A Meeting Planners Guide to Catered Events

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A Meeting Planners Guide to Catered Events

• Chapter Six
• Staffing

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Staffing is Critical

• Customer satisfaction and repeat patronage are
  influenced primarily by food and beverage
  quality, service, sanitation, and cleanliness.
• An inadequate, undermanned, undertrained staff is
  incompatible with successful events.

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Volume Swings

• Many caterers experience severe volume swings.
• Convention centers in particular have a unique
  challenge in terms of volume and staffing.
• One day they may have a breakfast for 5,000,
  which requires a large staff.
• They may not have another similar function for
  two weeks.
• Difficult to keep qualified employees who prefer
  more predictable work schedules.

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A List

• In addition to full-time management and permanent
  hourly employees, many caterers maintain two
  lists of service-staff (i.e., banquet-staff)
  employees.
• A-list personnel are the steady extras they are
  called first when help is needed.
• If enough people are not available on the A list,
  the manager will call those on the B list.

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B List

• The B-list personnel are casual labor who are
  used to fill in the gaps.
• They present more of a challenge than A-list
  people because the typical B-list worker is
  probably on the B-list of every caterer in town.
• As a result, major functions can go begging for
  adequate staff.
• To overcome these obstacles, the caterer must be
  a creative personnel recruiter and a superb
  planner.

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Union Labor

• A unionized caterer usually is required to go
  through the local union hiring hall for its
  steady and casual servers.
• The union generally keeps lists of steadies and
  extras similar to the A and B lists kept by
  nonunionized properties.
• If the union has enough advance notice of
  caterers requirements, especially during peak
  demand periods, chances are it can satisfy their
  needs.

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Payroll Expense

• Most catered events are very labor intensive.
• Especially those that include many foods made
  from scratch in the facility's kitchens.
• It is not unusual for payroll costs to be
  one-third, or more, of a function's total price.

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Payroll Expense

• Payroll expense includes the cost of wages and
  salaries, required employee benefits, and
  discretionary employee benefits.
• Salaries are determined by the caterer and are
  usually consistent with local labor market
  conditions.
• Wages may be determined the same way.
• In union shops, wages are determined through
  negotiations with union representatives.

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Payroll Expense

• Required employee benefits are also referred to
  as payroll taxes.
• These include such expenses as Social Security,
  Medicare, unemployment, and workers
  compensation.
• Discretionary benefits include such expenses as
  health insurance, 401k contributions, and holiday
  pay.

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Benefits

• According to National Restaurant Association
  statistics, on average, benefits add
  approximately 28 to the cost of each employee.
• If a caterer pays an employee 10.00 per hour,
  the total labor cost for that person will be
  approximately 12.80 per hour.

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• There is a great deal of pressure to hold the
  line on payroll costs.
• This puts the meeting planner in a very awkward
  position when planning an event.
• To control payroll, a caterer may need to
  purchase more convenience foods, reduce menu
  options, and eliminate menu items that require a
  great deal of expensive expertise to prepare and
  serve.
• The other alternative is to charge more and/or
  charge separately for labor.
• Scheduling fewer servers and/or compromising
  other services are unacceptable options.

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• The caterer and meeting planner must stay within
  payroll budgets, but it is equally important to
  avoid alienating attendees.
• Instead of cutting labor, it is better to pay a
  modest labor surcharge so the function can be
  prepared and served correctly.
• If a caterer feels that a labor surcharge is the
  best option, he or she should suggest it and plan
  for it in advance.
• It should not be a last-minute consideration.

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Food Production Planning

• Meeting planners usually are not involved in
  determining the amount of food production labor
  needed for a meal function.
• Most menu prices for a meal function include the
  cost of production labor.
• Occasionally a meeting planner will need to
  consider paying extra for an action-station chef
  or a carver.
• But the bulk of the food production labor expense
  will be reflected in the menu prices,
  particularly if the meeting planner plans and
  purchases a standardized event.

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Food Production Planning

• The number of food production hours and the type
  of labor skills needed for a meal function depend
  primarily on
• Number of attendees
• Amount of time scheduled for the event
• Union and caterer human resources policies
• Type of service style needed
• Amount of convenience food used
• Amount of scratch production

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Cont

• Amount of finish cooking needed
• Types of menu items offered
• Number of last-minute requests
• Number of special diets
• Accuracy of mealtime estimates
• Caterers work-scheduling skills

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Number of Bar Backs Needed Depends On

• Number of bars scheduled
• Capacity of each bar to hold in-process
  inventories
• Distance between the bars and the kitchen and
  storeroom (or from the storage truck in an
  off-premise event)
• Degree of ease or difficulty associated with
  retrieving backup stock
• Number of attendees
• Hours of operation
• Variety of liquor stock, glassware, garnishes,
  and other supplies needed at the bars
• Applicable union and company human resources
  policies

