| Hi. I’m Ben Benton from Flagstaff, Arizona. I believe that you will enjoy my daily journal from Winter Park, Colorado, Ski Resort during Christmas/New Year 2000. You’ll read about Winter Park Ski Resort, Snoasis, Sunspot Lodge, the great people who work here, and anything else I can think of to write about. | ||
|
Previous |
Christmas Day 2000 through Thursday, December 28Things have changed at Snoasis. Today is my first day back at work since Spring Break 2000. Mama Mia’s Pizzeria is open again after a one year hiatus, but with a commercial, pre-made crust, canned sauce, and tasteless mozzarella. We used to make the crust from scratch with all fresh ingredients, including buttermilk. And the sauce was out of this world. The cheese was a three-cheese blend that tasted good. Skiers would order a slice, eat it, and usually come back for a second slice. Not any more. It’s interesting to note, though, that the old slices were 1/6 of a 14 inch pizza for $2.85 and this year’s slices are 1/4 of a 14 inch pizza for $4.25. Get ‘em once with a big slice of cardboard and you don’t have to worry about enticing them back for a second slice. Upstairs in the scramble area, the homemade chili and soups are gone; replaced with frozen plastic bags, called Campbell’s Restaurant Quality. Christmas Day I worked in Mama Mia’s baking pizzas. Tuesday, I was early morning cook. Easy. I just put those plastic bags of chili and soup in the steam jacketed kettle filled with hot water and waited for them to reach 165 degrees. I actually did cook something, though. I sliced roast beef, mixed in some onions and B-B-Q sauce and created B-B-Q beef for sandwiches. All the above was prepared for Lunch Rock Cafe farther up the mountain. I spent the remainder of the day making tasteless pizzas. Wednesday and Thursday were spent on the grill. Pretty busy on Wednesday and REALLY busy on Thursday. I wonder if the skiers notice the difference. On Thursday,
Snoasis was expected to gross $16,000. We do it in four hours.
Winter Park has consistently been voted “Colorado’s
Favorite Ski Resort” by the Denver media. Denverites feel
comfortable here. We allow them to bring their own lunch and
eat it at a table in Snoasis. Although our prices are high and
getting higher each year, they still are less than Vail or Aspen.
But I’m guessing that a four-hole soup kettle in the scramble
area with the big, glaring “Campbell’s Restaurant Quality”
signage will take it’s toll.  |
Snoasis Photos |
|
|
||
|