Pancake Breakfast 101 - Update added Page 2

[newtodis]

Share your tips and tricks for a successful pancake breakfast. We haven't done one before and really don't know how much of each itme to purchase.

Here's the list as it stands right now:

Pancake mix
Syrup
Link sausage
Milk
Oj
Coffee
Sugar
Creamer
Table cover
Plates
Silverware
Cups
Napkins
Trash Bags
Stir Straws for the coffee

I plan on contacting some of our local stores to see if we can purchase any items at a discount from them if we buy a large quantity.

Ok - I started this post with my crackberry this am. I will update more later when I'm at work on the computer

TIA for any and all tips and tricks to help make this as successful as possible!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

How to have a successful breakfast is to sell tickets in advance. That way you have the money to purchase the items and more importantly you don't overbuy or run out of food.

Good Luck!!!

 

[dogodisney]

Butter, bottled water, maybe some fruit, and bacon as not everyone eats sausage.

Good Luck with the breakfast.

 

[Kies99]

Use Krusteaz brand pancake mix. I know you can get this at Sam's club in big bags. It's inexpensive and only needs water (no eggs or milk).

Krusteaz also will split the cost of the mix with you if you're doing a charity fund-raiser. All the information on it is on the side of the bag.

 

[mickeyboat]

I might add other juices besides OJ, and butter. You may also need cooking spray for the griddles and dishwashing liquid. Don't forget a change box.

The Girl Scout service unit in our town does pancake a breakfast every year. They usually get donations of pancake mix from BJ's, and believe it or not, sausage patties from McDonald's - which are soooooo yummy.

Good luck!

 

[TinklednPants]

If I'm going to show you had better have Champagne for mimosas.
What's breakfast without a mimosa?

 

[newtodis]

How to have a successful breakfast is to sell tickets in advance. That way you have the money to purchase the items and more importantly you don't overbuy or run out of food.

Good Luck!!!

We don't really have a place to sell tickets in advance. The group (FD Auxiliary) has the funds to purchase the items up front (we're going to try for donations of various items first before purchasing). A neighboring FD recently had a pancake breakfast so we're going to try and contact them to see what they used as well.

Thank you! Hopefully we'll have a great turn out!

Butter, bottled water, maybe some fruit, and bacon as not everyone eats sausage.

Good Luck with the breakfast.

Thanks! I didn't think of butter. I was going to check with local stores to see about donating the fruit as well just in case someone wanted something else. We talked about bacon and decided against it due to the mess.

Thank you!

Use Krusteaz brand pancake mix. I know you can get this at Sam's club in big bags. It's inexpensive and only needs water (no eggs or milk).

Krusteaz also will split the cost of the mix with you if you're doing a charity fund-raiser. All the information on it is on the side of the bag.

This is what spurred our ideas to have one! I saw that ad on the pancake mix bag and that's what got our ball rolling.

I might add other juices besides OJ, and butter. You may also need cooking spray for the griddles and dishwashing liquid. Don't forget a change box.

The Girl Scout service unit in our town does pancake a breakfast every year. They usually get donations of pancake mix from BJ's, and believe it or not, sausage patties from McDonald's - which are soooooo yummy.

Good luck!

We have several drink containers (like the orange igloo kind) that we'll probably do like ice water and a kool-aid or something in just for some cheap variety. I didn't think of the cooking spray and dish soap! Thanks. We do have a cash box so we're set there.

I didn't think about calling McD's for sausage. Where we're from in MI, McD's would donate a drink cooler with the syrup to make the orange hi-c juice and tons of cups so that's kind of what I had in my mind.

Thank you all so much for the suggestions!! I knew this is where to start!

Another question - how do/did you serve pancakes at your breakfast??? Should we serve plate by plate or more of a family style (stuff out on the tables) or buffett style??? We're charging a "flat fee" for an "all you can eat" breakfast.

Ok, another question - does anyone have a good rule of thumb regarding how much you can guess at per person regarding serving size?? We have enough funds to cover the purchases - I just don't want to get stuck with a ton of leftover things.

In addition to our pancake breakfast, we'll have several direct sales vendors in the "waiting area" selling their items with proceeds from their sales to benefit our group as well. Our group will also be selling our breast cancer awareness pink t-shirts and cookbooks so hopefully it will be a fun, profitable day for us all around!

