I hosted my first pop-up

Logistics, finances, and thoughts.

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A few weeks ago, I hosted my first pop-up at Time Again, a bar in New York’s Chinatown. And as I was trying to explain to my parents what a pop-up was, I realized that not everyone is familiar with the concept. Very simply, a pop-up is a chef or restaurant that pops-up to cook at a location on a temporary basis.

I set a goal last year to cook more in public but I didn’t do much to act on that goal. I had always been under the impression that you needed a sizable audience to successfully host a pop-up, or that you needed a really niche idea. I also didn’t even really know where to get started — I see a lot of people hosting pop-ups, but I don’t ever learn how it all works.

a few photos from my brother

I talked to my friend Chloe Walsh — a person who hosts very cool pop-ups — and she suggested I come up with menu ideas and reach out to restaurants. But I was always stuck in this mentality of no one will want to host me, I don’t have enough followers to even get people to come, and putting yourself out there is really scary, so I just never made any moves.

But finally one day, I did.

I had been keeping a list of places to reach out to, and one day I came home in a fit of motivation and reached out to the first one on the list. I expected to have to pitch myself and a menu, but all the bar needed to know what dates I was interested in. I went with January 4th to quietly ease back into work after the holidays. I also admittedly wanted a date where I knew it would be quieter.

I decided to serve chili which was a half-joking suggestion from my friend Peter but I thought it could actually be pretty fun. Chili is cozy and satisfying and fun and unique, and I loved the idea of having it in a bar with a nice glass of wine. To prepare, I did some research in the form of a reconnaissance mission to Costco. I priced out all of my ingredients, supplies I might need, and walked down every aisle to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.

just a girl and her chili

When I initially planned this menu, I thought about doing a few different things: a few types of chili, a salad option, an option to have pasta with your chili (how I like it), a dessert. But the more I thought about it, I wasn’t convinced I could prep, store, and serve that many different components, so the menu had to be paired down to just chili and toppings. I also debated charging extra for toppings, but ultimately landed on a single price that included everything: $13 for meat and bean and $10 for the vegan chili. I based the price on costs, but ultimately it felt like a shot in the dark.

I was told to plan for 100 people which is a lot — a big enough number that I momentarily thought about backing out. But since I intentionally picked a quieter date, I planned for a more manageable 75 people instead. I’d cooked for 25+ people at multiple Friendsgivings, and 75 felt like less of a leap.

I picked two recipes I’d made before and tweaked them to make them my own. Alison Roman’s Gorgeous Chili and the NYTimes Cooking Vegan Farro Chili also had a lot of overlapping ingredients so I could smartly shop. I made a few updates to make both options gluten free, and I added in more chilies and spices to make them a bit more Southwest-y.

Promoting this was where I dropped the ball a bit. I posted it on Instagram and texted a bunch of friends, but I failed to mention it in this newsletter. I got a handful of messages after saying they would have come if they knew, which was a reminder to even share with folks you don’t speak with daily. I learned you don’t need a huge following to host a pop-up, but you better be prepared to promote it heavily.

have you ever seen so much chili?

The Monday before the pop-up it was finally go time. I shopped for almost everything on Monday and Tuesday and tested the limits of storage in my fridge. On Wednesday (New Year’s Eve), I made all four batches of the vegan chili, and on New Year’s day I peeled myself off the couch around 4pm to make two batches of a meat and bean chili. Friday I made the final four batches of meat and bean chili. Throughout the week I did some other prep like making pickled onions and pickled chilies, but a lot of the toppings prep was saved for Saturday and Sunday.

My brother came in for 48 hours because he hadn’t visited his favorite sister in a while, but also because he wanted to experience a pop-up on the prep and production side. He had a red eye Friday night and after a morning nap, he, my boyfriend Andrew, and I rolled out Saturday mid-morning to run a few errands (pick up tortillas and get extra cheddar at Murray’s), but mostly to have a nice day bopping around the city.

Sunday we got Dim Sum in Sunset park, did some final errands and prep, and at 3:15, it was showtime. Time Again’s kitchen is an extremely barebones operation so not only did I do all the prep at my house, I also had to bring cooking equipment with me. I brought chili and toppings, but I also brought pots, my induction burner, a warming mat I borrowed from a friend, and serving utensils.

Chili dream team: Jonathan, Andrew, me

At 5pm sharp, my friends showed up, which actually was pretty helpful in easing my nerves. I could practice taking orders and getting them right with people I knew. By the time I started to take orders from people I didn’t know, I had a better system to take orders and serve.

We stayed at the bar until 9:30 and I served about 22 servings of chili, a handful to people I didn’t know. One woman came in because she saw the chili posted on instagram, which was cool. I served someone at 9:30 after we’d packed up because I could tell they really wanted chili but felt bad about asking. Someone asked me about hosting a private party and another woman tried to order a negroni from me, two things I couldn’t help with.

All in all, I made $305 with tips. Which if you look at my expenses, is a loss. The cost of food ingredients was ultimately not crazy because I mostly shopped in bulk at Costco, but the gluten free lager was an expensive surprise. My brother brought green chilies from New Mexico and made red chili gravy for the toppings bar. The biggest expenses were large containers to store the chili and the required cabs there and back.

I had a lot of leftover chili which is now nicely packed away in my freezer, and so far has been given away as a thank you for a favor, brought on a ski trip, and I even think a colleague is going to buy some. About a dozen tortillas went home with my brother in exchange for the chilies, and I’ll happily eat the rest. The extra cheddar and sour cream will be used for an upcoming recipe for this newsletter, and the extra bowls and cutlery will be used for future parties and pop-ups.

I didn’t sell out but that’s ok. I learned a lot, had fun, challenged myself, and as a bonus, have some cozy leftovers for the rest of winter. Now that I’ve hosted my first one, I have the confidence and knowledge to do more.

I don’t have my next one planned yet, but stay tuned to this newsletter and Instagram for updates.