Sorry for the long lapse of silence, but judging from the posts others have been very busy too...
We had 2 VERY crazy weeks before the 25th. All I did was show up at work at 4:00am, leave at 9:00pm., sleep and on to the next day. My poor husband had to eat out or microwave his dinners and do laundry all month. How was your Christmas?

By momoreg on Wednesday, December 27, 2000 - 09:44 pm: Edit

The same, pretty much. My feet are aching!

By W.DeBord on Thursday, December 28, 2000 - 10:29 am: Edit

Hi! It got prety intense for 10 days or so but now I'm heading into VACATION TIME....YEAH!!!!! Time to going skiing in Utah...too bad I'm not a cross country skier not only did we have alot of work we had several MAJOR snowfalls. One night it took me 2 1/2 hours to get home from work(and were used to snow here in the Mid-West).

It sounds very bad right now by Panini, hope you don't have alot happening for New Years?

P.S. Any power outages d.?

By d. on Thursday, December 28, 2000 - 05:09 pm: Edit

None in my neighborhood so far. It sure doesn't feel like Christmas here in L.A. It's 80 degrees and sunny --- not that I'm complaining. It's very hard to imagine the ice storms going on in the central part of the country. I will also be taking a breather in the next couple of weeks. Man, I need to sleep in for a week straight!

By danno on Thursday, December 28, 2000 - 05:22 pm: Edit

when I look back on it now, it didnt seem so bad, but at the time If you asked you may have got a different answer. 95% of all of our banquet menus were limited to a choice of 3 different desserts. keeping on top of them was the key to staying out of the weeds. hope everybody has a great new year. danno

By W.DeBord on Friday, December 29, 2000 - 09:54 am: Edit

I seem to enjoy the tough times the most! But it is funny how you loose perspective (at least for a few minutes everyday) and have to re-group or re-organize your thoughts and direction. Don't you have a moment or two where you think "this is crazy, why didn't I go into a different field" or "I'm going to quit if one more...". Then just when your at top speed and mastering the insanity (feeling really strong that you pulled it all off) poof....it's dead, no more parties.


You think that's what you want (slow days) but as your skills grow, slow equals too boring.


P.S. 80 degrees and sunny hum....how you suffer, this morning I have 6" of new snow to plow through to work. Want to trade?

By quartet on Friday, December 29, 2000 - 06:54 pm: Edit

the long hours were great, if tiring. now it's just strange adapting to a normal schedule and, on top of that, hoping not to get sent home for lack of work. the banquet kitchen in the hotel is dead. so far our pastry kitchen has been able to keep busy enough to give us all the hours we want. i'm going to miss the overtime, even if i won't miss the days where i had to make 75 pounds of chocolate mousse.

By Peachcreek (Peachcreek) on Monday, January 01, 2001 - 09:14 pm: Edit

You guys are gonna hate this. I've been on vacation for the last two weeks. I even blew off being open for New Years Eve. Instead, I stayed home and had a celebration with the family and friends. The restaurant had a fabulous 2000, and we are looking forward to continued growth this year.
I think it actually would have been less energy to go to work than to take the time off. At least at work, I have some element of control. Try being in a house with 14 other people. It was nuts. And with that many people, there is always something going on, 24 hours a day it seems.
I'm ready to go back to work!
Wishing everyone a happy new year.

By MarkG on Wednesday, January 03, 2001 - 09:58 am: Edit

We closed for a few days after XMAS once the caterers' orders cooled off. I think it was my hands that suffered the most during the past 6 weeks. Swollen, cut and bruised, they gave it all they could to keep the desserts and morning pastries coming. Now it's time to look at the past 6 months and see where we can expand. Here in Richmond, the restaurant scene is odd. Most chefs I talk with feel that frozen food supplier desserts are fien for their customers which makes it hard for us to break in with our made from scratch items. Catering seems to be our best hope for success though I'm tempted to try the big hotel chains again.

Mark

By Panini (Panini) on Wednesday, January 03, 2001 - 06:46 pm: Edit

Happy Holidays everyone!
Business GREAT! cut back on wholesale, jammed the retail side. Risky move, but it paid off.
Mark,
I'm finding the same thing here. I find most of the chef's using frozen. Ya know, I've know some of these guys for years and I know they are quality chefs. I really feel it has come down to convience. We just closed out our year and were shocked to see that our catering side rose to 37%
of total wholesale. That's where I'm heading.
A healthy and prosperous year to all!