Footy is back at Kardinia Park and the Rotary Club of Geelong is again running a pie van. The venture has raised significant dollars over the years and as it is powered by volunteers all profits go back into the community.
It was all very different to previous years with COVID restrictions on crowd numbers, limited access to areas on the ground and many constraints for food operators! We were only allowed three people inside the pie van compared to five previously. All transactions had to be done by EFTPOS – no cash was allowed for use anywhere in the stadium! We obtained a second EFTPOS machine from the Bendigo Bank and Helen St John and Geoff Everett managed all sales and payments. The customers were happy and final figures all balanced to the exact cent so a fantastic job by Helen and Geoff. Heating all the pies was the job of Leslie Hatton on one leg! What an outstanding job done by Leslie in really hot conditions – every pie, pastie and sausage roll was heated to perfection and quality control standards and not one item was lost! Leslie also set up the van and signage and packed 450 paper bags with serviettes and sauce before the event! David Barkley handled COVID requirements and crowd management and dealing with O’Brien’s.
The crowd was obviously enjoying getting back to live footy because our sales exceeded all expectations for the reduced crowd. Despite getting an extra 50 pies from O’Brien’s and the AFL instructing all visitors from Brisbane to leave at half time, we had sold all our product before the end of half-time and had to close the van! We ended up making in excess of $900 for the night.
Rotarians from clubs in Orbost and Melton as well as several local clubs identified themselves to us and were very impressed with the operation.
Well done to all the team.
The crowd was obviously enjoying getting back to live footy because our sales exceeded all expectations for the reduced crowd. Despite getting an extra 50 pies from O’Brien’s and the AFL instructing all visitors from Brisbane to leave at half time, we had sold all our product before the end of half-time and had to close the van! We ended up making in excess of $900 for the night.
Rotarians from clubs in Orbost and Melton as well as several local clubs identified themselves to us and were very impressed with the operation.
Well done to all the team.