Food and Beverage

My class had to come up with food and beverage options that we could serve at the open house. The options had to be easy to prepare and serve because we only had outlets to use, and the options had to fit the Hit the Jackpot theme. Our client ended up choosing the proposal that consisted of a nacho bar, pretzel bar, and popcorn bar. It also included cupcakes for dessert and Shirley temples to drink. Here is the original proposal:

Soft Pretzel bar

• Soft pretzel twists

• Soft pretzel bites

• Melted cheese

• Honey mustard

• Cinnamon Sugar

Popcorn Bar

• Popcorn

• Popcorn seasonings

• M&M’s

• Gummy Bears

Nacho Bar

• Tortilla chips

• Nacho cheese

• Salsa

• Lettuce

• Sour cream

Desserts

• Cupcakes

• Chocolate coins

Beverages

• Shirley Temples

We ended up using most of the ingredients that were listed here. I was the head of the food and beverage committee, therefore I had a lot to do with the decisions we made regarding what would and wouldn't be served.

The nacho and pretzel bar both used the same nacho cheese, and we offered sour cream and salsa for the nachos, and honey mustard for the pretzels. We also offered salted or cinnamon sugar pretzels. The popcorn bar offered M&Ms and ranch popcorn seasoning. We also had mini cupcakes and Shirley temples.

The budget for food and beverage was $215.94 and our final costs added up to $192.14. Although we ended up having extra money, we did have to cut out some ingredients to decrease our budget. We were originally going to get shredded chicken for the nachos and gummy bears for the popcorn, but we decided to not get either of these items. The full list of the food we bought and all prices are listed below:

In order to prevent students from only taking food from us and then leaving the event, we created a dollar system. By registering their email, playing a game, or talking to faculty, guests could earn a fake dollar. They could then save up two dollars to spend on food. The two dollars would allow them to get as much food as they wanted. We had less guests than we planned for, so we did not run out of any food. We actually had a lot of pop and grenadine leftover, so we were able to return those items and give the money back to the school.

Overall, the food was a hit. Guests loved all of the options they had and thought the soft pretzels were amazing. Guests were also very excited about the Shirley temples.