2010 Green City Market BBQ, July 15

The tenth annual Green City Market BBQ takes place 6-8 p.m. Thursday, July 15.

Tickets go on sale to members May 1 and to the public May 12 (also the date of the first outdoor market of the season). Single tickets are $100 and VIP tables are available.

Details.

LAZ wrote:The tenth annual Green City Market BBQ takes place 6-8 p.m. Thursday, July 15.

Tickets go on sale to members May 1 and to the public May 12 (also the date of the first outdoor market of the season). Single tickets are $100 and VIP tables are available.

Details.

wow, I guess they finally realized they were leaving a lot of money on the table. Too bad, I liked it when it was more of a bargain.

I recall the tickets being about $50 last year and they always sold out on the first day they were made available to the public. Maybe they won't sell out so quickly now that they have doubled the price.

Ouch that is expensive, since all the food is donated by the chefs and farmers at the GCM.
I guess that 100,000 dollar grant they got this year did not help............

Cookie Monster wrote:Ouch that is expensive, since all the food is donated by the chefs and farmers at the GCM.
I guess that 100,000 dollar grant they got this year did not help............

It was actually a $76,300.00 grant but it's not like the money raised at this event goes to line anyone's pockets. This is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization that pumps every bit of revenue it generates (other than administrative costs) back into its own programs. It's a certainly a steep increase in ticket pricing but this is money that will go toward furthering the GCM's mission to "...provide a marketplace for purchasing sustainably grown food that educates, promotes and connects farmers and local producers directly to chefs, restaurateurs and the greater Chicago community."* Really, it's pretty hard to argue the merits of that mission, just as it's hard to envision that one $76K grant would be enough to accomplish it in perpetuity. Not-for-profits must continually raise funds. Except in extremely rare cases, their missions are never fully accomplished.

=R=

*from Green City Market's web site

volkswankin wrote:I recall the tickets being about $50 last year and they always sold out on the first day they were made available to the public. Maybe they won't sell out so quickly now that they have doubled the price.

That's a risk they took, which many fundraisers would not do presently. It is far easier to sell a $50 ticket than a $100 ticket. If their breakeven is low enough, it may not really matter if they sell out or not. They probably will, though it will not likely be as quick as before.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:

volkswankin wrote:I recall the tickets being about $50 last year and they always sold out on the first day they were made available to the public. Maybe they won't sell out so quickly now that they have doubled the price.

That's a risk they took, which many fundraisers would not do presently. It is far easier to sell a $50 ticket than a $100 ticket. If their breakeven is low enough, it may not really matter if they sell out or not. They probably will, though it will not likely be as quick as before.

Regards,

I agree. They took a chance. In the past couple of years, they've sold the event out very quickly because they have limited space. I agree with you Cathy. I think it will sell out again but probably not as fast as it has in previous years. Personally, considering the chefs who are participating, I still think it's a great value, though probably not the 'steal' it has been in previous years. And, as I mentioned above, it's a very worthy cause.

=R=

There was also a pretty active secondary market (i.e. reselling, scalping) last year. The tickets were clearly priced too low.

I agree with Ronnie that $100 is still a very good deal, esp if you figure that it includes all you can eat food and drinks and there is no tax or tip.

ronnie_suburban wrote:Really, it's pretty hard to argue the merits of that mission, just as it's hard to envision that one $76K grant would be enough to accomplish it in perpetuity. Not-for-profits must continually raise funds. Except in extremely rare cases, their missions are never fully accomplished.

=R=

Ronnie take it easy, I am not arguing with the mission.
I am saying the tickets are very expensive that is all, that is pure profit for the GCM as EVERYTHING is donated by chefs and farmers.
Last time I checked here at LTH forum we can have an opinion, unless the rules have changed.

Cookie Monster,

One thing is for sure, there are many opinions on this board. You offered yours, then Ron and others offered theirs. No game change I can sense here.

I was glad to go last year, though I am not very enthusiastic about events with few places to sit and eat. I don't do cocktail party receptions very well, too.

