A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A TEAM CUISINE HOST

First and foremost, thank you for volunteering to host Team Cuisine!!  RAGBRAI would not be RAGBRAI without you. Our goal is  to have our hosts feel like a guest in their own home. TC is a pretty well oiled machine at this point.

Arrival:

On  the day that you host TC, we do not expect you to do anything other  than sit back, relax and enjoy the experience.  We bring our truck equipped with a fridge, freezer and Weber grill.  We also bring our own food and drink with the full expectation that you will partake in both.  

Your job is to do nothing but have a good time.

Typically, a TC daily schedule looks like the following:

9:30-10:00  AM: The head chef arrives with kitchen crew via auto while the support  staff arrives in the main truck. Our support truck carries all the team  provisions including the freezer, fridge, Weber grill, bins full of all  kitchen equipment, folding tables, lawn chairs, soda, water, beer, wine  and rider luggage.

With  the truck’s arrival, you will also meet the House Captain face to face to review your home’s layout and the house rules.

Meanwhile, the kitchen crew will be organizing the kitchen, bringing in bins filled with pots, pans utensils etc. Since we are completely self-sufficient, no cooking utensils will be needed from the home. Our  staff will do all prep work and cooking for the dinner meal. ………….  Dinner prep has officially started!!

While  the kitchen crew is getting started, Don and Emma, our support crew  extraordinaire, begin to set up the lawn chairs, coolers and tables in preparation for riders to show at camp.

The  House Captain will be in and out during the day running errands to the  market, placing directional signs for the riders and completing any other requests from the kitchen crew.

Again, we really want you to sit back, relax and enjoy the day.

2:00  – 5:00 PM: The riders start showing up and the House Captain sets up a  shower list. As the riders filter into camp, the pre assigned “personal fabric technician” (a fellow rider) starts the first load of laundry (jersey and riding shorts). Riders gather their gear bag and claim some floor space while the outdoor folks set up  their tents.

5:00  – 6:00 PM: Usually, your invited guests start to arrive and mingle with  the arriving riders.  The camp starts to transform into a festive  atmosphere with new friends being made. The pre-dinner social party has  now begun!

6:00  PM: The main event: Dinner is served. Before we start to dine, the chef explains the meal and how the kitchen crew prepared the dishes. The team rule is that you and your guests go thru the line before the team.

Team Cuisine Helpful Hint:  Sample a small portion of every dish and come back for your favorites. You will be sure to get a tasting of different types of food you may not  have tried before.

After dinner, the pre-assigned clean-up crew (selected riders) will begin to clean up and wash all cooking equipment. You will notice laughter coming from the kitchen while KP duty is unfolding because, despite all the grumping, clean up can be a lot of fun. Clean up crew is dismissed upon inspection of the kitchen by you, our hosts. We really strive to leave your kitchen cleaner than we found it.

Remember the Team Cuisine Goal is to have the Hosts feel like guests in their own home!

After dinner, while we may have a few hearty souls venture into town, the vast majority of TC stays and enjoys the company of our hosts. Besides,  most of us are sleeping by 10:00 PM.

Departure:

5:00  – 7:00 AM: TC is getting up, packing up sleeping bags, tents, getting their gear bag back on the truck and rolling out on their bikes to the  next town.

7:00  – 7:30 AM:  You will do a walk- through of the house with the new day’s  House Captain to ensure that everything is in order.

Team Cuisine Hint #2:  The riders are on the road by 7:00 AM and the crew usually pulls out no later than 7:30 AM, so as to not wear out our welcome.  This allows our  Hosts to begin the journey back to normal life…………….

However, as Team  Cuisine departs, we have noticed on many occasions our hosts scratching their heads and saying:

“Not sure what happened over the last 24 hours, but it sure was fun!!”