How to Organize a Jewish Food and Cultural Festival

Published By Temple Israel Tallahassee, Florida

2015

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Table of Contents

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Volunteers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Deli Meat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Stuffed Cabbage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Knishes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Falafel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Hot dogs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Matzo Ball Soup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Drinks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Bake Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Vendors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Entertainment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Wine Shop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Website. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Publicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Sponsorships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Trash and Recycling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Membership/Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Merchandising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Disability Assistance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Blood Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Miscellaneous. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Festival Program (Sample). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Recipes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Noodle Kugel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Mandlebrot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Hamantashen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Matzo Brittle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Passover Macaroons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Chocolate Babka . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Rugelah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Black and White Cookies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Challah. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Stuffed Cabbage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Matzo Ball Soup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

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A note about this manual This manual is being shared with the hopes that you can learn from our experiences over our first six years. Depending on your facility, membership and community you may choose to do portions of what we have done or add to what is presented here. My first piece of advice is “don’t worry if the first couple of years aren’t perfect”. As you may know, with any event, you are not going to please everyone. That is not your goal. It is important to hold high standards for the food and the experiences of your guests. This is what will keep them coming back year after year. Many people will come to you with good ideas to add to your festival. Your job is to weigh the benefits against the risks when making your decisions. Sometimes you will decide something is worth the risk and give it a try. If it works, great. If it doesn’t you can decide whether to scrap it the next year or change it in some way. Philosophy A Jewish Food and Cultural Festival is not only a great fundraiser, it is also a wonderful membership tool. Current and future members work all year in different capacities to plan and carry out a wonderful Temple event. It is a great way for people to get to know each other, feel a part of their spiritual community and take leadership in an area that appeals to them. The Festival is also a terrific outreach to the community. People get to meet us (Jewish people) and learn about our food, music, and culture. It is delightful to see so many people of different faiths enjoying the day.

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Volunteers

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There should be a volunteer position for all age groups. It is important to have something for everyone to do; this takes great planning and thought. Elders in your congregation want to be included, but may need a job were they aren’t on their feet for many hours. Some of the jobs we have found for those expressing a need to sit while they volunteer are: handing out programs, cashiers and helping with the blood drive and membership/information table. Cashiers Choose cashiers wisely. Many people want to be cashiers. However, it is important that the people you put in these roles perform their duties quickly. Teens Teens are great for the really active volunteer opportunities. We have used our senior youth group in two main roles: They have staffed and run the hot dog food station and have also been runners both for our vendors and volunteers doing multiple shifts (see Runners below). This has worked well for us in some years and not well in others. Runners We have our senior youth group act as runners to purchase food for vendors and volunteers. It is important to give the runners a manila envelope and order forms so they can keep track of the money and orders. Families with small children Many families are willing to help. You may want to encourage parents to take turns with their spouse or help with the children’s activities so they can have their children with them. You may also want to consider having paid childcare on site if you have the capacity for this. (This may be another thing your teens can help with.) Training Volunteers Training volunteers is important. If things are to run smoothly the day of the event your volunteers need to know what is expected of them. We have typically held training the week prior to the festival. Publicize this date to the congregation as far in advance as possible so people can save the date. You may also want to create a power point presentation that volunteers can go through on their own. Training volunteers is an area we are still working on. Shifts It is helpful to have standardized shifts. Two hour shifts are a good plan. If people want to volunteer for longer than 2 hours they can sign up for multiple shifts. It is important to have the shifts over lap a couple of minutes and stress that people should be on time and not leave their station until their replacement is there to take over.

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Supplies It is important, especially the first year of running a festival, to have a designated “go to the store” person parked in a place they can easily leave to get needed supplies. The first two years, while we were learning what we needed, we had someone make runs to Costco/Sam’s for things like “to-go bags, bottled water, to-go containers, etc.” These are things we ran out of unexpectedly but needed in order to continue to serve food. Volunteer Coordination and Meeting Room A sign-in room for volunteers is important both to know who has not shown up and a place for volunteers to take a break. You need an up-to-date list of volunteers and what time and area they have signed up for. You also need to have cell phone numbers of all volunteers. On the day of the event your volunteer coordinator can move people around from this location if needed. Visibility of Volunteers It is important for guests to be able to tell who is working the event. We have used bright yellow “festival staff” hats in the past. Our volunteers have expressed they would prefer to wear a t-shirt or name tag designating that they are “festival staff”. Volunteer Appreciation We have held special concerts and onegs to show our appreciation for everyone who volunteers to work the festival. Different people have asked about free or reduced food prices for volunteers, performers, vendors, sponsors etc. Our policy from year one has been no free or reduced food, period. This is a fundraiser for the Temple and we have shown our appreciation in other ways. Committee Chair’s and Co-chairs Selecting your committee chairs is crucial and should be given a lot of thought. You want people who will work with the overall Festival chair to make major decisions in their area, keep you informed of what they are doing, but be relatively independent once you have figured things out the first year and then lead that area. It is also important to encourage the chair of the committee to mentor a co-chair in their area. This way you have two people who know what is going on in that area and also someone who can take over if the chair becomes ill, moves away or any other unexpected occurrence happens. Having a co-chair also reduces the chance of burn out.

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Volunteer Timeline

Approximately 8-9 months prior to the Festival make a list of all chairpersons needed and recruit committee chairs.

3-6 months recruit volunteers for all areas of the festival.

2 months prior to festival ensure all volunteer positions are filled and have a plan for dealing with volunteers who get sick or can’t help for unforeseen circumstances.

1-3 weeks prior to festival hold volunteer training and/or put up volunteer training on-line.

The day of the Festival staff volunteer sign-in room and have one person in charge of moving people around as needed.

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Food

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Food Ordering Identify food items to be served at the Festival. Identify wholesalers for food items. Contact each to ascertain pricing and delivery options/limitations. Kitchen Management Ensure that you have a very capable person in charge of preparing and running the kitchen during the festival. Someone with restaurant, catering or food preparation experience is desirable. Work with your kitchen chair to ensure that you have supplies for preparation, storage, serving and clean up. Food Preparation Some foods must be prepared before the Festival, even months before. Other food items must be prepared the day of the festival. Prepare a timeline for the preparation of each food item. Deli Meat We serve corned beef & pastrami sandwich plates that include a serving of coleslaw, a kosher pickle and a bag of chips.

Ordering Identify which wholesaler will supply the deli meat. Order eight weeks prior to the Festival. If you are have experience with the vendor and trust that your order will be handled properly this time-frame may be shorter. Prepare for storage of the meats when they arrive. They are usually shipped frozen and must be thawed over a period of 8-10 days before they can be effectively sliced. Secure sufficient refrigeration for storage. A refrigerated truck can be rented from Ryder or another truck rental vendor. Slicing Slicing should be done NO MORE than 2 days before the festival; slicing the day before is preferable. Establish a procedure for slicing and storing meat in portions for serving. For instance, slice meat and package into 6 ounce packages for application directly to bread for sandwiches. We have found the meat slices a bit easier if it is still slightly frozen.

Sandwiches can be prepared as they are ordered “in front” of the customer OR can be prepared while the festival is going on and then handed to each customer as ordered. The latter process moves the lines along much more quickly. Each sandwich platter (sandwich, chips, coleslaw, pickle) can be assembled and then delivered to customers upon payment. A prepayment option for sandwich preorders works very well. You can have people order and pay online prior to the Festival and have a separate line for pickup of those orders.

