Q: What are the maximum capacities for the dinners?

A: Capacity varies by location and season:

Q: What is the cost?

A: big Burrito requests that you charge a set minimum amount to your guests for the meal.

You are welcome to charge more than this if you feel it is appropriate, please just let us know.

Q: How do guests pay?

A: We prefer that the organization handle all ticket payments, and that checks be written directly to the organization. Mad Mex will not accept money for ticket sales. The only money that will be owed to Mad Mex is gratuity for your servers.

Q: How is gratuity handled?

A: Organizations are responsible for handling gratuity for your servers the night of the benefit dinner. It can be paid with cash or credit card. 20% gratuity of the value of the dinner is already accounted for in our suggested minimums.

Example for a dinner at Casbah:

We suggest charging $150 per person for the dinner, with $20 of that $150 per person going to the restaurant for staff gratuity.

 

Q: What time do the dinners start?

A: All Dinners are held on Tuesdays. AVP, Casbah, Eleven, Soba: 6:00pm; All Mad Mex locations: 7:00 pm

Q: What will the menu look like?

A: AVP, Eleven, Casbah, and Soba A choice of appetizers, entrees, and desserts are selected from a preset menu in advance with a red & white wine served throughout the dinner.

Mad Mex Erie, Shadyside, and Robinson dinners are served a fajita buffet (includes chips and salsa, Casa Salad, Wings, and a selection of entrees), plus one 16oz Dos Equis draft or a 16oz House Margarita per person (must be 21 or older), soft drinks, and a dessert table.

Q: How will the event be promoted? Where can I get your logos to use in our promotion?

A: The benefit dinners are often announced on big Burrito/Mad Mex marketing materials and to our email list, but the success of a benefit dinner depends primarily on the effort and promotion conducted by the organization. Examples of other organizations’ marketing can be provided upon request. Our logos are available here: http://www.bigburrito.com/logos/. If you need them in another format, just let us know.

Q: Can I have a speaker/presentation/video/performance/literature table/raffle/etc at my dinner?

A: Depending on the location this may be possible. Let us know what you have in mind, and we’ll work with you to try and make it possible.

Q: Will the dinner be wheelchair accessible? Is handicap parking available?

A: This varies for each of our restaurants.

AVP: is wheelchair accessible and there are handicap parking spots in both the lot directly in front of the restaurant as well as the BKSQ South Garage.

Casbah: unfortunately, is not wheelchair accessible. There is valet parking available.

Eleven: unfortunately, is not wheelchair accessible. There is valet parking available.

Soba: unfortunately, is not wheelchair accessible. Valet parking is available.

Mad Mex Erie: is wheelchair accessible and there are handicapped parking spots in the restaurant parking lot.

Mad Mex Robinson: is wheelchair accessible and there are handicapped parking spots in the restaurant parking lot.

Mad Mex Shadyside: unfortunately, is not wheelchair accessible. There is valet parking available.

Q: How soon can I apply for another benefit dinner?

A: Generally, we only offer an organization one benefit dinner every other year. We do occasionally make exceptions when a group has a very successful benefit (reaching or coming close to the maximum capacity for the location), depending upon availability. If you are interested in planning another benefit in the future, please wait until at least the day after your upcoming benefit has passed, then submit a new application (it does not need to be as detailed as your initial application, but we do need to have a new application for each request). This will be reviewed and we will let you know when a decision has been made.

 

Q: What if I have to reschedule/cancel my benefit dinner?

A: A lot of work goes into the planning and preparation for our benefit dinners. Often, we have made mention of these events in our promotional materials, planned the menu and purchased ingredients, and scheduled staff to work the event weeks or months in advance. We receive numerous applications, scheduling the benefits at some of our locations a year or more ahead of time, and sometimes even having to turn away deserving organizations because our schedule is full. We are proud to offer our benefit dinner series to our local communities, and we hope the groups we work with will take their event as seriously as we do. Once your benefit is scheduled, we ask that you consider the date to be final, and take responsibility for the promotion of the event. Before finalizing the date of your event, please think carefully about whether you are confident in your ability to reach or come close to the number of guests we can host at the price point for the restaurant you’ve chosen, and please consider whether there are any potential conflicts with the date you select. (Is it very close to another event already on your schedule? Is it near a holiday that may prevent some guests from attending? Is it during a time of year when your group/your members or donors are less active—ie summertime for school groups—or likely to be away?) Depending on the circumstance, amount of notice given, and space available on our schedule, we can sometimes reschedule a group in an emergency situation. If you find that canceling/rescheduling is absolutely unavoidable, please let us know as soon as possible. Please be aware that cancellation usually prevents us from being able to schedule your group for a benefit dinner in the future. Our goal is for every available date to be filled and for the groups we host to raise as much money as possible. We hate to see an open date go by without a benefit dinner, especially when that date is open because an organization took it and then canceled, when it could have been filled by another group. We strive to make sure that each of our benefit dinners is a success.

Q: What do I do if I have more questions?

A: Please contact Emily Farley by email (efarley@bigburrito.com) or phone (412-361-3272 x231).