- and we're yours to discover.
Yes, you've seen us in action all across our home and native land. You've read about our thai wraps, you've gotten to know the team a little bit, and you've seen the most respectable business figures prancing around in paper chicken hats.
But yet, you may still be left asking: what really happens behind the scenes of the Special Events team? Being on the road for 30 + days, just how do these traveling chicken experts do what they do?
Well, O faithful reader, the time has come for you to find out.
That's right. For the next two days, as we trek from Thunder Bay, to Sault Ste. Marie, to our final destination of Brampton, Ontario, I'm going to host a little Q&A session about truck procedure, hotel check-ins, and everything in between so you can see EXACTLY what goes on when the BBQs go off.
Q1: How long does it take to set up the truck?
I don't think I mentioned it before: the Showtruck we're taking across Canada is brand new this summer! Back in June when our events were just starting to pick up, no one except Frank Palermo (our boss) knew what in the world to do with this massive transformer of a trailer. As a result, set-up took about 45 minutes to an hour to complete.
There are multiple steps in this truck set-up procedure, which include lowering the trailer,
extending the awning,
and setting up the stage.
What's cool is that the stage is indeed a wall of the trailer! It's only a matter of turning two keys to lower the whole thing. After that, we have to put on support brackets below the stage to make it level, then unfold the walls and set up the stairs and railings to support the mad dash of hungry customers that we're expecting.
Once that's done, we also have to prep the inside of the trailer. This includes (but is by no means limited to) mopping the floor, disinfecting all the counter-tops, setting up the display case and cutting vegetables for wrap-making.
But honestly, after doing countless events since June, that hour of set-up time has been cut in half. The guys can set up the stage in about 15 minutes while the rest of us do our thang inside, equalling up to about half an hour prep time. Basically, we're like that team of sprinting young people who clean the diamond in between baseball innings.
Q2: How big is the truck's gas tank?
Bigger than our bladders, apparently. The truck can take about 300 litres of diesel fuel, meaning that we have to fill up once a day (while making an average of two more for bathroom breaks and food.)
It got a little interesting in the mountainous regions of Northwest NoWhere where fuel stops were more sparce than death metal punk rockers at the Calgary Stampede. But we managed to get from all our Point A's to all our Point B's with plenty of gas. And not just from Josh.
Q3: What was the hottest city you went to?
Kelowna, British Columbia – 35 degrees. Beachy keen weather, but avoid black shirts at all costs.
Q4: What was the coldest city you went to?
Regina, Saskatchewan – 9 degrees. Feeling the change of both the time zone and the ozone.
Q5: Are you sick of each other?
Well I can’t speak for everyone else, but I’ll be happy if I never see Grant, Cassandra, Natalie, Josh and Mike ever again.
HA! No but actually, what that really means is that I’m probably going to wake up on Wednesday morning in my own bed in Georgetown and start bawling because my chicken mates aren’t in the same room! We’ve had some GREAT times together over the last four weeks, a lot of them being simple bonding hours in hotel rooms talking, chilling, prancing, galavanting, and inside-joke-making. We went to sleep laughing more than once!
Don’t get me wrong, when you’re with the same people for over four weeks, there will naturally be a few riffs here and there. We’re a team of different personalities which come out when you spend all waking hours with each other. But I’m happy to report that there were no major conflicts, kerfuffles or fist fights between the six of us.
The only real issue over the whole trip was radio and iPod control while on the road. A war between John Mayer and techno beats ensued in the Flex pretty much on the daily…and funny enough, as I write this chunk of my post, Grant is jamming to “All I want for Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey.
This trip has been an interesting musical experience to say the least.
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And thus ends session one! Please hold all further questions until tomorrow evening when we arrive at our next location in Sault Ste. Marie.
Thank you for your participation, and good day to you from a thundery Thunder Bay.
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