Can this be right?

[shroomgirl]

Butler pass, well you can monitor the food way more closely than on a buffet.

Some caterers sell an amount of food, some sell a package.....timing of an event is important....

So, Tuesday's event.....passed aps the first 30 minutes while people show up
then carving and Asian stations for 1.5 hours, then dessert table goes up the last hour.
There is plenty of time to have meat out.....everyone will have had their fill.
But it will not drag through the whole evening, which would just be gross toward the end.


So, what do you teach your students about catering amounts Jim?

[gunther_arneson]

I think that it's great that there's some intuitive, shoot from the hip ideas here...they are great!

[shroomgirl]

shoot from the hip, but know your gun well and hopefully profile your target....but as the posts illuminate, not all is what you may perceive.

Interesting party this weekend.....should have read it better....the non-profit client birthday party/benefit was chaired by a young part time catering waitstaff.....read into that "thinks since she's been a waitress for a couple of gigs she knows it all, and does not want to spend $ on staff"........

Special diet menu.....again a birthday so some special things, shrimp no bread at all....so no filler.....

6-9pm....dinner....young 20's group, many students. Hungry group.

40 supposed to show, 50 RSVP'd I found out later, at least 80 showed......within 25 minutes the buffet was totally wiped out and they were still hungry, (well duh?!).....got desserts out....
Place was a mess......the volunteers they said would monitor the bar/cookie station weren't......it was just a mess. I hate when people try to save money and don't give the caterer all the info they have.....

I can make an inexpensive party work, I can prepare food that is glutin free...when you have 2x the amount of hungry guests I cannot help you out....when you choose to staff your own party it's going to be difficult to maintain......
So at the end of the day, several left to go find food elsewhere.....the place was flooded with dirty napkins/cups/plates.......there was no good flow.....

There needs to be a followup conversation....this non-profit does great work and I really want to work with them....plus they are my building neighbors/friends....BUT......

[pgr555]

Sorry Shroom, This is that same old, they lower the numbers to save $$$ and it is our reputation as much as or more than their event that suffers. Makes me CRAZY!!!

NO this is NOT right!

[lentil]

Oh, Shroom! People are simply unbelievable, aren't they?! Sorry you had such an evening...

[shroomgirl]

tomorrow I cook for a new hockey hall of famer....Lordy, now to remember his name. It'll be an interesting evening too.....as you can see it's almost midnight and I'm still awake.....just got in from peeling 25# of 31-40 count shrimp, making rolls for the carving station, caramelizing onions, making chutney......and that was after personal cheffing this morning.....long long day, I could not do this on a regular basis. No way no how. Those guys that are in restaurant kitchens pulling the monster hours have my renewed respect.

[lentil]

I think the difference, and that's not to say that restaurant kitchen people work any less hard because THAT IS NOT what I'm saying at all, is that in restaurants, the job is more predictable. In restaurants, there's an expectation that on Monday you do so many covers and on Saturday you triple that. In catering, I find myself taking on jobs at the last minute or doing as you do, working late into the evening making pieces of the next day's job.

Or maybe the difference is that in catering, most of us don't have the staff to help pick up the slack, whereas in a rest, there's more help around. It's hard to keep a full or even part time on the payroll in my catering business. Right now I have 3 pt people, but it's only because I've added daily lunches and twice weekly delivery of baked goods to my repertoire.