 

[suejai]

If you are doing this as a fundraiser places like McDonald's and Starbucks will give you the coffee and the cups etc. Our Recreation Dept does this all the time for the Town's annual pancake breakfast, and I know when we worked the pancake breakfasts for the Fire Dept we did it as well. McDonald's will even provide the OJ.

I'm not sure if they have these where you are but, another suggestion is to approach larger companies that have those large mobile barbecues. They will donate them for fundraisers. They make cooking so much easier, especially the sausages.

One other suggestion is to boil the sausages before hand. You can do it the night before and then store them in the fridge. It shortens the cooking times in the morning. Make sure you have a stockpile of pancakes and sausages on hand before you open the doors.

The more individually packaged items you can get the better - you wouldn't believe the mess people make. I boggles the mind. Make sure you have lots of garbage cans.

Some other things to consider:
Do you have a policy for people coming for seconds? In your pricing are you charging less for small children and do you have a family rate - if so how many does this include?


Adding fruit to you list, as a pp suggested is a very good idea.

 

[newtodis]

If I'm going to show you had better have Champagne for mimosas.
What's breakfast without a mimosa?

Sounds good! Unfortunetly, we're a government agency that can't even purchase alcohol to have at our Christmas party so that's out for us...

 

[lovemygoofy]

We don't really have a place to sell tickets in advance. The group (FD Auxiliary) has the funds to purchase the items up front (we're going to try for donations of various items first before purchasing). A neighboring FD recently had a pancake breakfast so we're going to try and contact them to see what they used as well.

Thank you! Hopefully we'll have a great turn out!



Thanks! I didn't think of butter. I was going to check with local stores to see about donating the fruit as well just in case someone wanted something else. We talked about bacon and decided against it due to the mess.

Thank you!



This is what spurred our ideas to have one! I saw that ad on the pancake mix bag and that's what got our ball rolling.



We have several drink containers (like the orange igloo kind) that we'll probably do like ice water and a kool-aid or something in just for some cheap variety. I didn't think of the cooking spray and dish soap! Thanks. We do have a cash box so we're set there.

I didn't think about calling McD's for sausage. Where we're from in MI, McD's would donate a drink cooler with the syrup to make the orange hi-c juice and tons of cups so that's kind of what I had in my mind.

Thank you all so much for the suggestions!! I knew this is where to start!

Another question - how do/did you serve pancakes at your breakfast??? Should we serve plate by plate or more of a family style (stuff out on the tables) or buffett style??? We're charging a "flat fee" for an "all you can eat" breakfast.

Ok, another question - does anyone have a good rule of thumb regarding how much you can guess at per person regarding serving size?? We have enough funds to cover the purchases - I just don't want to get stuck with a ton of leftover things.

In addition to our pancake breakfast, we'll have several direct sales vendors in the "waiting area" selling their items with proceeds from their sales to benefit our group as well. Our group will also be selling our breast cancer awareness pink t-shirts and cookbooks so hopefully it will be a fun, profitable day for us all around!

This is for the fire department? I would advertise and sell tickets ahead of time to recoup the costs even if you already have the funds. I purchase tickets alot to this stuff and half the time don't even go. I'm just a sucker.

Sell to those in the neighborhood that the fire department services. Hang the flyers in the chuches or in the schools of the same neighborhood. Do you have HOAs around there? Ask that they include in their montly bulletins or emails or on their information board.

As for servings, I expect 3-5 pancakes per adult. I would not let these people serve themselves. Have someone serving each thing as some crazies will let their kids up there and make all kinds of a mess.

Remember to spread out the serving area if your dinning room isn't that large. Have a plate/silverware table at the place where you take money AND give a half ticket. I say give the ticket because I've seen alot of people sneak into breakfasts like this.

Have the main serving area and then a seperate drink area. It will help reduce bottleneck. Also think about throwing lysol wipes or some hand santitizer on the table. Syrup is sticky for one and of course right now people are just germ a phobic.

Lastly, I would contact a local shelter or something that serves meal to the homeless or needy and ask if they would be interested in leftovers. It's just a courtesy headsup if you have leftovers so you don't have to dump them.

