A (business-y) Food study Week 1
In hindsight I probably should have started this sooner but here we are, two weeks in and five dishes past. We can always call the first week market testing (it was barely a week, we only had two days of actual work).
A little background, this is a pseudo micro business experiment of a similarly run model elsewhere and because of favorable circumstances that popped up simultaneously:
1.     I live very close to the school where I work
2.     My co-teachers love food and incidentally I can cook
3.     It’s very inconvenient to have lunch with the student population
4.     Choices outside are limited to side street canteens (711 closed recently)
5.     It’s an el nino summer (not much more needs to be explained
Week 1: 3 Dishes
Total Costs: 1,140 (transpo, raw ingredients)
Total Collected:1,890
Profit: 450
Week 1 Menu & Some Insights
Mon: Kaldereta (hot!hot!hot!) - Beef is the most expensive meat you can buy but it’s good to have at least once a week. Good for variety and some dishes (like this one) just taste waaay better with beef. Make sure it’s a stew of some sort, that way you can get the cheapest cut and still enjoy it. (I took it as a challenge that they wanted this SPICY. Half a bottle of cayenne later gives it a kick that builds up in the mouth over time).Â
Tues: Arroz Cubana - Giniling is one of the best crowd feeders out there (not to mention extremely versatile), pork is fairly cheap and you can even put in a bit of beef mince for flavor. Add some mixed veggie and potato ( I added some fried eggs since more people wanted lunch that I prepared for) and you’re good.Â
Wed: Drunk Liempo** - this is my crowd favorite. Slow simmer liempo in mountain dew, tomato sauce and san mig beer, some cayenne pepper or sili labuyo will give it a good kick. Â
