I thought about providing cake at St Ives, but the sheer logistics of the number of tray bakes that we would have had to work on to feed 1500 riders twice (baking is labour intensive both in the cooking and the cleaning) put me off. We settled for fruit salad instead which was still labour intensive but less than baking. We did buy in flapjacks which we did ration (we didn't ration any of the hot food) as from past experience this was essential in ensuring that the later riders had a choice.
Another thing we were asked for a lot was eggs, which again I shied away from in terms of labour intensity (at peak times controls can turn over 200 riders an hour which even with simple one pot food required 10 - 12 kitchen helpers (and more people even in a secondary school kitchen would be a challenge). But my wife came up with the suggestion of Spanish omelette - Tortillas - which can be prepped in advance.
I'm amazed how much food we got out so quickly there, particularly on sunday where the kitchen was working flat out from before I got there at 0830 to when i left at 19:30 with 4 or 5 of us serving almost constantly. Hope it all carried on smoothly through into Friday as well, I'd have liked to stay longer but just couldn't I'm afraid.
There was a lot went very right at St Ives from what I saw, thanks to great organisation by Phil, and yourself in the kitchens.
We had a a regularly updated flipchart with a menu at st Ives, but still had to keep repeating everything. Some riders even struggled with "do you want that on a plate or bowl?".