Bringing Food into Competition Venues

[wendymom]

Originally Posted by Ryan Dognaux

Which is why I find myself never following this rule. It's not FIRST's fault, it just comes with the venue. The food doesn't support FIRST it supports the vendors.

If buying food and bringing it into an arena results in a team saving enough money to actually come and participate in a Regional, then I say do it. Situations might be nice for some teams, but others have to find a way to save money with the entry fees, hotel costs, travel costs, etc. It's hard to cut corners on the other things, so I can easily see this rule being broken in order for a team to have the money to do the rest.

I will never pay three dollars for a bottle of Coke if I can get one down the street for a dollar. 1 buck vs. 3 dollars - seems pretty clear to me.

Team 1902 Exploding Bacon solved this problem by having one of the mentors/moms go out and get food every day and we all had a picnic in front of the arena. We also kept a cooler of drinks out in the car, and while I admit that in Atlanta it was quite a hike every day from the van to the picnic tables it sure cut down on costs. Didnt have to break a rule, got better food, cheaper price. it was win- win all the way.