I am proud to announce that we had our inaugural event yesterday at Sunset Park. It was billed as "Sunset Park'd" and it was pretty much a food truck festival. If I had to define the day with only one word, it would be; "WOW!" The event ran from noon to 10:00pm and it was a blockbuster from the moment the gates opened.
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| Baby Fat without the awning as we got her ready for her debut. |
Because it was our first event, we wanted to have Baby Fat looking her best, so we made sure she was all decked out in her new uniform. We started the week by applying new graphics and giving the truck the; "look". Donna (who is a graphic artist by trade) designed the look and feel of the truck. From the beginning she has planned that Baby Fat would have a style and livery that would honor the product we sell. She designed everything you see on the truck; from the graphic decals to the awning. Even the shade of pink (because it had to be "just right") is a custom color which she had mixed. (She almost drove me and the Home Depot guy crazy.)
We could not have picked a better "first event". Sunset Park is pretty much in the center of Las Vegas and it was a great venue for a food truck festival. The team at the park had their act together. They were organized, and you could tell that this wasn't their first rodeo. The Sunset Park team, had arranged for a classic car show adjacent to the food trucks, and between the draw of the trucks combined with the car nuts, this event attracted about 7000 people. There was a central pavilion which hosted great bands throughout the day, and the feel of the event was, family oriented, festive, and electric.
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| That's Donna applying the cookie graphic. |
We opened in conjunction with the gates at noon, and we offered four flavors of our most popular cookies; Chocolate Chip/Pecan, Oatmeal/Raisin, Peanut Butter/Pretzel, and Double Chocolate with Reese's peanut butter cups. By 2:00pm we were sold out of our Chocolate Chip and by 3:00pm we were out of the other three flavors. Because we have to pre-bake and pre-wrap the cookies, once we ran out . . . . . . we were out. We thought we had planned well, and with Donna's mom and sister helping us the day before, we had baked and wrapped 40 dozen cookies and we were sold-out by 3:00pm. Donna's mother; Doris was our back up, and we had called her early. She had baked up another 20 dozen, but they weren't due to arrive until 5:00pm. We had no choice but to close our doors for the next two hours.
Donna and I hung a closed sign and we had to leave the truck. The word had spread about My Big Fat Cookie and it was just too depressing dealing with the disappointed customers who walked all the way across the park, only to find us and Baby Fat empty handed. We hung our closed sign, which indicated we would be back at 5:00pm, and we went and sat on a park bench.
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That's my wonderful wife with her
wonderful cookie truck! |
Donna's dad; John and her sister Dana were on the delivery detail and according to plan they showed up with 20 dozen cookies right at 5 minutes to 5:00pm. Donna and I were waiting for them on the street, and we grabbed the cases of cookies and made the trek back to Baby Fat. When we showed up, there was a crowed of people waiting for our cookies.
We had pulled the curtains together when we closed at 3:00pm and while we were getting ready to reopen, I teased the crowed by peeking out at them. I was trying to make it fun, and there was some laughter, but then I pictured them with angry faces and torches (like something from a Frankenstein movie) and I left the curtain alone until we were ready.
We opened back up at 5:05pm and guess what? By 5:30pm we were sold out completely! 20 dozen Big Fat Cookies in 25 minutes. We had to close again. We left Baby Fat to handle the disappointed masses. and we walked around the festival, until 10:00pm, when the event closed.
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| There's the Frankenstein mob when we reopened. |
It was thrilling to see Donna and her cookies so popular, and it is beyond my ability to describe how proud of her I am. This is all her, and I am thankful I get to go along for the ride. There is not a doubt in my mind that this is her calling and unless you have children or a life-partner like mine you will never experience this kind of pride.
Do you need a Big Fat Cookie?
