OB Market Debut

My truck was loaded with bread, butter, cheese, ice, drinks & Dirty Chips when I left work early on June 5, 2013.  Kate met me at home & we drove the three blocks to Newport Ave. & saw Dave at the barricade.

"Who are you guys?" he asked.

"Mad Munch," I said.

"Mad Munch?" he barked back.

"The grilled cheese people," Kate yelled from across the passenger seat.

"Oh, right.  You guys are my fill ins," he said.  "Follow me.  You'll be in front of OB Shell Shop."

He directed us to our spot for the day- a small area on the sidewalk.  We would have to maneuver our tent between someone else's tent & a bush with a planter's box around it.  "You guys are here.  You can't leave your truck, so you'll have to unload & go park somewhere else."

We thanked him & started unloading everything from the back of my truck.  At the other two markets I always left a few items behind to grab if I needed them, but this one was different.  Kate's co-worker, Tammi, had let us borrow two 6-foot fold up tables (one for the front display & one for my cooking ingredients in back).  It fit in the truck easier & under bright red table clothes looked a lot better.

"What are you gonna do about the truck?" Kate asked.  "Just park at home, right?"

"Yeah, than I can just ride my bike back & lock it up somewhere close by," I said.  

We got the truck emptied & everything positioned.  I find that it's easier to put things down where you want them to be for the market, so that way you only move it once.  But, when it's your first time at a new location you must figure out on the fly how you want to set up.  

The most important placement is the grill.  You put the grill in a bad spot where the wind can easily put out your burner flames, you'll have an uphill battle all day.  

"Hey guys!  Look at you doing OB now." my friend Kris asked as we were setting up.  "Get your Cheezers, here!"  He was the one who had helped me at Mad Munch's very first market at Golden Hill.

And when the two of you both came from your day jobs that you don't particularly care for & are trying to setup in a foreign spot, the last thing you need is to make small talk with a heckling friend.  

"Yep, we gotta get setup so I can move the truck," I said.  He offered to help, but I turned him down.

"We got this, thanks," Kate said.  

There was a bit of arguing about placement that day, over what I don't recall, but we were able to light the grill & make our setup look welcoming.  When I returned & locked up my bike, I saw Kate talking to some people at the front table.  People I didn't recognize.  They were customers.

"Here," she handed me a scrap of paper that read:  -OBC    -KAHUNA    -DONNIE

We were on the board before four o'clock & the orders just kept coming.  Kate would take the order, hand it to me, I would butter the bread & make the sandwich on the griddle.  After we got backed up, she started buttering bread between orders which only made the line longer!  

A good thing, if we weren't surrounded on three sides like a display at the zoo.  I felt like our customers (many of whom were our friends) & people passing by could sense our panic & urgency of being slammed.  I would later learn that this was called "being in the weeds," & I did feel somewhat to that effect.

Kris leaned over to me at the back table, "Dude, you guys should butter the bread ahead of time," he told me.  I thanked him & handed him his OBC when I finished.  It was actually one of the first & few great suggestions that would come from anyone over the years doing Mad Munch.

Dave handed us our market slip after the sunset around eight.  "How'd you do grilled cheese?" he asked.

"Good," I said.  "That's all of the bread we got left."  I pointed at the last four slices of egg bread.

"Great.  Just pay Claudia on the way out.  The fee is $35."

I went back to grab my truck, Kate counted the money in the cash box, paid Claudia & we loaded up everything & drove home.  It was a good day but we'd need to make some adjustments going forward.