Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: how many people for common meal...just starting

[R.P. Aditya (aditya]

On Thu, Aug 10, 2006 at 12:04:15PM -0400, Sharon Villines wrote:
> On Aug 10, 2006, at 11:17 AM, R.P. Aditya wrote:
> 
> > We track menus, assignments, meal signups, billing etc. all online 
> > (and have a list of our five upcoming meals at http://www.gocoho.org ) and 
> > have 2 
> > meals billers who collect and deposit monthly checks, make reimbursements 
> > to 
> > cooks, answer questions about bills and make changes and corrections (if 
> > you 
> > were allowed to sign up late for a meal etc.). The billers get 2.5 hours of 
> > work credit per month.
> 
> Do people have to sign up for meals or does it just average out?

Cooks post the menu as far in advance as they can, and households signup for
the meals specifying how many adults/teens/kids/little kids and whether
vegetarian or not (this also allows allergens to be noted and sometimes the
cook can accomodate them, sometimes not). We charge teens 75% of adults, kids
(6-12) 50% and little kids eat free. The cooks "close" the meal just before
they go shopping (typically the night before or a few hours before meal prep)
and print out the list of signups so they can purchase appropriate amounts.

Often, people who didn't signup in advance will come by during the meal prep
and ask if there are any more spots available, and the cook can decide.

We don't keep any perishables on hand, so the cook purchases those and gets
reimbursed, and since the menu varies, and the diner mix/count varies, this
slightly complex way is how we've decided to track it.

Thanks,
Adi