I would guess it's going to be closer to the latter. Which alarms me, because we'd been hoping we'd be able to pause at around the same size for a cycle, after growing so much last cycle.
But so far when we've grown things have always turned out ok, modulo the usual minor breakage.
Anyone know where we can buy one of those vats they use to cook food on navy ships? We use the largest size home slow cookers you can get, and already we have 8 of them, which is starting to get awkward.
You should put it as a condition in the acceptance to W11. On a rolling basis "You shall wash the dishes of your colleagues". Another way to learn life & teamwork, not consider yourself too seriously, and mingle with other startup guys of the batch, "Esprit de Corps". Always lots of fun in the kitchens. Imagine one could later say "I used to wash the dishes with X&Y(next Larry & Sergei)!"... Friends for life.
Honestly, I wonder how much more the YC kitchen can scale. In my fraternity we had a chef preparing dinner for ~50, and he maxed out 2 convection ovens and industrial cookware. Granted, it was a larger variety than "lots of glop," but still...
Maybe time for either a kitchen upgrade or some catering.
A possible model for copying would be saudi charities' setup for feeding penniless pilgrims on haj. Rice and lentils (sometimes cooked by billionaires) served to thousands.
Maybe it's time to look at renting a restaurant for the dinners? It seems crazy to outfit an expensive kitchen just for one dinner per week for half the year, and I'm guessing that YC cohorts now are large enough that you could take over an entire restaurant (and thereby avoid the "YC speakers don't want to talk in public" problem, because there wouldn't be any non-YC people present).
Comments
I would guess it's going to be closer to the latter. Which alarms me, because we'd been hoping we'd be able to pause at around the same size for a cycle, after growing so much last cycle.
But so far when we've grown things have always turned out ok, modulo the usual minor breakage.
Anyone know where we can buy one of those vats they use to cook food on navy ships? We use the largest size home slow cookers you can get, and already we have 8 of them, which is starting to get awkward.
Groen makes them. You can order them direct:
http://www.groenkettle.com/commercial_kettles_self_contained...
or from Atlanta Fixture company:
http://www.atlantafixture.com/ItemSummary.aspx?CategoryGuid=...
There's also Cleavland kettles:
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/third2857/products/steam-ket...
or, have an Amazon Prime account?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dap...
Thanks! Those things look serious. I wonder how you clean them.
Generic instructions:
http://www.mafoodsafetyeducation.info/fs_work/feast/steam_ja...
Instructions for a very large steam jacket kettle:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:wfghJgxxPiQJ:n...
Brochure comparing Groen models:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:Yr_W2uXNIJkJ:w...
You should put it as a condition in the acceptance to W11. On a rolling basis "You shall wash the dishes of your colleagues". Another way to learn life & teamwork, not consider yourself too seriously, and mingle with other startup guys of the batch, "Esprit de Corps". Always lots of fun in the kitchens. Imagine one could later say "I used to wash the dishes with X&Y(next Larry & Sergei)!"... Friends for life.
Honestly, I wonder how much more the YC kitchen can scale. In my fraternity we had a chef preparing dinner for ~50, and he maxed out 2 convection ovens and industrial cookware. Granted, it was a larger variety than "lots of glop," but still...
Maybe time for either a kitchen upgrade or some catering.
A possible model for copying would be saudi charities' setup for feeding penniless pilgrims on haj. Rice and lentils (sometimes cooked by billionaires) served to thousands.
Maybe it's time to look at renting a restaurant for the dinners? It seems crazy to outfit an expensive kitchen just for one dinner per week for half the year, and I'm guessing that YC cohorts now are large enough that you could take over an entire restaurant (and thereby avoid the "YC speakers don't want to talk in public" problem, because there wouldn't be any non-YC people present).
startups are founded in cycles so I guess you can't expect your program size to be constant.
we are definitely on the upswing part of the cycle atm