So every time we have a huge event at the shop we do free food.
I need ideas for a few items we can have in large quantities. They should be:
Dry
Easy to make in large amounts
Can last without going bad for a few hours so things like samosas/egg rolls would get soggy 
So far, I was thinking of
Grapes on a stick
And that’s pretty much it
Re: Food For The Masses...
Veggie and dip platter (comes in a large platter)
Cheese and crackers
This salon that i go to puts out croissants and cookies...so that's an option
bagels
Chips with some dip (salsa, hummous, etc)
Re: Food For The Masses...
I like the idea of croissants and cookies
I was also thinking of a cupcake tower and truffles?
Or will the truffles go bad?
Re: Food For The Masses...
I like the idea of croissants and cookies
I was also thinking of a cupcake tower and truffles?
Or will the truffles go bad?
My sister makes scrumptious troufles, but they are refrigerated....after a while, they'll melt. I like the idea of a cupcake tower. You could even get good quality candy...and dump that in a container. You could put out mini plastic cups and a bowl of trail mix...to be scooped with the cups. You could do mini muffins sometimes for breakfast.
Re: Food For The Masses...
Doughnuts!!!!!!! Come 12 to a pack....buy a couple of boxes. Put ouf some juice and coffee......that would be a hit! You could even get those munchkins from Dunkin Donuts and put em out in a nice platter.
Re: Food For The Masses…
I was going to suggest mini doughnuts so I second that. Mini cupcakes too.
Mini kebabs on a cocktail stick.
Cherry tomatoes and mozzarella balls on stick.
The ready made vol-au-vents that you just stick in the oven to cook (you can make trays full in one go) and then fill with whatever you wish. Simple filling is cream cheese with a strip on smoked salon on top. Or you can make a spicy vegetable mixture (kinda like making a salan but with pea, tiny carrot cubes, sweetcorn, peas) and stuff with this - tastes good cold too. Or keema with tiny potato cubes and peas.
Breaded prawns. I expect you can buy them from the supermarket (you can here) just cook in the oven and they also taste fine cold.
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You know what else would be awesome...for days when you wanna splurge a bit? Panera! You can get bagels, pastry rings, quiches, etc.
Re: Food For The Masses...
i would stay away from donuts, tend to send the wrong signal for a beauty salon..what brand image do you want.
unhealthy..indulgent like chocolate or mini cupcakes is fine, but unhealthy with a stigma like donuts is not
stay clean and simple, and healthy, something a little unusual but not so much that no one wants it.
chip and dip is okay but many ppl avoid it in public places due to doubt dippers.
fruit and cheese trays can work. mini scones, finger sandwiches, brownies/blondies,
if you have a chaffer try some warm hors d'oeuvres
small, single serve, so no forks or knives are needed, ease to pick and eat, thats they key
and of some desi aunty complains that you should have had tikka or shame kebab send her to bibya malik
Re: Food For The Masses...
The idea of indulging is subjective. One can "indulge" in a brownie/cucpake/chocolate just as they can "indulge" in a doughnut. All of those things are refined, processed, feed cancer cells, clog your arteries, and can make you gain weight. Is being "mini" enough to make something less unhealthy? Not necessarily. Sometimes a smaller sized treat (depending upon the ingredients) can be more unhealthy than a bigger-sized one. Finger sandwiches....Reha....make sure they're made with a sprouted grains bread...cuz the whiter the bread the sooner you're dead. Scones...oh no...that refined flour is so unhealthy. Veggie and Fruit platters....I guess one can argue about the processed cheese, dressing, and dip.
If the argument is "Don't do it... unhealthy!"....I don't agree with it. If the concern is the "visual appearance" of food as in mini stuff and things like scones and cupcakes looks visually more "elegant" than a doughnut.....that's another issue. I also suggested cupcakes, cookies, candy...etc...but it's all unealthy.
If it was a health spa....then it would be more important to serve healthy snacks.
Re: Food For The Masses…
Wine? 
I think X2 has a point…truffles and cupcakes are one thing…donuts are just…Eh 
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If the concern is "unhealthy"...many of those items are unhealthy. There is nothing healthy about truffles and cupcakes either. I even suggested cupcakes and candy, etc...so it's not that I have anything against them...but it's still junk food.
