Consuite - A Sample Shopping List
When I took on the job of running ConSuite for Synthetic ConFusion, I was shocked to find that there wasn’t any sort of standard shopping list that I could work from. We’ve been running the convention for 32 years – this should be a solved problem by now. Clearly information transfer had been a problem in the past, but I decided that I would not put my successor in the same position. Plenty of people had posted ConSuite buying questions to SMOFS over the years, but nowhere was I able to find something like the list that follows, so I decided to make it as public as possible.
Do not print this out and expect it to be perfect for your convention. Every convention is different – your attendees may drink more beer or more diet soda and abhor chocolate. Obviously factors like number of attendees, budget, price of hotel restaurants and hours of operation can have a major impact on your buying. However, if you find yourself starting from scratch, this at least gives you a place to begin!
Our factors: Synthetic ConFusion had roughly 720 attendees. There was both a smoking and non-smoking consuite, and both were open 24 hours/day from 3 pm Friday to 3 pm Sunday (plus a Dead Dog party to use up the extras). Alcohol was served from 7 pm to 2 am on Friday and Saturday night. Food and drink in the smoking consuite was pretty minimal. This list also includes some joint purchasing for Green Room (and the Green Room at ConFusion is of the “well-stocked with substantial food” model, not just coffee, etc). Our hotel restaurant is a Shula’s Steakhouse, so out of the price range of most of our attendees, and there aren’t any restaurans within easy walking distance (especially since the convention is in January).
The following list represents $2,875 of the $3,377 I spent. The rest was on rental of beer equipment, paper supplies, food/drink supplies for some special events, additional Green Room expenses, decorations, and a Thursday night concom-GoH gathering. Of the $2,875, I spent 40% on drinks (soda, juice, water), 19% on alcohol (beer, hard cider, wine), 23% on "real food" (sandwich fixings, fruit, veggies, cheese), 10% on snacks (chips, pretzels, candy) and 9% on breakfast food. The drinks total includes 10 cents deposit on each of the 2,564 returnable soda cans, so we’ll recoup some of that cost when I get around to returning the cans. The drinks numbers are a little off, as I adjusted the quantities to subtract what we had left after the convention, but did not adjust the cost.
One other note: my approach to ConSuite was to have the basics out all the time, but to do something special about once per hour. So when you see a single 3 lb pkg of guacamole, or two rotisserie chickens, that’s what that’s all about. I found I could make small quantities of special items have a lot of impact for the money.
Category | Item | Purchased Quantity |
Alcohol | beer, Bell's Porter | 1 keg |
Alcohol | beer, Honey Brown | 1 keg |
Alcohol | beer, Woodchuck Cider | 2 kegs |
Alcohol | Wine, asst red and white | 16@ 750 mL bottle |
Breakfast | cereal, cheerios | 2 pk |
Breakfast | cereal, fun pack | 3 pk |
Breakfast | cereal, raisin bran | 3 pk |
Breakfast | cereal, Oatmeal | 55 instant ind |
Breakfast | cream cheese | 6 dozen ind |
Breakfast | juice, apple | 2 gallons |
Breakfast | juice, grapefruit | 4 doz@ 10oz bottle |
Breakfast | juice, orange | 4.5 gallon |
Breakfast | milk, 2% | 5 gallons |
Breakfast | milk, skim | 2 gallons |
Breakfast | pastry, bagels | 6 dozen |
Breakfast | pastry, cinnamon rolls | 4 dozen |
Breakfast | pastry, mini danish asstd | 6 dozen |
Breakfast | pastry, mini danish cream cheese | 6 dozen |
Breakfast | pastry, mini muffins asstd | 8 dozen |
Breakfast | pastry, Nature Valley chewy granola bars | 4 dozen |
Breakfast | pastry, Nutrigrain bars | 4 dozen |
Breakfast | pastry, poptarts | 8 dozen |
Drinks | hot, regular coffee | 1@ 36 ct pre-measured |