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Supplies/Equipment A supply list should be created and stored electronically for easy updates year to year. (see below for a sample supply list) Depending on what items are being served you will need the following equipment: Slicers Warming ovens Trays for warming ovens Convection ovens Stove top cooking capacity Festival Supply List □"Plate, 6" foam" □Shakers, pepper □Shakers, salt □Trash can liners, large □Sterno □Plastic Bags □Napkin holders □Napkins □Coffee cups (Dart 8FTL) □Coffee cup lids (Dart 8FTL) □Cutlery - forks □Cutlery - knives □Cutlery - spoons □Soup containers, quarts □Soup lids, quart □Soup containers, 12-oz cups □Soup lids, 12 oz □Foil sheets □Baggies for deli meat □Hair Nets □Steam tray pans, half □Steam tray pans, full □Steam tray racks □Parchment paper □Ketchup □Mustard □Condiment pumps □Hand sanitizer, large with pumps □Utensil buckets

□Crock pots, 6 qt, sauerkraut □Crock pots, 7 qt, soup □"Table cloths, plastic 30" x 400' roll" □Table cloth plastic clips □Large trash boxes □Propane tanks □Cutting boards □Knives, cream cheese □Knives, serrated sandwich □Knives, boning □Lighters for sterno □White Vinegar for slaw □Tables, 4ft folding □Tables, 4ft adjustable height □Containers, bar cookie w lids □Coffee stirrers □Disinfectant wipes □Scales for meat □alcohol for sanitizing □Black & white squares for identifying □List of prepaid meat orders □Gloves, cutting □Gloves, black for ice □Gloves, plastic □Tape, clear packing □Money bags and flags □Plastic bins, large for making slaw □Small Solo Cups for wine tasting

□To-go box, small styrofoam hinged lid (5 1/8 x 5 1/4 x 2 3/4) □To-go box, 3 compartment lg styrofoam hinged lid white □To-go box, 3 compartment lg styrofoam hinged lid black

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Set-Up/Logistics Ensure that your location has sufficient electrical outlets at all work locations requiring power or obtain heavy duty extension cords. Ensure that you have sufficient “venting” for certain equipment. (consult an electrician to determine if equipment requires additional voltage at each electrical outlet). Stuffed Cabbage Preparing the stuffed cabbage usually takes 6-8 volunteers about 8 hours to prepare and freeze. See Recipe section for recipe and equipment needed. Knishes Knishes can take a long time to cook from frozen, which is how the ones we purchase must be cooked. Ensure that you have sufficient oven space and time to get knishes to the sales floor. In our sixth year we have gone to a separate convection oven for heating the knishes and this moved the line much faster. If you have people ready to buy knishes and the knishes are not ready, they will move on and buy something else and sales will be lost. Food must be ready when the customers want it. Lots of sheet trays are a must if knishes are on the menu. Falafel We work with another synagogue to provide falafel. The first year we tried to do this ourselves. However, falafel is very volunteer intensive so we looked for a vendor. They pay us $400 and we provide space for them to participate. Find your vendor early. Make sure you discuss your agreement. They handle their own money, bring their own change and set up & clean up their own area. Hot dogs Hot dogs are best when boiled just before serving. Boil them, then deposit cooked hot dogs into chafing pans to keep warm. Very few supplies are needed at the hot dog station: chafing dishes, sterno, tongs. If you use kosher hot dogs be sure to purchase pareve buns to accommodate your kosher customers. Matzo Ball Soup (See page 114 for recipe) We buy Manischevitz matzo ball mix in bulk and prepare per the instructions on the packaging. They are separately from the soup. For our frozen quarts we freeze the matzo balls in with the soup. We usually buy matzo ball mix, Osem and quart containers in December/January for a March/April Festival. The rest of the ingredients are purchased locally (Costco/Publix) each week, a day or two before cooking. Four to five days prior to festival move all frozen five gallon buckets to refrigerated truck to begin defrosting.

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Friday before the Festival: check to see if there are at least 2 full propane tanks on hand. Make sure turkey fryers are working and that large pots for fryers are on hand. Make sure 3 crockpots are in hand. Day of festival Supplies

3 ladles for serving

long handled, oversized wooden spoon for stirring soup in turkey fryers

extra pot holders

aprons

sample vegetables for display

parsley for garnish We set up the turkey fryers outside under a 10 x 10 tent with a table. This is where the soup is heated. We then use crock pots inside for serving the soup. Move a freezer into the food serving room and place as many frozen quarts as it will hold. Have a plan for bringing in more frozen quarts as you sell the ones in the freezer. Also have someone who can bring you more buckets of soup to heat in the turkey fryers. It is important to keep stirring the soup in the turkey fryer so the soup on the bottom does not burn. You should have a dedicated person to oversee the turkey fryer. Drinks Contact your drink suppliers at least 6 months in advance. We have had a nice relationship with our Pepsi distributor in town. They give us a good price on Pepsi products and take back any full cases left over. They also lend us large Pepsi drink chests to cool the drinks down and bring a mobile concession trailer for outside drink sales. We purchase Dr. Brown’s soda to supplement the Pepsi products. Although Dr. Brown’s is made by Pepsi, not all Pepsi distributors carry it. You may have to use a food distributor (such as Cheney Brothers) to get it for you. Ice! Even a commercial ice maker will not keep up with ice needs. Rent an ice machine chest that comes filled with the number of bags of ice required for your festival. It’s worth it! When not in use, ensure that the rented ice chest is secured with a padlock. Set-Up/Logistics You will need to put slip mats on the floor in front of the inside drink stand. Taking the drinks out of the ice water will get messy and you don’t want a slipping hazard. Have a supply of clean bath towels on hand to cover the table at which drinks are served. Have clean hand towels available to dry drinks that are too wet to serve customers. Have rubber gloves available for taking leftover drinks out of the ice water at the end of festival, as they are very cold and can hurt your volunteers hands.

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Drinks Timeline

6 months prior to festival, contact the drink supplier you have chosen and get a firm commitment and what they will provide. Friday before the festival, have your distributor bring drinks and concession trailer to the Temple. You will want to be there to receive this to count the amount of drinks and put them where you want them.

One day prior to festival, put all drinks in coolers and ice them down toward late afternoon/evening.

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Bake Shop

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Choose a chairperson who is very organized, responsible and committed to the Festival. If managed correctly, the bake shop can be one of your most profitable areas of the Festival. The bake shop is also one of the most volunteer intensive areas of the Festival. Our sisterhood has been a sponsor of the bake shop from the very first year and they have also supplied the majority of bakers. You will need a well-equipped Temple kitchen with good ovens, good work space and supplies. It is important that you be consistent with your baking times so your baking committee knows when you will be baking. We bake every Wednesday evening 6:30 to 8:30 pm and Sunday afternoon 2:00 to 4:30 pm., each week except for holidays. You can have one volunteer shop for ingredients (at Costco or Sams, if you have them) for big items. Shop at your local grocery store for items not found at discount stores. Plan out your baking schedule. Some of your baking committee will want to help with specific baked goods. Freeze hardy cookies first, then work up to more fragile cookies. The order of cookies baked that we used is: Mandelbrot, hamentashen, rugelah, Passover macaroons, Passover matzah brittle, babka and black & white cookies. Hygiene Bakers must cover their hair and wash their hands before starting to bake. We supply aprons, but they are optional. The bake shop chair or a volunteer makes dough for hamentashen and rugelah the night before each baking session to keep time efficient on baking days. Our challah is baked by one volunteer at her home at several all day sessions, bagged and brought to the Temple freezer. This is too time consuming for making in a Wednesday evening or Sunday afternoon baking session because of yeast and dough rising time. If you cannot find one volunteer to bake challahs (or a small group of volunteers) you may want to consider whether you will have challahs to offer at your festival. Buy seasonal items like Passover matzah and matzah cake meal the year before and freeze to use for baking. Cookies will be bagged three each for Mandelbrot, hamentashen, rugelah, Passover macaroons. Sampler boxes will be assembled the day before the Festival with three each of the above cookies to make a dozen per box. Use plastic boxes with lids. Set up/logistics The bake shop chair gets to the Temple kitchen early to set up before each baking session. A volunteer brings head scarves and aprons washed and ready to use. They also wash dish towels after each baking session and bring them back. A volunteer sets out ingredients, equipment needed, and turns on ovens. The chair gives directions, asks bakers to put on their head scarves and wash their hands. Designate one person to be in charge of watching over the ovens. Once all batches are cooked and completely cooled the cookies are put in baggies and put in large plastic freezer containers.

