They sold well, until about 2:15 or so, and then things really started slowing down. There were small rushes every hour for a little while between classes. We ended the day with about 11 left over doughnuts, but we gave some to Tracie's aunt Linda and so we aren't going to be eating that many at all.
Tracie came over at noon after her class and was really excited to see how big the doughnuts actually were. She helped out a lot for the rest of the day, and caught on quickly to the fine art of convincing people to buy the unpopular flavours. For example, of 6 dozen maple favoured doughnuts we had 2 dozen left over after selling 7 dozen sprinkle doughnuts and 15 dozen chocolate. I could see that the maple weren't selling and so when someone asked what type they should buy, I would push the maple. When it happened the first time I said maple right away, and Tracie said chocolate. She knew right away that she should have agreed about the maple.
Near the end of the day, I was talking to James, and he helped push the maple a little at the very end. People would come up and be disappointed that there were no chocolate or sprinkle doughnuts and he would tell them that maple was really good.
So if I had it to do over, I would order only 2 dozen honeydew, 3 dozen maple, 10 dozen sprinkles, and 15 chocolate. Hardly anybody bought the honeydew doughnuts, but we did sell all 24 which came as a surprise. I don't think it would be easy to sell much more than 24 of them. Lots of people were disappointed that we ran out of sprinkles and the maple didn't sell too well, so I think more sprinkles and less maple would be in order. The chocolate lasted right until the end but did sell out, so I think 15 dozen is the right number.
I don't know if I got the right table. I liked my location a lot, but I think that I may have been better off downstairs, because everybody else who has been selling them has been doing it downstairs. I don't know if it actually mattered at all, but maybe. The other thing that may have caused having a dozen leftover could have been the fact that it was the first day back after reading week. It is possible that there were fewer than normal students on campus due to extended vacations. But, I guess you never can tell.
The thing about Texas doughnuts it that they are an impulse item. You either buy them or you don't, not a lot of thought goes into the purchase. As such, results may vary. I'm not sure how often these sales could be held. I would be confident with the same number again next week, but maybe not again this week.
In case you are wondering, I now have $300 more than I started with.
-Gary Milner, Fresh Off Success
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