Breakfast for 300!

By Creg

Istre in the Making is in big business!


Our happy hardworking helpful crew of 8 has just finished our first big catering job. We've done jobs for 15 people before, but nothing like this. We have a friend who is on the board of a non-profit group in town and they were having their annual fundraiser at the 1st Baptist Church. She had hired us to do some small jobs before so she asked if we were up to the challenge. Her group had previously used another facility that insisted on using their own caterers, but now they wanted to cut down on costs, so she asked us if we could do it better & cheaper. After a big gulp we did some mental math, figured out how much money we could make and said, "Sure!"

Chelsa did a great job planning the menu, organizing the meal, teaching the kids their jobs and delegating work for everyone, including Granny Kay and Pa King. We served sausage bread ring, apple bread, fruit yogurt with homemade granola and orange juice. We spent several days baking and preparing what we could in advance and despite a couple of broken jars, dropped eggs, and spilled oil a good time was had by all.

That morning we got up at 5:00, fed our animals, and headed to the Hillcrest kitchen for final preparations where we sliced bread and loaded the contents of several refrigerators into the Yukon. We arrived at the church at 6:00 and started setting the food and drinks on 32 tables that each sat 9 people. We were supposed to be done by 7:30 and at 7:00 guests started to arrive. All we needed to finish was passing out drinks; orange juice and water for every place. As I was carrying trays with 40 cups of water, dodging people and trying to anticipate what handshake was coming next, the kids were busily distributing the drinks to their places.

It's 7:21 and the last cup is down, we made it! Now to the kitchen to wash up.