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Decide how many assorted cookie containers you will have on the day of the Festival and keep that designated number of cookies just in plastic containers, not in baggies, to use later to make Sampler boxes. These loose cookies must be put in freezer paper in layers. Count how many cookies you put in baggies and how many loose cookies you have to sell. Kitchen supplies

large metal rack for cookie sheets

large metal cookie sheets

parchment paper

mixing bowls and spoons

measuring cups and spoons

convection ovens

hot pads and mitts

storage containers for the freezer

freezer tape and pens to label

sandwich size plastic bags to bag cookies: 3 to a bag

small brown bags with windows to bag matzah brittle

plastic boxes with lids for the Sampler boxes

freezer paper to line storage bins

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Approximate baking sessions for cookies

Eight sessions per cookie:

Mandelbrot-plain almond and chocolate chip

Hamentaschen-cherry, apricot, poppy seed and prune

Rugelach-chocolate chip with either raspberry or apricot.

Macaroons

2 to 3 sessions for babka

2 sessions for matzah brittle

4-6 sessions for black & white cookies

Approximately 6-7 months needed for preparation of baked goods. Remember that some months will have holidays that baking sessions will need to work around

Bake Shop Timeline

The Day before the Festival: meet volunteers for set up at Temple. The Festival chair or logistics coordinator (if you have a separate person) should know ahead of time how you want your bakery set up. They should set up the tables and chairs the Friday before the Festival. We used two lines, mirror images, of all baked goods, then use tables behind the sell line for stock.

Take all cookies and baked items out of freezer. They will thaw overnight and taste fresh. Have volunteers assemble sampler boxes with packed loose cookies, three of each kind to a box. Signs were made for each cookie, baked item in front of bins. Have refrigerator in area to store cheese cakes and strudel that will be sold.

Have knives, spatulas, containers to serve cheesecake and strudel. Small plastic containers with lids work for packaging these items.

Kugel was sold in bake shop, hot from kitchen. You must have heat proof containers for this and knives and spatulas to serve.

Day of Festival: have enough volunteers signed up for shifts. Our shifts are 10 am-12 pm; 12-2 pm; 2-4:30 pm., with last shift helping to clean up. Prepare volunteers as to what is in each cookie and which holiday each bakery item is used for. Have runners to restock, gather supplies, take away empty containers and help where needed. All others remain at station for their shift. Most items contain eggs, nuts or almond flavoring. Have a sign indicating this as there are many people with nut and other food allergies. Our only nut free items are challah, cheesecake, strudel, and black & white cookies.

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Vendors

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Arts and Craft Vendors Open the vendor applications to congregational members a month before opening applications to nonmembers so they have the first chance to claim a vendor spot. At this time you should also determine if the layout used previously will work again so that a copy of the layout can be sent out with the initial application and introduction letter. If using previous year’s application and introduction letter, be sure to change all appropriate dates. Four weeks after the congregation gets the first notice, the invitation can go out, first to vendors from previous years, and then to any new vendors you have found. Word of mouth is a great way to recruit new artists/crafts persons. When considering new vendors you should always ask if they have a website so you can see their work, partially to determine if it is of a caliber you would like in your festival. This also helps to insure you don’t have too many vendors of one kind. There are tons of jewelers out there, so be choosy about the kind of jewelry you accept. With a limited number of vendor spots you will want everyone to have a successful day. Rule of thumb is to not have more than twenty percent of any one type of vendor. In order to find new vendors you should go to other festivals and craft shows during the year. You should also be watchful of the pricing of vendor’s items. The bulk of money spent at your festival will be for your food. Over the years, festival goers have learned there are fine crafts/art also to be purchased, but items in the $100 range and over generally do not sell well. We charge $50 for a 10’ x 10’ vendor space. Vendors must bring their own tent/shelter, display setup and chairs or pay extra to rent them from us. We have bought some 10X10 tents that we have for rent for an extra $25 for vendors whom don’t have their own. Shelter is imperative in case or rain and to protect from sun. Since our festival is on a Sunday from 10:30 am to 4 p.m., set up happens the Saturday afternoon before the festival with final load-in the morning of the festival from 8 am – 9:30 am. All cars must be moved from festival grounds to the parking area by 9:30 am. This is important since festival goers begin arriving as early as an hour before the festival starts. We have also begun making place cards with the vendors name, booth number and cell phone number on it so if anyone doesn’t move their car we can find them quickly. Load-out and breakdown happens immediately at the close of the festival. The shuttle to and from the parking area runs from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. in order to bring the vendors back from the parking area and from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. to bring them back to their cars at the end of the festival. We have tried to have some Judaica crafts, but sometimes they are hard to find. We have several non-profits lined up ready to take any spots that are not sold. However, the nonprofits know this is a last minute decision if the vendor spots are not sold. Nonprofit vendors who receive free spots must provide their own tents, tables and chairs or rent them from us. (Examples of nonprofits we have had are Federation, Camp Shalom, our Temple Preschool, the Blood Bank and the Red Cross)

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All vendor applications go directly to the Temple. Once they are received and processed, the Temple Secretary emails the vendor chair the application with information indicating payment has been made. The vendor chair prints a hard copy for their files, assigns the booth number and sends the vendor a receipt. The vendor chair must be available for questions over the months leading up to the festival. It is a good idea to give vendors the chairs cell number and email address. About 10 days before the festival send out a letter describing in detail the festival load-in/load-out directions. If your temple has food preorders available, give your vendors this information before the preorder deadline approaches so they can preorder as well. It is important to have one assistant for the first few hours of festival day, 7:30-10 a.m., and again if you have any other duties that may take you away from the vendor area or to give yourself a lunch break during the day. We include some children’s activities in the vendor area have had face painting, pottery, a bounce house and activities put on by your Temple’s summer camp and preschool programs. If you have any other children’s programs in your area don’t forget to invite them to participate. If they are Jewish-based we give them a free booth in order to have Jewish themed children’s activities. Watch out for long lines at face painting. It is not acceptable to make kids and parents stand in line more than 10 minutes. One solution is to make sure your face painting vendor brings more than one face painter. Our large quantity of food sales have necessitated all non-food activities being outdoors. This works well for the vendors since the children’s activities, eating tents and live music all happen outdoors as well. Creating the vendor area layout We sink very large nails with washers in 8-10 corner locations for ease of creating the layout in the future. (We have a metal detector we use to find these). We use spray paint to mark the corners of the booths with a plastic-protected number centered on each booth site for ease of identification. It is imperative that when vendor applications are processed and booths are assigned the vendor is notified of this location and you keep an accurate and complete record of this. You will need to give them the information again 10 days prior to the festival with their final instructions. No matter how thorough our planning, it still takes two people 3-4 hours to complete the layout. Booth spaces are marked every 10 feet with an additional three feet on either side for ease of movement around each tent. It is helpful if you can locate the children’s area in the shade. Fire Ants Fire ant hills are a significant problem in Florida. Start sprinkling Ortho fire ant killer at least a week before the event, with follow-up applications every other day (avoiding rain by at least 12 hours). If the festival is early in the spring, their hills are not obvious and the fire ants will hide under leaves. Using a leaf blower can help ensure you see them all. If you

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can get a pest control company to be an in-kind sponsor and do the ant spraying before the festival that would be helpful. Often this is a very costly service.

Vendor Timeline

Day before Event: set up begins at 1 p.m. Distribute plasticized booth numbers. Post map and Vendor list/booth numbers in a visible spot. Set up rented booths and temple information booth. Final check for fire ants. Keep a can of Ortho treatment available for use on festival day.

Day of the festival: set up begins at 7:30 am. The vendor chair should circulate constantly, providing assistance as needed. All vehicles must be moved off site by 9:30 a.m. or they will be towed. You cannot leave any unidentified vehicles parked in the festival area for safety reasons. It is important to let vendors know this in the information you send them so they will be sure to move their cars. The festival ends at 4 pm and vehicles can then be brought back on the festival grounds. The vendor chair and their assistant will then take down the rented tents and the temple information tent. It is a good idea toward the end of the festival to walk around and thank the vendors for being there. It is also a good idea to send a thank you email to the vendors after the festival. This will encourage them to come back the next year.