 

[suejai]

Another question - how do/did you serve pancakes at your breakfast??? Should we serve plate by plate or more of a family style (stuff out on the tables) or buffett style??? We're charging a "flat fee" for an "all you can eat" breakfast.

Ok, another question - does anyone have a good rule of thumb regarding how much you can guess at per person regarding serving size?? We have enough funds to cover the purchases - I just don't want to get stuck with a ton of leftover things.

We have always served ours plate by plate. It gets too messy to serve large groups buffet style, and lots of people will take more than they can eat and there is a lot of wastage.

If I remember correctly, we serve two pancakes and 3 sausages per person. But ask if they want that much, because some don't eat that much and then you can give the odd person a bit more if they ask for it.

 

[newtodis]

If you are doing this as a fundraiser places like McDonald's and Starbucks will give you the coffee and the cups etc. Our Recreation Dept does this all the time for the Town's annual pancake breakfast, and I know when we worked the pancake breakfasts for the Fire Dept we did it as well. McDonald's will even provide the OJ.

I'm not sure if they have these where you are but, another suggestion is to approach larger companies that have those large mobile barbecues. They will donate them for fundraisers. They make cooking so much easier, especially the sausages.

One other suggestion is to boil the sausages before hand. You can do it the night before and then store them in the fridge. It shortens the cooking times in the morning. Make sure you have a stockpile of pancakes and sausages on hand before you open the doors.

The more individually packaged items you can get the better - you wouldn't believe the mess people make. I boggles the mind. Make sure you have lots of garbage cans.

Some other things to consider:
Do you have a policy for people coming for seconds? In your pricing are you charging less for small children and do you have a family rate - if so how many does this include?


Adding fruit to you list, as a pp suggested is a very good idea.

I didn't think of Starbucks - perhaps because I don't drink coffee! I'm so thankful for everyone's help and suggestions!

We actually have a "Cooking Team" here at the FD that has a large grill and smoker but we're trying to do this on our own and give them a weekend off from cooking. We may ask them for help if it gets to be too much.

Good thought about boiling the sausages! Hadn't thought of that either!!

We were thinking $5/adult and $3/child. I think we'd decided on a family rate but I can't recall off the top of my head. We will be making a sign to display at the entrance to clearly list all of this information.

I've also contacted the four local elementary schools this morning to request a flyer be sent home the Friday before the pancake breakfast so that will be about 3000 kids/families that will get the word spread. We're also contacting our local papers to request an ad be run the weekend before (and/or of) the event to get the community out and about. Hopefully this will generate some traffic and get our event on people's radars for the morning!!


Thank you all so much for the help and tips. I so appreciate it!!!

 

[Grandmouse]

Since kids really do make a mess with the syrup, how about some individually packaged wipes for sticky hands and faces?

Also, boiling the sausages ahead of time is a great idea if they ae links, but I don't think it would work with patties and I'm not sure which type McD's would give you as I don't eat sausage.

 

[newtodis]

Since kids really do make a mess with the syrup, how about some individually packaged wipes for sticky hands and faces?

Also, boiling the sausages ahead of time is a great idea if they ae links, but I don't think it would work with patties and I'm not sure which type McD's would give you as I don't eat sausage.

Love the wipes idea!

 

[newtodis]

This is for the fire department? I would advertise and sell tickets ahead of time to recoup the costs even if you already have the funds. I purchase tickets alot to this stuff and half the time don't even go. I'm just a sucker.

Sell to those in the neighborhood that the fire department services. Hang the flyers in the chuches or in the schools of the same neighborhood. Do you have HOAs around there? Ask that they include in their montly bulletins or emails or on their information board.

As for servings, I expect 3-5 pancakes per adult. I would not let these people serve themselves. Have someone serving each thing as some crazies will let their kids up there and make all kinds of a mess.

Remember to spread out the serving area if your dinning room isn't that large. Have a plate/silverware table at the place where you take money AND give a half ticket. I say give the ticket because I've seen alot of people sneak into breakfasts like this.

Have the main serving area and then a seperate drink area. It will help reduce bottleneck. Also think about throwing lysol wipes or some hand santitizer on the table. Syrup is sticky for one and of course right now people are just germ a phobic.

Lastly, I would contact a local shelter or something that serves meal to the homeless or needy and ask if they would be interested in leftovers. It's just a courtesy headsup if you have leftovers so you don't have to dump them.