Drinks | hot, decaf coffee | 1@ 36 ct pre-measured |
Drinks | hot, regular tea | 312 ct |
Drinks | hot, herbal tea | 4 dozen bags |
Drinks | hot, sugar | 2000 ct |
Drinks | hot, equal | 800 ct |
Drinks | hot, coffee mate | 300 ct |
Drinks | hot, regular hot chocolate | 60 ct |
Drinks | hot, sugar free hot chocolate | 60 ct |
Drinks | juice, 100% juice boxes | 10 doz |
Drinks | juice, V8 | 8 doz@ 6 oz can |
Drinks | Soda, diet [1] | 700 cans |
Drinks | Soda, regular [2] | 1316 cans |
Drinks | water, bottled | 805 bottles |
Real Food | cheese, asst pieces (brie, gouda, etc) | 17 lbs |
Real Food | cheese, goat cheese log | 2@ 11oz log |
Real Food | crackers, Carrs | 10 sleeves |
Real Food | crackers, Club | 4 boxes |
Real Food | crackers, Ritz | 3 lb box |
Real Food | eggs, pre-boiled/peeled | 20 lbs |
Real Food | fruit, apples | 18 lbs |
Real Food | fruit, bananas | 41 lbs |
Real Food | fruit, clementines | 20 lbs |
Real Food | fruit, oranges | 16 lbs |
Real Food | fruit, grapes | 16 lbs |
Real Food | sandwiches, bread | 40 loaves |
Real Food | sandwiches, butter | 250 mL tub |
Real Food | sandwiches, grape jelly | 4@ 1.5 lb jar |
Real Food | sandwiches, peanut butter creamy | 8 lbs |
Real Food | sandwiches, peanut butter crunchy | 4 lbs |
Real Food | sandwiches, marshmallow fluff | 2 lg jars |
Real Food | sandwiches, interesting mustards | 8 assorted reg jars |
Real Food | sandwiches, mayo (bulk for tuna) | 72oz jar |
Real Food | sandwiches, mayo | 2 squeeze bottles |
Real Food | sandwiches, Miracle Whip | 2 squeeze bottles |
Real Food | sandwiches, sliced cheddar | 10 lbs |
Real Food | sandwiches, sliced ham | 13 lbs |
Real Food | sandwiches, sliced roast beef | 6 lbs |
Real Food | sandwiches, sliced salami | 5 lbs |
Real Food | sandwiches, sliced swiss | 7.5 lbs |
Real Food | sandwiches, sliced turkey | 9.5 lbs |
Real Food | sandwiches, tuna | 2@ 4lb can |
Real Food | soup, asst varieties | 7 lg cans |
Real Food | special, Guacamole | 3 lb package |
Real Food | special, hummus | 32 oz tub |
Real Food | special, Olives | 42 oz jar |
Real Food | special, pickle spears | 1 gallon |
Real Food | special, rotisserie chicken | 2 chickens |
Real Food | veggies, baby carrots | 30 lbs |
Real Food | veggies, bell peppers | 24 peppers |
Real Food | veggies, broccoli florets | 6 lbs |
Real Food | veggies, celery | 6 lbs |
Real Food | veggies, cucumber | 9 cucumbers |
Real Food | veggies, grape tomatoes | 4 lbs |
Real Food | veggies, snap peas | 6 lbs |
Real Food | veggies, dip | 8@ 250mL tub |
Snacks | candy, Conversation Hearts | 1 lg container |
Snacks | candy, M&Ms peanut | 2@ 52 oz bag |
Snacks | candy, M&Ms plain | 5@ 52 oz bag |
Snacks | candy, Mike & Ikes | 5 lbs |
Snacks | candy, skittles | 4 lbs |
Snacks | candy, twizzlers | 180 ct |
Snacks | chips, asst individual bags | 4@ 60 ct ind bags |
Snacks | chips, baked pita chips | 4 28oz bags |
Snacks | chips, plain | 4@ 11 oz bag |
Snacks | chips, wavy | 4@ 11 oz bag |
Snacks | chips, bbq | 6@ 11 oz bag |
Snacks | chips, sour cream onion | 6@ 11 oz bag |
Snacks | chips, cheese puffs | 5@ 25 oz bag |
Snacks | chips, tortilla | 16 lbs (8 bags) |
Snacks | chips, Chex Mix | 4@ big bag |
Snacks | chips, goldfish | 58 oz box |
Snacks | chips, pretzel sourdough nibblers | 48 oz jug |
Snacks | chips, pretzel thick sticks | 32 oz jug |
Snacks | chips, salsa | 1 big jug |
Snacks | chips, interesting salsa | 8 assorted reg jars |
Snacks | cookies, animal crackers | 5 lb jar |
Snacks | cookies, asst | 6@ 24ct boxes |
Snacks | cookies, Milano | 60 ct pkg |
Snacks | cookies, oreos | 3@ 10 sleeve box |
Snacks | nuts, cashews | 5 lbs |
Snacks | nuts, peanuts | 7 lbs |
Snacks | nuts, honey roasted peanuts | 3.5 lbs |
Snacks | nuts, pistachios | 8 lbs |
Snacks | special, brownie bites | 3 lb package |
Snacks | special, quick breads | 3 loaves |
[1] Diet soda ratios - 32% diet coke, 27% diet mountain dew, 17% diet pepsi, 24% asst diet non-caffeine
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