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Vendors’ Feedback Form – Date of Festival here Festival Dear Vendor, Thank you so much for participating in our xth Annual Jewish Food and Cultural Festival. If you have been with us before, this form will look familiar to you. Please know that your feedback helps us make each year a better experience for vendors and festival-goers alike. Thank you for taking a few minutes to fill this out. If you prefer, you can mail it to me at Temple Israel, 2215 Mahan Dr., Tallahassee, FL 32308 Your name ____________________________ What worked for you? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ What didn’t work for you? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ What can we do better next time? ________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ For those returning from past years, do you feel we responded to your previous concerns adequately? ________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Would you be interested in joining us next year? _____________________________________ Thank you so much! - Judith Lyons

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Dear Jewish Food and Cultural Festival Vendor, Date Welcome to our _th Annual Festival! Date is fast approaching and, once again, I want to be sure you have all the information you need to make this day successful, memorable and, above all things, a delight! The festival hours are 10:30 to 4. All vendors must supply their own canopy, table and chairs unless other arrangements have been made previously with me. Canopies can be set up any time Saturday, March 7th after 12:30 p.m. Booths will be numbered for ease of locating your spot. We will be on-site Sunday morning by 7:30. I will have a volunteer who will be helping me assist you in locating your vendor spots and facilitating, to the best of our ability, your load-in. However, please do not ask us to carry any of your merchandise, especially if it is breakable! This year, parking for vendors will again be at Eastwood Office Plaza. The festival begins at 10:30 a.m. We need all vendors’ vehicles to be completely unloaded and their vehicles driven over to Eastwood Office Plaza by 9:30 that morning at the latest! NO EXCEPTIONS! Shuttle buses, which will begin running at 8:00 a.m., will bring you back to the Temple and Festival grounds. ATTACHED IS A PARKING PERMIT: PLEASE DOWNLOAD, FILL OUT THE INFORMATION AND HAVE IT ON YOUR DASHBOARD WHEN YOU DRIVE IN SUNDAY MORNING!!! Please note on the attached outdoor vendor map that the specific access into the Temple grounds for unloading is clearly noted: Enter ONLY from Mahan Drive. All vendors and Children’s Area Vendors will turn at FIRST RIGHT to unload along the right side. Exit straight ahead (westward) to Hi Lo Way, then Right to Mahan, Right onto Mahan and Left at Eastwood Plaza (about 2 blocks down). We have 28 vendors and 4 children’s activity booths to unload. ALL VEHICLES MUST BE REMOVED FROM THE FESTIVAL GROUNDS BY 9:30 a.m. In order to help us orchestrate this process, please try to come early, unload quickly and park you vehicle at Eastwood Office Plaza. Then you can take all the time you need to actually set up your booth. Shuttle buses will be running between Eastwood Office Plaza and Temple from 8:00 till 10:00 a.m. If you need disabled parking, that will be available on the East side of Temple in the preschool parking lot. The festival ends at 4 so break-down will begin at 4. NO vehicles can be brought onto festival grounds before 4 p.m. NO EXCEPTIONS! Shuttles will continue to run to the vendor parking lot at Eastwood Office Plaza till 5:00 p.m. You are encouraged to bring a friend to assist you and so they can give you bathroom breaks or allow you to go get food. If this is not possible we can have a festival volunteer sit

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at your both for a short time while you use the restroom. They will not sell your merchandise but tell people you will be back shortly. You can go to the festival website <Tallahasseejewishfoodfestival.com> and check out all the food, drink and baked goods that will be on sale. Finally, I will always have my cell phone with me. If you need assistance, you can call me at (xxx) xxx-xxxx. Please email me if you have any questions. Thank you and I look forward to seeing you and spending March 8th with you! Please acknowledge receipt of this message by email! Thank you! Name of your vendor chairperson, Temple Festival Vendor Chair Attachments: Vendor layout Parking Permit

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Entertainment

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Selection of Performers We look to our Temple community (Canter, youth choir, adult choir and Temple band) for musical performances. Then we add any local bands that are willing to play Jewish music. We have had two or three dedicated bands that have done a wonderful job over the first six years. We have had Klezmer bands, our Temple Bagels and Biscuits band and then we add other individual singers from our Temple Community (see festival program on page 90) Have someone lead an Israeli dance segment. The Rabbi does a question and answer segment twice during the Festival. The Rabbi does this in the sanctuary, not from the stage. Stage We rent a 20 X 20 stage from a local tent rental company. We have them raise it about a foot and a half off the ground, with stairs to one side. It is great to put a 10 x 10 tent next to the stage as a type of green room so the performers can get out of the sun while they are waiting to perform. We maintain a cooler with ice and bottles of water for all performers and entertainment volunteers. We have set up a couple of tables and allowed the performers to sell their own CD’s if they would like. Since we do not pay our performers, this is one perk we can offer them. Set-Up/Logistic Setup for the entertainment stage has three phases: In Phase 1: The stage is set up at least a day prior to the festival. The stage is assembled and disassembled by rental company staff. That same day, festival volunteers gather all supplies and equipment – see below - in a designated room within the Temple. Phase 2: Morning of the festival. Volunteers (usually two) move all of the gathered equipment to the stage. An extension cable is run from the building to the stage and plugged into a surge protector. The extension cable is taped to planks of wood to provide a flat service for festival attendees and volunteers to walk over. Ideally, the stage and all electrical are set up in a location where not many individuals will need to walk behind. Generally, you want to have speakers on opposite sides in the front of the stage and monitors for the performers pointed at the stage. Be sure to keep some distance between the monitors and speakers to prevent feedback. Microphones are placed in stands and placed in a row in the front of the stage. Microphone cables are numbered from 1 to however many microphones you have. The cables are labeled with blue painter’s tape and a black Sharpie marker. These cables can and will be used for instruments as well, depending on the needs of the performance act. The amplifier/receiver needs to be labeled as well. Lay a strip of painter’s tape down on the small folding table in front of where the cables will be plugged in. Write the cable’s number on the painter’s tape, in front of the receiver, so it corresponds with the cable being plugged in. Once everything is plugged in, the equipment will be ready for sound check.

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Phase 3: Breakdown. All labels are removed from the cables. All equipment is gathered and put away. The extension cable is separated from the planks of wood. Signage Put the schedule for entertainment in the Festival program and make several poster size signs to post around the Temple and by the stage so people know when their favorite group is performing. Supplies/Equipment Music stands, microphones, microphone cords, microphone stands, speakers, amplifier/receiver, small folding table, extensions cables, planks of wood (measurements?), cooler, ice, bottles of water, blue painter’s tape, and black Sharpie marker

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Wine Shop

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As the Festival is timed to be a few weeks before Pesach it is the perfect time to sell wine for people’s Seders. The revenue is derived from two sources: unlimited tasting for $5 a person and the sale of bottles of wine. Find a local wine retailer who will sell you cases of wine at a discounted rate. You can then charge full retail price and your profit is derived from the difference. Location and flow of the general festival traffic definitely affects the success of the wine shop. Keeping the wine shop as close to the main food sales is key to having good traffic flow into the wine shop. In most years there has been a pre-festival tasting at a Purim related event. Generally you need to contact the wine supplier about three to four months before the Festival. The wine supplier checks on what kosher wines are currently available with an eye on securing the annual best sellers in enough quantity. Moscato is always the most popular of the kosher wines. Quantities are determined by the attendance at the festival. We bring in at least four cases of each of the most popular wines. Involve your wine retailer in your pre-festival wine tasting. Our retailer has been very cooperative and gives us all the cups for tasting. In addition, the retailer has come and staffed the Purim tasting event as well as come to work the day of the Festival. Sometimes the retailer will have a contact with the representative of the importer of Israeli wines and may be able to get them to come and work the Festival as well. This can be very helpful as they can tell festival goers about the different wines. We have been very lucky because all of the wine used for tasting is at no charge to the Temple so anything made from tasting is pure profit. Make sure the vendor is very organized so the wine shop chair can get the list of available wines to create order forms. It is helpful if the vendor is very supportive of the event and does a lot to make it a success.

