We have all been in more than one occasion in an event, corporate or family, in which a catering service has been offered by a company specialized in it.
And as a user, what do you ask above all from this service?
I think the most important thing to leave satisfied is RHYTHM, which implies, for example, not having to chase a waiter to get a drink and not having to digest between appetizers.
And how is this achieved in a catering service?
We are going to explain how Artigot Catering develops a cocktail service , but it can be used for a coffee, a seated menu, a buffet, etc.
1.- ARRIVAL TO SPACE
It is very important to arrive early enough so that when the guests arrive everything is already prepared.
For this to happen, the space must be known in advance, to avoid surprises at the time of unloading, to be able to carry the appropriate machinery and that the leads do not jump during the service.
The furniture, table linen and decoration of the service will have been previously defined with the client in accordance with the image to be projected.
Equally important, it is important to have enough people on the team to prepare it.
It seems easy, but if we consider that the price of the catering service includes an important personnel cost, it is necessary to have the right team, no more and no less, so as not to make the service more expensive and not to have to go running.
And of course, it is vital that the load is complete, that all the material, furniture, food and beverages that will be needed during the development of the catering service arrive at the destination.
2.- PREVIOUS ORGANIZATION
In these two hours prior to service, the team is divided by task, with the supervision of the sales manager, the maitre d' and the head chef:
- Waiters who prepare the room: support tables, bars, stations if necessary, decoration, etc.
- Waiters preparing the internal Beverage Control and beverage bars, with glass, ice buckets, coolers, soft drinks, beer taps, wine bottles ....
- Waiters assisting in the preparation of appetizers in the kitchen
- Kitchen equipment: organize the kitchen space with the necessary machinery and worktops for the preparation of each skewer. In general, before the start of the catering service, the cold appetizers have already been plated and the hot appetizers are half assembled, in order to be able to alternate hot and cold during the service.
- Maitre d' Briefing: once the tasks are completed, the maitre d' gathers all the waiters and gives them the instructions for the development of the service, assigns areas, divides the food and beverage waiters and explains the flow in and out of the kitchen, organization of the office etc.
3.- DEVELOPMENT OF THE CATERING SERVICE
We are now ready to start the cocktail party.
All the starting waiters come out with trays of drinks so that, in the shortest time possible, everyone in the audience has a drink in hand. From that moment on, the waiters split up and half of them start passing appetizers.
Coordination between the dining room and the kitchen is essential to ensure that the pace of service is adequate. Maitre d' and head chef communicate with each other so that the flow of food and beverages does not stop. For example, if an appetizer is delayed in its preparation, the order is changed and another one is brought out in its place to give it time to finish warming up or plate the first one. Or to manage trays for people with food allergies or intolerances.
Thanks to the instructions given, all areas of the space are covered, it does not happen that there are people who complain that they do not get food or drink, because each waiter attends only his area, without admitting the attempts of approaches from other diners, rejecting it with a smile and explaining that his waiter comes behind, since the output with each new appetizer from the kitchen is all the waiters at the same time.
Little tricks to ensure that the service is smooth and reaches all guests equally, from the first appetizer to the last pastries and within the scheduled service time.
We are not going to count here the unforeseen events that arise during the service, such as the start of the service being delayed and then having to run to finish on time, for example, but these things are inherent to the service and are saved thanks to the experience acquired during many catering services...
Picking up and cleaning the space is also very important and is scheduled in advance. We cannot delay and when we leave, everything has to be left as if it had not been passed by.
4.- PERSON IN CHARGE OF THE SERVICE
We have not talked about a fundamental figure in the development of the contracted catering service, which is the Commercial Manager.
He has not only sent the first commercial proposal, nor has he made a thousand changes until the customer's final approval, he has carried out the menu test and closed all the details of the service. He has also supervised the loading order, talked to the kitchen and explained the particularities of the service and the customer, visited the space and organized the layout of the room.
In addition, he controls the schedules by being the first to unload on arrival at the space, this is a key moment because the client is attending to a thousand things and needs to feel that the catering part is controlled in the hands of the person who knows the most about the organization.
The sales manager is in permanent contact with the space manager and the client, before, during and at the end of the service. He or she is notified of possible delays or delays in the service, who should be attended with special care (usually the managers of the company that carries out the event), people with allergies, and a long etcetera.
Try to leave food aside for your client's team so that after the service, they can relax and enjoy the food as well, just like the team members in the space.
Small details that will ensure that our client will come back to Artigot Catering the next time, with the peace of mind of having achieved a perfect catering service development.