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Number of Bartenders Needed Depends On

• Number of bars scheduled
• Types of drinks that must be prepared
• Number of drinks that must be prepared
• Number of attendees
• Hours of operation
• Amount of bar-back work that must be performed by
  the bartender
• Applicable union and company human resources
  policies

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Bartenders

• You will need at least one bartender per bar.
• For large events, you should request two
  bartenders for each bar plus any wine-service
  personnel needed for the meal.
• For small beverage functions you may need two
  bartenders, or more, if the event is scheduled
  for only 45 minutes to one hour.
• In this case, speed is a high priority.
• With such a short time frame, attendees normally
  swamp the bar to make sure they get their desired
  number of drinks before it closes.
• One bartender may be unable to handle this
  onslaught.

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• For large beverage functions, such as a
  convention's opening-night cocktail reception, a
  caterer generally will try to get by with one
  bartender for every 100 attendees.
• This is a standard ratio in the industry.
• The meeting planner should consider a ratio of
  one bartender for every 75 guests, which usually
  is the minimum necessary if you expect all
  attendees to arrive at the same time.
• If there are not enough bartenders when a crowd
  hits the door, some attendees may have to wait
  too long to get a drink.

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Cashiers

• Cashiers are used to sell drink tickets.
• Normally you need only one cashier if the catered
  function is small and/or if it is a leisurely
  event where attendees are not pressed for time.
• Larger functions, as well as those where speed is
  essential, require more cashiers.
• In such cases, generally you will need to request
  one cashier for every two bartenders.

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Servers

• Depending on the type of event, the caterer will
  have to schedule one or more of these types of
  servers
• Maître dhôtel
• Captain
• Food server
• Cocktail server
• Sommelier
• Food runner
• Busperson

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Server duties

• Crumbing tables
• Bussing tables
• Carrying loaded trays
• Stacking trays
• Emptying trays
• Tableside preparation
• Using different service styles
• Handling last-minute requests and complaints
• Directing guests to other facilities in the
  property
• Handling disruptions
• Dealing with intoxicated attendees
• Refusing liquor service to minors
• Requisitioning tableware and napery  

• Napkin folds
• Table settings
• Placing table pads and tablecloths
• Presetting foods and greeting/seating guests
• Taking food/beverage orders
• Serving food and beverage
• Submitting FB orders to chefs and bartenders
• Opening wine bottles
• Pouring wine
• Hot beverage service
• Cold beverage service

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Service Ratios

• Number of service personnel needed to handle a
  given number of attendees is established by the
  caterer.
• The number of service personnel needed depends on
  many factors.
• The primary ones are
• Number of attendees
• Length of the catered function
• Style of service used
• Menu, especially its length and complexity
• Timing of the event

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Cont

• Room setup
• Location of function room
• Overtime required
• Number of head-table attendees
• Number and type of extraordinary requests
• Applicable union and company human resources
  policies

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Service Ratios

• Many caterers will budget one server for every 32
  attendees at a meal function regardless of the
  style of service, the type of menu, or whether
  the servers are responsible for wine service.

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Service Ratios

• Service is critical.
• Many excellent meals are ruined by poor service.
• Service levels can run from one server per 8
  guests to one server per 40 guests.
• Most caterers staffing guides allow for the 1 to
  32 ratio.
• Meeting planners should try to get 1 to 20 or 1
  to 16 if there is poured wine or banquet French
  service.

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Captains

• Request at least one banquet captain for each
  catered event.
• For very large meal functions, one banquet
  captain should be scheduled for every block of
  250 attendees (i.e., for every block of 25 rounds
  of 10).
• Alternatively, a banquet captain could be
  scheduled for every 10 to 12 servers.

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• Meeting planners should insist on a set-by time
  of approximately 15 minutes before the function
  begins.
• This is when all FB and service staff should be
  ready to go.
• Begin alerting attendees by starting the music,
  dimming the lights in the prefunction area,
  ringing chimes, or making announcements to signal
  attendees that it is time to enter the function
  room.
• Servers should be standing ready at their
  stations when attendees walk into the room, not
  against the wall talking with each other.

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• For most conventional meal functions, the salad
  course usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes and
  the main course about 30 to 50 minutes, from
  serving to removing of plates.
• Dessert usually can be handled in 20 to 30
  minutes.
• Normally the entire banquet service is 1 1/4
  hours for the typical luncheon and 2 hours for
  the typical dinner event.

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Support Departments

• Kitchen
• Beverage
• Purchasing
• Receiving Storeroom
• Housekeeping
• Convention Service
• Maintenance
• Engineering
• Property Manager
• Steward

• Print Shop
• Room Service
• Human Resources
• Controller
• Security
• Sales
• Front Office
• Audio Visual
• Recreation
• