Festival of Woe

Dame Lucy & I did our first festival last week, and boy did we not know what we were getting into.  We had some major stumbling blocks.

1) We were making iced toddy for the first time and didn’t know what our yield would be.  For the coffee-curious, iced toddy is cold brewed iced coffee which bears a simpler, brighter and less acidic taste than its hot-brewed-refrigerated counterpart.  We bought way way way too much coffee and had a crazy amount left over.  Like enough to caffeinate all of Marfa.

2) same thing with the milk.  We matched it to our toddy yield and wound up with 12 gallons left over which is highly ridiculous.   Fortunately, we sold most of it (thanks for the millionth time Cuvee.  Oh, and thanks Nickie-lush too for housing the extra refrigerator that’s STILL sitting outside your apartment!).

3) We also didn’t know how much ice to buy since we have never used it before.  I mean as business owners.  As humans we have used ice plenty.

4) We didn’t really understand the thrust of the festival itself.  Basically people spend almost all they intend to spend at the gate ($45) and then mill the grounds sampling wine & food.  I mean, I doubt most people even bring more than the gate charge since there’s so much free stuff.  Every vendor is required to provide samples.  Sometimes people make a purchase, but the main advantage to the vendors is that it promotes the business and creates brand recognition/goodwill.  Which is great for product oriented businesses and large companies like Whole Foods, but we’re a service business and the odds are slim that anyone had come on purpose to look for a coffee caterer.  Really really slim.  They just took a sample of toddy, expressed their delight, and moved on.  We don’t even have a shop that we can remind them to visit.  We were marketing into the void.

Which is not to say that it was a total loss.  The wine festival itself is pretty great, lovely grounds, good vibe, neat products to try everywhere you turn.  It was a gusty day, so we were never stifling which was a big fear.  Uh, I drank a lot of wine.  And our friend Carl came out to help us/entertain us which was a trip.  Sorry Lucy called you useless, Carl;  I, for one, have always considered  you semi-useful.  You can quote me on that.

But it was a drag and a disappointment.  We had hoped to walk with a $400 profit, and instead we suffered about a $300 loss which we can ill-afford.  Most business development experts would probably say that it’s not too expensive a lesson regardless of how awful it feels.  Certainly we’re much more knowledgeable about some back-end processes, and we’ll know the kinds of questions to ask before we lock into a longer festival.  Still, it stings.  It was frustrating to prep for so long and then fail.  And even more frustrating to put all those debits through our quickbooks with such a paltry credit at the end.

Hallowed Grounds will live to see another day, though.  And the toddy will keep a-flowing through summer.

My business partner is off in Houston braiding manes for a horse show.  I’m sure you will hear about it when she gets back!   I miss her already.  Sob.