Thanks for all of your suggestions! Yes our Auxiliary is putting the event on - we support the firefighters. We only have one station we can sell tickets out of because we have offices there - the other stations it's just the guys so we can't ensure someone would always be there. We are going to attempt to possible sell them if we can ensure someone's going to be here at all times.

Thanks for the suggestions on how to set the room up. Every little tip and trick helps!

I like the idea of serving plate by plate - just don't want to waste plates.

Great idea for the left overs. If we have them, we run them to one (or several) of the stations - the guys will eat pretty much anything!

We have always served ours plate by plate. It gets too messy to serve large groups buffet style, and lots of people will take more than they can eat and there is a lot of wastage.

If I remember correctly, we serve two pancakes and 3 sausages per person. But ask if they want that much, because some don't eat that much and then you can give the odd person a bit more if they ask for it.

Thanks for the tips - I appreciate it!

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

We do a cub scout pancake breakfast at Applebee's every year as a fundraiser. If you don't have a sponsor, you may want to contact your neighborhood Applebee's. They do things for the community. For our breakfast, they donated the pancake mix, OJ, coffee, soft drinks, sausage, plates, silver, etc. Their kitchen staff did all the cooking, the boys did the waiting on tables. One year we had it buffet style, the next year we had plated servings which worked better. We set up cut strawberries and bananas on the bar along with self serve coffee.

Bacon will be a mess, and sausage is fine. It's a fundraiser, folks don't expect a full service menu. Same with OJ, if they don't like it they just say no thanks.

 

[newtodis]

We do a cub scout pancake breakfast at Applebee's every year as a fundraiser. If you don't have a sponsor, you may want to contact your neighborhood Applebee's. They do things for the community. For our breakfast, they donated the pancake mix, OJ, coffee, soft drinks, sausage, plates, silver, etc. Their kitchen staff did all the cooking, the boys did the waiting on tables. One year we had it buffet style, the next year we had plated servings which worked better. We set up cut strawberries and bananas on the bar along with self serve coffee.

Bacon will be a mess, and sausage is fine. It's a fundraiser, folks don't expect a full service menu. Same with OJ, if they don't like it they just say no thanks.

We don't have an Applebee's here locally that we could use. I'd heard they do the pancake breakfast which is awesome! Wish we had one closer!!

 

[newtodis]

Here's the update as of this morning:

I've contacted our local Target and they're donating dish soap and trash bags to us. I contacted our local McDonald's and requested orange juice, syrup packets and silverware packets from them. I contacted our local Starbucks and requested coffee, creamer, sugar and cups from them. Off to a great start on the donations!

This morning I spoke with a neighboring department who recently did a pancake breakfast and had 908 people show up. This is a free breakfast that they do so we probably won't have that many as we're charging for our breakfast. They only do the breakfast and we'll have other things going on as well (detailed below).

In addition to our breakfast, we've got 12 vendors who will be set up and selling their items to help people get through Christmas shopping. In exchange for using the space for free, each vendor is making a donation to the Auxilairy.

To get the kids interested, we've got someone in the department with a horse farm who's going to bring a pony and do pony rides. We're also trying to get a bounce house for the kids as well. We'll sell tickets to these activities ($1/ticket) for a turn on each activity.

The person I spoke with this morning suggested we plan for about 200 people - which is about 100 more than we'd origianlly planned for when we started this.

We're able to get into the space on Friday evening (breakfast is Saturday morning) so we're going to get as much as we possibly can done Friday night to keep us from being there super early Saturday morning.

Here's a list of the things I have to request donations for or purchase at this time in case anyone else ever thinks this is a good idea!

Dish Soap
Pancake Mix
Link Sausage
Orange Juice
Milk
Coffee
Syrup
Plates
Cups
Silverware
Napkins
Sugar
Creamer
Stir Straws
Table Cover
Trash Bags
Cooking Spray
Foil Pans
Sterno Candles
Juice Boxes
Measuring Cups
Table Cleaner
Paper Towels
Juice
Sweet N Low
Aluminum Foil
Butter


Hopefully the day is successful for us! I'll update here once the breakfast is done in case anyone's curious as to what happened! Thank you all so much for all of your help!! I so appreciate all of these ideas and suggestions!!