheap refills. they do make good coffee and are highly underrated.

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on sandwiches. i am un-suggesting that we remove them from the menu entirely. instead, i think they should stick around, but we should remove any cheesy ones (for me the grill part is what makes them annoying/difficult). we can keep things like hummus/roast veg, roast veg/sdt, hummus/salad,

hell, maybe even keep brie on the menu as it doesn't have to be grilled to be nice. sandwiches are good, they sell well, and don't have to be difficult, just gotta limit the menu choices.
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Jane
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Post by Jane » Mon Nov 21, 2005 10:26 am

menu points....

hey tricksy mat who doesn't like nachos and was allowed to write up the minutes: i thought originally we decided to try having nachos at night for a while and see how it went difficultwise? because it makes ryan furious when he looks in the favorit window and sees how busy it is and because really all we crave is melted cheese. although it does make things a little more work, we could even have a night price for nachos after we change menus at 8pm. $5. $10. they will pay anything.

anyways...

the pump coffee i still do not understand, apparentely it is some american thing that is different from cafietiere, we were promised taste tests. i am a sceptic.

i don't think the prepmaking is the problem we're trying to reduce, it's more making the actual running of the kitchen during serving easier.keeping it as simple as possible so it can more often be volunteers doing food and KMs running the kitchen. also making nights easy so more people work them and KMs can be more sure of what they will come in to prepwise the next day (eg, no unexpected ALL THE SALADS ARE GONE moments etc...)

another thing: if we want soup more often, especially over winter, we should find some way of keeping it hot because microwaving each bowl is a pain.

my 50pence
janex
"We all tend to idealise kindness and tolerance, then wonder why we find ourselves infested with losers and nutcases." Sebastian Horsley

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ravanwin
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Post by ravanwin » Mon Nov 21, 2005 10:53 am

um, keep soup on the hob on a low heat all day. easy.

i say we do this changes for 2006. maybe sooner. we still have a lot of mex burgers to kill. i suppose you are right re: sarnies. hummus and stuff is good. cheese is bad. the cheesey people have plently options and i think we should play with specials everyday... wraps, curries, thail noodle soup....

we should probably meet again.
r

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pogo
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Post by pogo » Tue Nov 22, 2005 8:45 pm

yes... bad or diffecult items on the menu should be hiked in price til close to none order it. almost like taking it off the menu, but a gift when someone does order it.

my non-kitchen status may render me inadmissable... but make people pay for our misery is a good moto.. no?

i do get esspresso here (uk) cuz i still feel that no-one in this country (including London) can make a proper cup of regular coffee. not too sure why?

hummos and salsa has been supreme lately... loads of garlic and full of flavours:)

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