I’ve done a little of that, one for the employees of Seattle Children’s Hospital just last month, even. I have a smaller, nicer setup that uses electric deep fryers (no propane indoors!). And yeah, they tend to pay pretty well- I’d love to do more. Working on that, got a few tips from some gals who share I my commissary space with. There’s a few websites for ‘leads’ on such things.
Do you deep fry candy bars or ice cream too?
Hah, no. I really, really, try hard to not be serving anything close to carnival food. And I make everything I sell- my own jams and whatnot. Nothing ‘processed’.
I want to live near you so badly. No, let me clarify that. I want to live with you.
Congrats! We’ll be in Seattle later this month, and I’m going to lobby for a visit to the market while we’re there.
Come by, say hi! I mentioned earlier on my FB/Insta pages when I posted this, that I’ve been accepted into the two markets listed here (U-dist and Capitol Hill) for the 2019 season. So I’ll be at both every weekend until the end of March 2020. It’s a big accomplishment getting into the U-dist market year-round- there’s lots of competition. I’m doing really well there.
I’ll also be at a bunch of mid-week markets during the season (May-Oct.), closer to the downtown core, so I’m going to have a very busy summer.
I will! Is it always the same schedule – University on Saturday and Capitol Hill on Sunday?
Yes, those two are year-round, same place, same time, every week- 9am-2pm Saturdays for the University District, 11am-3pm Sundays for Capitol Hill. We don’t shift or change for the seasons (though we do adjust for daylight savings, of course).
The other markets I’m talking to are Tues/Wed/Thurs in downtown and South Lake Union, 10am-2pm. The South Lake Union neighborhood is close to downtown, and is the home of all the tech workers- Amazon, Google, Facebook, etc. all have massive offices in the neighborhood.
Have you thought about branching out into navajo frybread tacos? They’re basically flat cake donuts wrapped around seasoned ground beef and pico.
Yeah, I’m familiar- there’s a food truck locally that makes them, called “Off The Rez”. Good stuff. I’m not really interested- I’m kind of a “focus, and do one type of thing, really well” sort of thing, even if the actual flavors are constantly changing.
One of my big local inspirational success stories is a place called Il Corvo Pasta. Started as a little pop-up serving pasta dishes for lunch in a little gelato shop off the beaten path near the Pike Place Market. They then got a shop after a few years- a tiny hole-in-the-wall place in the business district. They’re open 11am-3pm, weekdays, they serve 3 different dishes per day (one standard, two that change every day) for $9. That’s pretty much it. Line down the block, every single day. Simple, ever-changing, affordable, don’t try to do too much- just do what you do and do it well.
I had some excellent frybread at a local powwow this weekend to help celebrate a buddy of mine’s bday. Ugh so fucking good. It murdered all our stomachs though.
Each piece of frybread alone is like 800 calories. Definitely tasty stuff!
Congrats! How did your coffee pitch go?
Denied, mostly. At least with these markets. They already have a coffee vendor at the U-dist, which I was aware of once I got in there, and I’m fine with that. Cap Hill is more annoying- apparently the reason we can’t have that, is that we have an agreement with the Panera Bread (mediocre bakery/coffee/soup/salad chain, for those not in the know) across the street to use their restrooms, and their stipulation is that we don’t have coffee. I’m not sure why that is singled out, as we have vendors that compete with literally everything else they sell (2 bread bakeries, two soup vendors, a vendor that sells Danish-pastry things, etc), but that’s the rules.
They did take me aside and ask if I wanted to sell at their Lake City Thursday evening market for the season- they lost their coffee vendor, so they want me in there for coffee and donuts. Trouble is, I’m already talking to two other markets for Thursdays- one, the above-mentioned Amazonland daytime market, and another in the evening in a well-to-do neighborhood (Queen Anne). Neither have mentioned the viability of serving coffee yet. Lake City is a further-out, more working/middle-class suburb of Seattle, so on some level it’s less desirable (go where the money is, and less travel time), but my grandma lives in the neighborhood, so it would give me time to go out and visit her on Thursday mornings before I set up for the evening. So I have to make decisions about where to go on Thursdays.
ZOMG how much would you charge to ship Rhubarb fritters to me?
Wanted to stop by tomorrow for some fried dough since I am in town, but are you done with the season? Did I miss it by a week?!
Nope, still going! I’ll be posting my menu today, and updating the calendar on my website for the rest of the year- I think it ran out this last weekend? I’ve had a crazy week dealing with stuff regarding the little sustainable-food-nonprofit I run, and doing extra prep in the kitchen getting ready to go out of town next week for a little vacation. No time for the other end of the business stuff! Or playing Outward or Cultist Simulator, dammit.
So just to be clear, I will be at the University District Farmer’s Market tomorrow, and Capitol Hill Farmer’s Market on Sunday. Thanks for asking, and be sure to say hi!
Oh good. I saw the calendar ran out so I was worried I missed out. We will be in the area tomorrow and will definitely try and stop by, say hi, and eat doughnuts.
Awesome doughnuts. Even my picky 7 year old loved them. Not a big fan of apricots but I think that one with the ginger was my favorite. So good.
In terms of Farmers Markets that was probably the most impressive one I have seen. Makes ours in SoCal seem lame. So many things I wanted to check out, but alas, leaving tomorrow.