Regards,

Cookie Monster wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Really, it's pretty hard to argue the merits of that mission, just as it's hard to envision that one $76K grant would be enough to accomplish it in perpetuity. Not-for-profits must continually raise funds. Except in extremely rare cases, their missions are never fully accomplished.

=R=

Ronnie take it easy, I am not arguing with the mission.
I am saying the tickets are very expensive that is all, that is pure profit for the GCM as EVERYTHING is donated by chefs and farmers.
Last time I checked here at LTH forum we can have an opinion, unless the rules have changed.

Understood. I wasn't shooting you down, just responding what I thought was an implication that there was something sinister about the increase in pricing. I think this is simply a case of a charitable organization trying to maximize the take at their biggest fundraiser event of the year.

=R=

We were sad we didn't make it last year, and we were hoping to make it this year. Unfortunately, at $100 a pop, that probably won't happen. Too bad

Having just planned a charity event (with a ticket price of $75), I can say that it's extremely difficult to come up with a price point that allows for the perfect balance between letting everyone who wants to attend attend and coming out of the event with a worthwhile donation to the organization in question. In the end, if they think they can raise more money for the market by charging more but risking having fewer people attend, then that's what will ultimately drive the decision on pricing. If it doesn't pan out that way, it's possible that the price may come back down.

We enjoyed ourselves last year and felt it was a great bargain. I don't know if I'm set up to maximize events like this because I just can't eat that much. I appreciate the fundraiser aspect, but at the higher price, we are likely non-participants this year. The same reason applies to us skipping the Great Chef's Tasting Party this year that benefits the United Cerebal Palsy Foundation. Both fun events with great food for good causes.

The GP wrote:We enjoyed ourselves last year and felt it was a great bargain. I don't know if I'm set up to maximize events like this because I just can't eat that much. I appreciate the fundraiser aspect, but at the higher price, we are likely non-participants this year. The same reason applies to us skipping the Great Chef's Tasting Party this year that benefits the United Cerebal Palsy Foundation. Both fun events with great food for good causes.

I agree. I know I probably sampled less than 60% of the offerings last year. Also, at some point, my palate became fatigued, so there were things I tasted that I probably would have thought to be good on their own on a different day, but having tasted them in succession with many other things, they just scored a "meh" from me.

To me, the going price these days for sit-down, multicourse food and drink fundraisers is between about $95-$150. (Standing/mingling fundraisers are at about $75.) At $100, GCM falls squarely within a bracket that already has a lot of competition. Given the star power that the GCM BBQ attracts, I'll leave this event to the chef-chasers this year, and turn my attention to smaller, but equally worthy fundraisers, such as this one, which has also been mentioned on LTH.

Chef-chasers? Come on.

Darren72 wrote:Chef-chasers? Come on.

Well, at least with 90+ of the city's best chefs all cooking at one venue, the chasing will be fairly easy.

=R=

Darren72 wrote:Chef-chasers? Come on.

You know, when I typed that, I thought, "I bet Darren72 takes offense to that," and just like that . . .

What I mean is that this event is clearly meant to attract people who would not normally attend foodie events but will attend an event at which Paul Kahan himself and Rick Bayless himself serves you food. (Before someone jumps up to tell me that there's a ton of foodies there -- yes, that's true -- but I can name you about a dozen people who I wouldn't necessarily classify as such that attend largely for the star power. Anyway . . .) There's nothing wrong with that, kudos to the GCM for putting together an event for which Paul Kahan and Rick Bayless will block off of their calendar to attend and serve food. I've attended several GCM BBQs, they're fun, it's all cool, etc.

But, at $100/pop, it starts to compete with other charity dinners. If it's that appealing to attend an event with the big-name chefs there, all in one park, serving you food, then go for it -- that's your prerogative. But, for me, at that price point, this year, I'm choosing to take my dollars elsewhere to other deserving organizations because it's not that important to me who is serving the food (and, as I stated above, I can barely get through 50% of the offerings, so I'm not getting the full benefit). That's just my prerogative, I have limited time, limited money, and not a slight on the GCM or this event.