Pre-Festival Tasting Event For the first four years of the wine shop we also had a pre-Festival tasting event. These have had two different venues – two times each. The first is to set up a tasting during religious school hours on a Sunday for the parents and other adult congregants. The second is to tie the tasting to an adult Purim event if one is scheduled that year. The sales results have been about the same no matter which venue. A new idea we have not tried yet, but plan to, is to presell wine on-line prior to the festival, with pickup available at the Festival. We think this goes nicely with the success of the pre-orders of our frozen foods and pre-sale of our sandwich plates.

Pre-Festival organizing About two weeks before the Festival confirm the final wine list and prices with the vendor. Type up the order form for that year’s wine shop. Decide how much to bring into the shop for the Festival. Two days prior to the festival get the wine delivered to the Temple. Since this is a Friday when hired help is around Temple doing set up, it is easy to unload and bring to the room. White wines for the tasting must go into the refrigerated truck (two or three bottles of each). Begin to organize the room by putting up signs, arranging the tables and organizing the wine by type for easy selection.

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Supplies Needed

Wine

Big cooler with ice for white wines for tasting

Cork screws

Tasting cups (usually provided by vendor)

Plastic table clothes to cover all tables

At least one ipad with pre-populated list of wines

Day of the Festival If your festival starts at 10:30 a.m., arrive around 8:30 a.m. to finish room set up. Make sure tables are covered in plastic table clothes. Check that the ipad credit card function is working. Assign tasks to first group of volunteers – those helping with tasting, help at welcome table filling orders. Leader of the room has to do the same thing with the second round of volunteers arrives. Make sure you have someone at the entrance table to check the ID of anyone who is not obviously of legal drinking age. Everyone greeted at the front table should be asked if they wish to taste. If not (some know just what they want to buy), no problem. Those who wish to taste pay $5. When day is done, condense leftover wine into like bottles and put in refrigeration. Clean room.

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Website

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Please go to our Festival website to get some ideas. The website is

www.tallahasseejewishfoodfestival.com

The website is separate from our Temple website but they have links to each other. The Festival website is one big perk for any Festival sponsors. The sponsor chair should get the logos from each sponsor as they commit to being Festival sponsors. Just know you will probably have some sponsors who don’t want to be listed on the website or any of the publicity. They may be worried if they advertise that they are sponsors they will get inundated with sponsorship requests. Be mindful and respect their wishes. Have the website up and running as sponsors are being recruited so they can see what you have to offer. The website is also a way for the community to get information about all of the events and opportunities at the Festival. The webmaster, sponsorship chair and publicity chair of the Festival need to stay in close communication with each other during the months leading up to the festival As sponsors are signed up the sponsorship chair should let both the publicity and webmaster know who has committed to being a sponsor and if they want their logo and/or company name publicized.

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Publicity

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We have had the tremendous benefit of having one of our temple members who owns an advertising/public relations firm support the festival from the beginning. We have given a sponsorship in exchange for this support. It is clear we would not have been anywhere the success as it is without his support. This is a very important partner you need to find early!

Print Media Newspaper – Paid ads are important. If you purchase ads the paper is also more likely to give you more coverage. Remember they are a business too.

Get a story in your local paper at least a week before and the weekend of your event. If your paper has a food editor this is a good place to start. Sometimes you can get information in both the food section and the entertainment section. Enter information on community calendars – you can usually do this on-line.

Magazines You need to submit your festival information to local, regional and statewide magazines at least six months in advance. Your regional AAA, Southern Living and community magazines (we do Tallahassee Magazine) are great places since they have calendars of upcoming events.

Posters/flyers Create eye catching posters to post on community bulletin boards at most grocery stores, Starbucks, and other community eateries Usually we do 200 11 X 17 color glossy posters and then we print about 200 8 ½ x11 black and white flyers of the same thing for congregants to take to work and post in their break rooms. We also send out an electronic copy to our temple members to distribute and print as they can. Our Rabbi emails his clergy contacts around the city and includes a copy of the poster for them to post in church bulletins. He also asks them to announce the Festival the Sunday before and day of the festival as a great place to go have lunch after Sunday services.

TV News Shows – Get several people, Festival chair, food chairs, Rabbi, Publicity Chair, etc., to go on news shows prior to the festival. Some of the news shows have “celebrity chefs” segments. We demonstrate (very quickly – usually in 4 minutes time) one menu item from our festival. We have demonstrated matzo ball soup, kugel, and a bakery item in the past. The main thing you want to be sure to say is the date, time, location and that admission is free. Emphasize other things if they are true like entertainment, vendors, where the food comes from, any children’s activities.

Radio You can often get radio sponsors to do quick (free) spots. You need to work with your PR professional to create the 60 to 30 second radio promotions.

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Other Publicity ideas

Buttons

Magnets

Signature lines on emails

Social Media

Clergy Groups

Publicity Timeline

6-9 months prior - submit blurbs to magazines

4 months prior - print posters and flyers, remind congregants to add festival web address to their signature lines

3 months prior - disseminate posters and flyers

2 months prior - schedule TV and radio spots

4 weeks prior - seek chairman and others to fill TV spots

1 week prior – do TV and radio spots Day of festival - have a plan for who will speak to media who come to cover festival

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Sponsorship

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Finding sponsors is one of the most important jobs for the Festival. Not only is it the second biggest part of the fundraiser (second only to the food sales) but it is a great way to get area businesses involved in this community event. Finding the right chairperson for this area is something you should give a lot of thought to. It is very helpful if the person is either a Temple employee or a congregation member who is either retired or only works part-time so they can contact businesses during the day. It is hard to contact businesses if you are working during the day. This person should not be hesitant to contact businesses by phone or in person. Persistence is key. Many times you have to contact a business several times before they will give you an answer. It is also important to have different levels of sponsorships with different perks (see below for a sample Sponsorship commitment form). Recruiting Sponsors The first year the bulk of your sponsors will be from either Temple members who own businesses or businesses the Temple uses. Some of the type of businesses who have been sponsors are: pest control company, bank, air-conditioning company, law firms, insurance company, realtors, wine retailer, funeral home, financial advisor and many more. We have two kinds of sponsors, in-kind and monetary sponsors. In-kind sponsors are companies who have what you need and are willing to give it to you in exchange for sponsorship perks at the level of the value of what they give. Lesson learned with in-kind sponsors – these are companies you ask to be in-kind sponsors. It is important that companies don’t approach you and give you goods that you then have to figure out to convert to money. This is extra work and my advice is to say thank you, but we are looking for monetary sponsors. Some areas we have sought in-kind sponsors are for: parking, shuttles, trash & recycling services, publicity, signage & printing. It is important to have great communication with your sponsors and make sure you always deliver the perks they are promised.

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Sponsorship Timeline

9 months prior to festival: meet with the Festival and Temple leadership and agree on what you will offer for the different levels of sponsorship. Develop sponsorship flyers and applications. As sponsors agree, collect camera ready logos for the level of sponsors who will be included on the website and in print publicity.

After the first year, send a letter to past sponsors inviting them to renew their sponsorship for the coming year. Larger companies often set their budgets for the year in August and September. This may be far from your Festival, but it is important that your sponsorship chair contact them in August and no later than September.

5-8 months prior to the Festival: contact and sign up sponsors. It is important to have commitments from all sponsors so that the publicity chair knows who to include on the flyers, ads and other publicity. Set a cut-off date for sponsors. It doesn’t mean you can’t accept sponsors after this date but it is with the understanding they miss out on some publicity. As you receive commitments from each sponsor let the web master, publicity chair, Temple secretary and Festival chair know. This keeps your information on the web, flyers and all other information going out current.

