Ruriko: yeah it was lucky they let you sell your stuff in the venders hall... hotel people and their prices >.> didnt you get to sell your cupcakes because it was something only you guys could make or something like that? *good memory for random facts spoken on the bored.* hm maybe we could try a similar route, to you remeber how much they were going to cost you for the catoring?
They worked really really really hard for us to get to sell things in the Vendor hall, but it was explicitly stated that you may NOT sell things during panels..... We were the ones that they had cater the Ouran panel. Each panel gets a little bit of money already, if you get a hold of who is working with the panels this year and approach them professionally, with a list of what you'd like, an how much you'd predict it would cost (or in the case of water/tea/treats, how much they would expect the hotel to charge..) they can help you work out something to help pay for it. There is a budget request form that you fill out along with your panel request form. No guarantee you'll get the money you ask for, but they're sweet people, and if you are serious about this panel, I see no reason why they wouldn't help you out!
A lot of people use this sort of thing to pay for prizes given away in their panels. *shrug* It is worth a shot!
We catered our own panel. We had already been approved to cater panels through this hotel, so we were allowed to bring our own to the Midnight Snacks panel.
And yes, that is why we were allowed, we were a business that sold things that the hotel did not sell, and the people that worked at the con were awesome and somehow managed to get us in. It was by a hairs' breadth, though, it seemed.
Worst case, we might try and work together. That would give you more time to prep with your maid personas, and you wouldn't have to rent a professional kitchen/deal with all of the tax la la la/food handlers cards/insurance that is required. @_@ And we are cheaper than the hotel (thus why we did the Ouran....That and we also really wanted to...Cause it's awesome, hehe). And it would be sweets from one group of maids sold by another, which is also pretty awesome, honestly. :3
Long winded reply, but I wanted to try and be of help to you guys~!
Wishing you the best~~
-Ichigo and the NekoPan Maids