Again...if it's the visual appearance/image...as in some foods look more "elegant" whilst sitting in a platter and whilst one is eating them...that's another issue. Cupcakes can be just as heavy and and messy as doughnuts.
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For me its' more about aesthetics and all..rather than health..like indulgence, pampering etc.. donuts don't exactly fall under that category IMO...
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^Yeah that's what I meant. Aesthetics I can understand (though there's gray area with that too)....aesthetics is different from healthiness. X2, I think, was focusing on the "health" where I think he meant more the aesthetics.
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well beauty salons and beauty services can be considered either one of two things: an indulgence/an occasional treat... or a part of general upkeeping and well being (and therefore part of overall health)?
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Again, if let's say that we take beauty salons to represent "overall health"....then the other junk foods contradict that and the idea of upkeeping/well-being. If one were to say that you don't indulge in doughnuts....I think a person can indulge in a doughnut as much as any other treat. Depending upon what the salon offers, it can be argued that they only foucs on the outward/cosmetic health and upkeep...and not so much on a deeper/or internal level....which is where diet would come in. Yet again, someone can argue that beauty salons DO have to deal with inner health.....as what you put inside your body affects the health/quality of your skin, hair, and nails. My point is....if one is going to see a beauty salon as a place that focuses on health and well-being....then junkfoods, in general, don't belong right? Why pick one over the other?
NOw if you're going to argue that one type of food just has a more "elegant/classy" aesthetics.....then that point has its merits....but it doesn't have anything to do with health. You can eat the daintiest looking quiche or scone or brownie...and it may lend your salon an air of sophistication and send out the message that it's high-end salon....but that still don't make the food healthy. The greater emphasis then.....is on the aesthetics/image/the stereotypical image and emotions certain foods exude....and not so much on health.
Re: Food For The Masses...
I started my statement with image, the rest of the post is just about image. what people see things as, not what Dr. Oz will say about them being healthy or not :)
donuts carry a stigma, as do pork rinds or fried chicken.
so one may serve something that may be worse in terms of health but is seen as a treat..indulgent, carries less of a stigma and it will not hurt the image.
examples..
chocolate dipped strawberries, indulgent...dongdongs and hohos..not so much,
crepes with chocolate and creme fraiche..indulgent...pancakes with whipped cream and hersheys syrup..nope.
in the end i was helping her avoid messing her place's image by serving donuts,
yes mini cupcakes or mini scones may be just as bad health wise, but don't carry the same stigma, even beignets which are essentially donuts...dont. There are fashionable cupcake places with chicas flocking to them...its a current cultural phenomenon, donuts..especially those that come dozen in a box...are not... aside from the trailer park.
I specifically suggested minis because of lesser mess, avoiding forks and knives...and yes minis seem to carry less stigma..because it is a small indulgence, just a little thing. a little treat...its psychological.
the argument as hazrat andre agassi stated in his canon rebel ad is "image is everything" well not everything but is very important it has to be backed with good service, but image draws customers in, service keeps them coming back. issue with either and business suffers.
so...say no to dozen a box donuts.
Re: Food For The Masses...
the argument as hazrat andre agassi stated in his canon rebel ad is "image is everything" well not everything but is very important it has to be backed with good service, but image draws customers in, service keeps them coming back. issue with either and business suffers.
so...say no to dozen a box donuts.
^Which goes along with what I said above. "Indulgence" means different things to people. The greater emphasis here is on the image....and the image/feelings exuded by the food and not so much the healthiness of it. The food itself (mini, average, or big) is still unhealthy...though some may be worse for you than others.
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right... so lets avoid what carries a stigma, serve something that does not...a little treat, indulgence, luxury, goes well with a fine salon image.
Re: Food For The Masses...
Mini croissants
Almond drops
Mini cupcakes
Fruit skewars
Cheese & crackers
Mini puff-pastry rolls
Sausage, cheese on sticks.
Mini bite-size savory tartlets/quiche
Re: Food For The Masses...
The hospital i go to have large containers at the counter filled with Nimko and another one filled with mixed nuts. They have scoops and mini plastic cups by their side so that people can serve themselves. You can do this at your salon too. Rest, you have already got so many good suggestions :)