2-3 months prior: Publicity kicks into high gear so make sure the sponsors know when the flyers and ads will run. Some of the businesses may even let you put flyers up in their store windows or include information in their newsletters. It is your job to make sure all sponsorship information is reviewed and is correct on flyers, ads and any other printed materials. Make sure to work with the publicity chair to ensure the “Thank You Sponsors Banner” is being printed and the sponsors names are spelled correctly.

During the Festival we have a “Sponsors lounge”. We provide coffee and a quiet out of the way place for our sponsors to bring their food and eat. Our sponsor chair staffs this room and greets and thanks our sponsors. We also allow our sponsors to place their flyers or giveaways at our information table. (Their materials can dropped off at the Temple office the week prior to the Festival). The sponsor chair picks them up the morning of the Festival and makes sure they are placed at the information booth. After the Festival it is important to send each sponsor a thank-you note. This can be signed by the sponsorship chair, Temple President, Rabbi or all three.

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Parking

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Set Up The day before the Festival: six – eight volunteers put out the parking signs guiding people to the different parking areas. They also put up “do not park” yellow tape and stakes in areas we do not want people to park. This was a lesson learned the first year. People will park anywhere they can. If you have right of ways around the Festival grounds you don’t want people to park in you need to put up “do not park” tape or they will park everywhere! Disabled Parking Tags We use an on-site parking area for this purpose. If you don’t have a disabled parking permit, you can’t park there. People without disabled parking tags can be dropped off in this parking area. We have volunteers stationed at this parking area to enforce this rule. Shuttles This is one area you can seek in-kind sponsors. Our local hospital has been a sponsor and provided a shuttle from our off-site parking area for all six years so far. We also have a Temple member who drives a bus for a private school and as the Festival has grown and we needed a second shuttle they have stepped up and provided this service as well. Sometimes area churches have shuttles they are not using and would also be willing to do this for you. Some Lesson’s learned Have separate parking areas for volunteers and vendors. General festival attendees – we have an agreement with a company that is about ¼ mile away from our Temple. They are closed on Sunday’s and have about 500 spaces. We post one of our police officers in the lot and extend our insurance to cover that lot of the day of the festival. Festival volunteers- our first year we had our volunteers park in the same lot as our general attendees and at the start of the festival we were informed by our parking crew that the lot was ½ full already. It did not leave room for our festival attendees. There is a lot across the street from the general festival parking that we use only for festival volunteers. If a volunteer needs to leave during the festival they can ride the shuttle to the general parking and walk across the street. Vendor parking – We use a fourth lot a little farther away since vendors don’t need to leave during the festival. The shuttle takes them to and from their cars before and after the festival.

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Security

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Police Have off duty police officers on hand the day of the Festival. We have hired four officers since the beginning of our Festival and this has remained enough so far. One officer stays with the “bank” at all times. One officer is assigned to our off-site parking area. This is something our parking lot sponsor has requested from the beginning. If your parking doesn’t require this, I would not put an officer there. The other two officers rotate around the Festival with special concentration on the high volume sales areas (meat, bakery, vendors, and watching the crowds for any concerns). It is especially important that the off duty officers be able to communicate with each other through radio. Some of the issues they have handled over the first six years have been things such as: minor shop lifting of our vendors and bakery, minor injuries, need to call an ambulance for suspected heart attack, call a tow truck for a suspicious vehicle and being a visual presence to deter incidence. You can contact your local police department to ask how you hire off duty police officers.

Security Timeline

6 months prior to festival: contact local police department to arrange for off-duty officers.

4 weeks prior: make sure all paperwork is completed and turned into police department. Make sure Temple staff who handles checks has the officers’ information to have checks cut so the officers can get paid at the end of the Festival.

Friday prior to Festival: Double check that everything is a go with the police.

Day of festival: Greet police officers and make sure they know their assignments, Answer any questions they may have. Debrief with the police at end of Festival to determine if there is anything you need to do differently the next festival. Pay the officers and thank them for their time.

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Money

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Cashier Instructions

Arrive 15 minutes prior to the start time for your shift

Do not leave your cash box unattended or with anyone else

Keep your cash box closed unless you are making change

We accept CASH or CREDIT ONLY (cards accepted in designated credit card lines).

Absolutely NO personal checks accepted, even from temple members.

Use your counterfeit marker on $50 and $100 bills. The mark will be yellow on a good

bill, it will turn black on a bad bill. If you get a bad bill, hold it and tell the person you need

to get change – call Treasurer/Cashier Lead, Bank Teller or discreetly ask someone to

get a police officer that is working the Festival.

Large bills / excessive amounts of cash will be collected by Treasurer/Cashier Lead every

20-30 minutes or more frequently if needed

If you need change, let Treasurer/Cashier Lead or Bank Teller know

If you need a restroom break, let Treasurer/Cashier Lead or Bank Teller know

If your station sells out of its product, wait at your station until your cash box is picked up.

We will be tracking all of the cash coming in from routine collections from your till and

cash to you for change. Cashiers don’t need to count the money in their cash box.

No one will be allowed in the Bank other than Treasurer/Cashier Lead, Bank Teller, and a

police officer.

If you need us quickly, phone numbers will be listed in your cash box for the

Treasurer/Cashier Lead and Bank Teller

**Transactions will be happening really quickly – take the time to make and count

your change back properly*

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How to Make Change Take the cash from the customer and place it across the top of the cash box tray while pulling change from the drawer. Always go smallest to largest when making change. Count up from the cash owed using coins to reach an even dollar amount, then continue counting up to reach the amount of cash sitting on the cash register. For example, if the cash owed is $21.50 and the customer gives $30.00, set the $30.00 where it is visible on the cash tray, then remove from the drawer two quarters to reach $22.00, three $1 bills to reach $25.00, and one $5 to reach $30.00. How to Count Back Change After removing the correct change from the cash box, count the change back to the customer to ensure accuracy. Using the same example, the employee would say, “$22.00 (place quarters in customer’s hand), $23.00, $24.00, $25.00 (place $1 bills in customer’s hand), and $30.00 (place $5 in customer’s hand)." Then insert the cash tendered into its slot and close the cash box. Notice how as you state the amount of each bill, you are counting upward, from the cost of the sale toward the total given to you by the customer. This is the way people expect it to be done, and customers will appreciate you taking the time to not only make sure it is correct, but to show them, through both visual and auditory means, that they are getting the correct change. Master the art of making change, and you will quickly notice that your accuracy and speed will improve. If the customer sees and hears that they are receiving the correct amount of change, they do not have to take the time to stand at the counter and recount it themselves. If you make change in this way, you will also catch your own mistakes. If you grabbed too many singles, for example, you will quickly realize this before the money changes hands.

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Trash & Recycling

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Supplies Make sure the Temple has in stock sufficient number of heavy-duty garbage bags to line the garbage boxes (at least 100, 55-gal bags). Check the Festival supply closet to see how many garbage boxes remain from the previous year before asking Marpan (garbage company) for enough to make a total of 12 -18 boxes. Figure out where exactly you'll place the garbage receptacles. Spread them out throughout the Festival site. Next to each, set up a recycling bin. Have at least as many collapsible metal stands for recyclables as you do for trash. These are available from whatever company does recycling in your city (Leon County Solid Waste facility on Appalachee Pkwy in Tallahassee). You must fill out a form and fax it to reserve them and arrange a pick up time (in Tallahassee they provide the clear plastic bags that go in the recycling bins). Volunteers You'll need to set up the garbage stations before the Festival. This can be set up the morning of the Festival. You will need three shifts of two people each to patrol the garbage stations and empty them and set them up with new bags. Each time you empty a garbage container you can drop a new, clean bag on the bottom so you know you have one for the next time. Make sure you have at least one female on this detail to check the trash in the ladies restroom. The trash detail should also be the team that checks trash and restock toilet paper, soap and paper towels in the restrooms. If you can find some way to separate out the cardboard, this will save space in the bins and you'll recycle a lot more solid waste as so much of our product comes in heavy cardboard boxes.