I didn't take offense. I just thought it was a silly generalization that seems to serve no purpose other than to be inflammatory.

Darren72 wrote:I didn't take offense. I just thought it was a silly generalization that seems to serve no purpose other than to be inflammatory.

No, not it's purpose and certainly not it's sole purpose, sorry you took it that way. But I really don't want to derail this thread arguing about something so small. I could have said groupies, but I didn't because, now, that would have been inflammatory.

I'm ordering tickets today, and need some advice... I've got six people confirmed to need tickets, and one person that's iffy on account of being 'on call', and possibly needing to 'perform surgery', whatever that means. Should I be merciful and buy a ticket for this clearly irresponsible person, on the assumption that I could always sell it back at 12x price to some poor sap here on LTH? Or let her fend for herself amongst the wolves as she clearly deserves?

Independent George wrote:I could always sell it back at 12x price to some poor sap here on LTH?

LOL, great marketing.

=R=

Independent George wrote:I'm ordering tickets today, and need some advice... I've got six people confirmed to need tickets, and one person that's iffy on account of being 'on call' at work, and possibly needing to 'perform surgery', whatever that means. Should I be merciful and buy a ticket for this clearly irresponsible person, on the assumption that I could always sell it back at 12x price to some poor sap here on LTH? Or let her fend for herself amongst the wolves as she clearly deserves?

I would let this person decide. They should take on the risk, not you. In any case, I don't think you'll have a problem reselling the ticket, though I'm not sure you'd make much money on it.

Darren72 wrote:I would let this person decide. They should take on the risk, not you. In any case, I don't think you'll have a problem reselling the ticket, though I'm not sure you'd make much money on it.

I'm kidding - if I sold, I'd only accept face value. I just realized that was my first post here, so I haven't built up any irony points yet. The folks at other interwebs places I comment on have long learned to roll their eyes at me.

Anyway, I decided to buy the extra ticket anyway; I figured it's far easier to get rid of an extra ticket than to procure one at the last minute. I still haven't recovered from missing the event last year. They were still selling at the gate two years ago (with Steph headlining scant months after winning on Top Chef), so I was shocked at how quick it sold out in 2009. Never again!

During the chef demo at the market today, Carrie Nahabedian and Sarah Stegner asked the audience if they had their tickets to the barbecue yet. Carrie said they had 95 chefs! Also that since the tickets went on sale to the public on Wednesday they had alrealdy sold half, or 1000 tickets. I know there was some question as to whether they would sell out at that price, but they seem to be well on their way. Heads up to he who hestitates.

According to an e-mail I received today from the GCM, "Almost 3/4ths of the tickets [to this event] have been sold." The email also mentions that they "will have 80 chefs," which is up from 65 last year.

=R=

My wife bought 2 tickets today at the GCM, and was told they were the last two.

I also heard that not only was the price doubled, but they also sold more tickets than previous years.

Last year we cautiously sold 1500 tickets, because the chefs in charge wanted to make certain that we could handle the crowd without running our of food. We wanted to err on the safe side. No chefs ran out of food, and nothing was overcrowded. This year, I believe, an additional 500 ticket are being sold, and with all the additional chefs there really should be more than ample food per customer. A quick check of Brown Paper tickets still had them available, maybe your wife just got the last two they physically had at the market today.

I ordered two more today from brownpapertickets and there are apparently still additional tickets left.

A couple comments on the GCM thread.

The farmers DO NOT donate their products to the Chef's Barbecue. The products are procured by the chefs. If the chefs strike a deal with a local farmer that is their business. The chefs do donate their food, time and staff.

It is very expensive to hold an event for 2,000 people. Between the rentals, security, water, serving stuff, ice, grills, porta-potty's, entertainment and more.

Raccoon is correct, we are only given a limited amount of tickets to sell at the market. She probably got the last 2 we had there that day.

And, yes the tickets are almost sold out. I am seeing many more people buying the tickets who truly want to support the market and farmers joining us this year. It was very foodie focused event in the past, but I think this year will be a nice mix.

And let's hope it doesn't rain this year!