Trash & Recycling Timeline

About 6 weeks before the Festival: reserve the recycling bins and arrange to pick them up the Friday before the Festival. [See the Solid Waste section under leoncountyfl.gov. Call 850-606-1800 if you cannot find the form online or have other questions.] Order extra, large garbage bin to be delivered to Temple by the City's solid waste contractor (Marpan). You need to order this to be delivered and picked up pre- and post-festival. As the Festival has grown we use two large trash receptacles. One they donate as a sponsor and one we pay for.

Go to your local solid waste/recycling company a few weeks before the Festival and pick up necessary garbage boxes to supplement the ones left over from previous year.

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Membership/ Information

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The membership table is a wonderful “catch-all” resource table for festival attendees. When asked, we provide information about Temple membership, but we also provide information about our education programs (preschool through adult), social action, and upcoming Temple and Jewish community events. We set the table with flyers/pamphlets/applications reflecting all the goings-on of our Temple community as well as the Tallahassee Jewish community. We also direct traffic, pointing people toward the pre-paid pick-up, the different vendors, the bakery, and very importantly, the restrooms! Sharing the table with the merchandise is helpful. Shoppers come to us, intent on a mission. But in sizing and selecting their shirt, apron, or glass, we have time to meet, schmooze, and potentially make some new friends.

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Merchandising

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T-shirts are a wonderful way to advertise the festival all year long. It also helps to advertise the wonderful sponsors (on the back) so they also get exposure during the year. We have also sold aprons, tote bags and tumblers. It is recommended going easy on the merchandise the first year because you don’t want to get stuck with a lot of left over t-shirts etc. You can allow temple members to pre-order shirts and then add 1/4 more for day of festival sales. One problem with putting sponsors names on the back of shirts is the sponsors change each year. It causes you to have to do new t-shirt designs each year. Think about if this is worth it. I would recommend not using the t-shirts as a sponsor incentive. The day of the festival we have the merchandise share a tent with the Information table. We also allow our festival sponsors to put their flyers to give away at the information booth.

Merchandising Timeline

6-9 months prior: work on design & explore provider

6-months prior: check accuracy of sponsors information that is on back of t-shirts

2 months prior: print merchandise

1-4 weeks prior: presell t-shirts and other merchandise to temple members. Make sure you have t-shirts available at the volunteer training and other times when temple members are available. (For example, during religious school)

Day of festival: have merchandise for sale at the information table

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Disability Assistance

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We have two wheelchairs available for check-out at the entrance where the shuttle lets people off. It is on a first-come-first-served basis. We also have people stationed at the disability assistance booth to assist people who may need help getting their food. We have a lot of elderly people who have a hard time standing in lines and also people who cannot balance multiple packages if they use a cane or other assistive devices. If you have active Girl Scouts or Boy Scout troops in your area they may be willing to assist you with this for community service hours or if they are working toward a badge. Make sure you have adults in charge of this area if you utilize youth to assist.

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Blood Drive

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We include a blood drive in our festival to include an element of social action in the Festival. The blood mobile parks on-site and we have had good success with Temple members and members of the community donating. We post a flyer on the Festival website indicating how to sign up to give blood. See sample Flyer below.

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Miscellaneous

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First Aid It is good to have a plan for minor and major incidents that may occur. We have had everything from scraped knees to possible heart attacks. It is important that any police officers you hire have the ability to talk to each other and call an ambulance if needed. Also, when planning the layout of your festival leave room for an ambulance to access any participants that may need them. Inviting the Red Cross to have a free booth has helped us with minor bumps and bruises. When we have been unable to get the Red Cross to come we have posted a sign at the information booth that we have a first aid kit. Make sure you have a well-stocked, up-to-day first aid kit on hand. Between the Red Cross and the off duty policy you hire they can take care of any minor or major emergencies. Bathrooms Have plenty of bathrooms available and to have someone checking both the men’s and women’s restroom regularly to ensure the toilet paper, paper towels and soap are well stocked. If you don’t have enough bathrooms to accommodate the number of patrons you may need to rent some port-o-lets. Rentals We rent four 20 X 20 tents and place tables and chairs underneath so people can eat and enjoy the entertainment. By the sixth year we needed to double our tent space to eight 20 X 20 tents. Signage Banners –We have two large banners (90” X 36”) we post in front of the temple 10 days before the event. This complies with the city sign ordinance and is good publicity since we are located on a major roadway. Inside signage – Beside the diagram in our program we put large signs around the inside of the Temple showing folks where the important destinations are. They include: food, bakery, vendors, bathrooms, wine shop, gift shop and entertainment. Insurance If your festival is going to be on your Temple grounds contact your Temple insurance company in plenty of time to cover any additional insurance coverage needed. Do not forget to extend the insurance coverage to any parking areas as well. Hired Labor We have found that setting up for the Festival with volunteers is difficult. We hire four day laborers to help for four hours on the Friday before the Festival to set up tables, chairs and help with any of the manual labor needed (such as: moving freezer for the frozen soup from kitchen to gym, etc.). We also hire them for four hours when the meat shipment comes in and again for the clean-up after the Festival. This is money well spent especially as the Festival gets bigger.

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Festival Program

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Recipes

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Noodle Kugel 1 lb. medium egg noodles 12 T butter 12 eggs 2 lb. cottage cheese 1/2 lb. cream cheese, softened 1 pt. sour cream 2 cups sugar 4 cups milk 2 tsp. vanilla 3/4 cup (approximate) cornflake crumbs 1/2 cup (approximate) cinnamon sugar Large foil pan (20.75 x 12.81 x 4) Pam Foil (to cover kugels for refrigeration) Directions: Boil noodles, drain, and toss with 12 T butter cut into small pieces so butter will melt in hot noodles. Place evenly in large foil pan that has been well sprayed with Pam. Using mixer, beat well remaining ingredients excluding cornflake crumbs and cinnamon sugar. (Note: Due to the large amount of ingredients, a hand held mixer and a very large bowl work best for this step. Stand mixers can also be used, but the bowl is filled to the top and might overflow.) Pour mixed ingredients over noodles, stirring to evenly distribute. Double check to make sure all noodles are submerged in the mixture. This mixture will be very loose. Sprinkle the top with cornflake crumbs and cinnamon sugar making sure to evenly cover all areas. (For regular baking and immediate use of kugel, bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour.) For Festival, bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Cool to room temperature, cover with foil, and refrigerate. On Festival day, bring kugel to room temperature (allow approximately 30 minutes) and bake 15 to 30 minutes to finish cooking and have hot kugel.

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Mandlebrot Mix:

3 eggs ¾ cup oil 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon Almond extract Add:

4 cups flour 2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt Add:

½ cup almonds (ground semi-fine) ¼ cup mini choc-chips (optional)

Dough will be stiff, but not sticky. If sticky then add ¼ cup flour. Divide dough into 4 sections, shape each section into a small loaf on lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (14 in convection oven). Cut each loaf into slices, turn each slice on the side and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mix, turn to other side and sprinkle again. Bake for 10 minutes (5 in convection oven). Cool and store in covered container.

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Hamantashen 4 large eggs 1 cup of vegetable oil 1 cup of sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons almond extract 3 teaspoons baking powder 5-1/2 cups flour Can of filling (Traditional fillings include cherry, apricot, prune, or poppy seeds. Beat eggs then add sugar, oil, salt and almond extract and mix well. Add baking powder to flour and then add flour a little at a time to wet mixture. Mix well. Refrigerate overnight or at least 1 hour. Roll out to about a 1/4 inch thick and then using a soup can or round cookie cutter cut out circles. Place 1 teaspoon filling in the center of each circle and pinch sides together to make a triangle. Brush top of each cookie with beaten egg. Bake on parchment paper or lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

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Matzo Brittle Line a cookie sheet with tin foil. Spray with Pam. Place matzo in a single layer on cookie sheet. Boil together in small pan for two minutes one and a half sticks of butter and one cup packed brown sugar. Spread over matzo and sprinkle with nuts almonds, pecans or walnuts – whichever you like best). Sprinkle with chocolate chips too. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 7-10 minutes. Let cool. Break up into pieces and enjoy!

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Passover Macaroons 1 cup Crisco 2 cups sugar 1-1/2 cups cake meal 1/2 cup potato starch 1 large package coconut 3 eggs 3 tsp almond extract To make chocolate: add 1/4 cup cocoa powder Mix all of above Shape on cookie sheet about 1 tsp. dough. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees

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Chocolate Babka 350 degree oven, butter 3 loaf pans Mix together : 2 cups flour, 1/3 cup cocoa, 1-1/2 tsp. baking POWDER, 3/4 tsp baking SODA, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp salt Add: 2 sticks butter, softened 1 cup sugar 1 tsp vanilla 3 eggs Blend in 1 cup sour cream. Divide in loaf pans, put 3 tablespoons of dough Each pan, put 3 spoonfuls of topping, then 3 more tablespoons of dough, then 3 Spoonfuls of topping on top. Tap down. Bake in oven for 40 minutes. Topping: 1/2 cup chocolate chips 1/2 cup chopped nuts 1/8 cup sugar 1 tsp cinnamon

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Rugelah 1/2 lb. butter, unsalted (2 sticks) 1/2 lb. cream cheese (4 oz.) 3 cups flour 1/4 cup sugar Soften butter and cream cheese and mix, add flour and sugar until combined. Shape into 7 balls and refrigerate. When ready to bake, roll each ball into a round (dinner plate size). Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mix. Spread thin layer of seedless raspberry or apricot jam on top. Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and nuts. Cut into 8 triangles, roll from outside to inside to form crescent. Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

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Black and White cookies Dough 1-½ sticks margarine 1-½ cups sugar 3 tsp vanilla 2 eggs 3-½ cups flour In mixing bowl, cream margarine and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add flour slowly, Mix until dough forms. Drop 1 tbsp. size balls on parchment lined baking sheet. Press balls with a glass to flatten. Bake 350 10-12 minutes. White Icing 3 oz. white chocolate chips 2 tbsp. margarine 2 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar 2 tbsp. water Mix together, add more sugar as needed. Spread on ½ cookie. Chocolate Icing 3 oz. chocolate chips 2 tbsp. margarine 2 tbsp. confectioners’ sugar 2 tbsp. water Mix together, add more sugar as needed. Spread on the remaining ½ cookie.

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Challah 2 envelopes or 2 tsp active dried yeast 1-½ cups warm water 1 tsp sugar 4 eggs ½ cup honey ½ cup vegetable oil 1-½ tsp salt 8-9 cups flour In small bowl, stir the yeast, 1 cup of warm water and sugar. Set aside for 10 minutes make sure it bubbles. Beat 3 eggs with the honey. Add remaining ½ cup warm water, oil and salt. Add yeast mixture, beating well with a spoon. Using 5 cups of the flour, add 1 cup at a time to your mixture, beating well with spoon. The dough will be sticky. (Can also use a food processor for this). Now add 2 more cups of flour, beating well with wooden spoon until dough leaves sides of the bowl. Shake an additional 2 cups flour onto work surface and knead dough until almost all the flour is absorbed into it. Return it to the bowl. Cover with a towel and let rise for 1-2 hours, until it looks like it has grown to almost twice its size. When dough has risen, punch it down. Divide dough into 3 equal parts and divide each part into 3 again for braiding. Roll each piece into long ropes. Braid 3 together. Press down ends. Leave loaf long or push together to form circle. Place loaves on greased baking sheet or 9 inch round pans. Cover with towel and let rise about 30 minutes more, until it is again almost twice its size. Preheat oven to 350. Brush loaves with remaining egg mixed with a little water. Sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

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Stuffed Cabbage Cabbage 10 or more large cabbage heads 10 pounds lean ground beef 2-1/2 cups uncooked rice (use parboiled rice as it cooks more quickly) 10 small (or equivalent for larger onions) grated 2-1/2 cups carrot slivers 5 teaspoons kosher salt PLUS more to taste; 5 teaspoons pepper PLUS more to taste. (We tend to add a bit more.) 10 eggs These ingredients are mixed together in large aluminum pans, which are then rinsed and reused for the rolls. Sauce (For one large pan of approximately 23-24 large rolls) 1 institutional can tomato sauce 1 institutional can crushed tomatoes Juice of 2-3 lemons (Taste to adjust) 1 to 1-1/2 cups brown sugar (app Taste to adjust) Handful of raisins to scatter over sauce before wrapping This should be sufficient sauce for an entire large pan of cabbage. The objective is to make sure the rolls are covered so they won’t burn and so there will be some sauce to spread under the rolls.

Three days before preparing cabbage rolls, freeze cabbage heads. Remove cabbage heads from freezer and thaw. Remove core and triangular thick pieces from cabbage. Use large leaves for large rolls and lightly smaller leave for small rolls. NOTE: Large rolls are placed in large pan; small rolls are placed in ½ size pans. Leave remaining leaves for bottom of roasting pan. Alternatively, the cabbage can be cored before freezing or cabbage can be boiled prior to use to soften, thus eliminating freezing. In a large pan, combine beef, rice, grated onion, carrot slivers, kosher salt, pepper and egg, mixing well. On aluminum foil sheets, lay out level 1/3 cups of meat mixture. Place 1/3 cup meat mixture into the center of a large cabbage leaf and fold over sides of leaf; roll up. Repeat using remaining meat mixture. Use 1/2 of 1/3 meat mixture for small leaves. In another bowl, combine tomato sauce; crushed tomatoes; lemon juice; and brown sugar. (Add more sugar if needed to achieve sweet and sour flavor.) Double all pans to prevent cabbage from burning when cooked.

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Spread some sauce in bottom of pan. Rough cut cabbage leaves not used for wrapping rolls and place in a layer on bottom of pan and cover with additional sauce. Use about one-third of the tomato mixture for this process. Place stuffed cabbage rolls over layered cabbage leaves and cover with remaining tomato mixture. Sprinkle raisins on top. Completely wrap pan with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and freeze. After 24 hours, trays may be stacked. NOTE: For small cabbage leaves, use half-size pans. Divide the 1/3 cup meat mixture in half. Sell two cabbage rolls per serving, rather than one large.

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Matzo Ball Soup This is for 20 gallons (four five gallon buckets for hot, day of festival soup or 80 frozen quarts) 7 whole chickens (cut into pieces) 20 gallons of water 20 carrots (thickly cut) 20 sticks of celery (thickly cut) 7 onions (chopped) 7 sweet potatoes (diced) 7 parsnips (diced) 7 turnips (diced) 2 and 1/3 containers of Osem cosume (32 ounces) Garlic, salt, pepper to taste Fill five 4 or 5 gallon pots with water (leaving room for chicken), cover each pot Bring to a boil Put in chickens (will take 20-25 min to cook for average size pieces) 5-6 pieces per pot Peel and cut veggies Remove chicken once cooked through, cool, remove skin and debone, and chop meat into small pieces (place chopped chicken meat evenly in four 5 gallon buckets or portion out evenly into 80 quart containers) Skim fat from water if there is excess, reboil water Add veggies to each pot trying to get a good mix in each pot Add approximately 1 Cup Osem to each pot Add seasonings (add approximately 1/3 Cup garlic powder, 1/4 cup salt, 1/8 cut ground pepper in a sealed container, shake to mix, and portion out evenly into each pot) Reboil and cook for 10-15 minutes until carrots are just tender Remove veggies with strainer (place veggies evenly in four 5 gallon buckets or portion out evenly into 80 quart containers) Add or decrease water as necessary Reboil water Add prepared matzo balls (as directed on matzo ball mix packaging) to seasoned boiling water Cover and simmer for 20 minutes

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Remove matzo balls and cool before freezing them in ziploc bags or add 2-3 to each quart container Portion the water (now soup stock) evenly into the four buckets or 80 quart containers) Top off with ice to fill each and to speed cooling process Store in refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze. If five gallon buckets are frozen, move from freezer to refrigerator 5-7 days prior to festival to defrost.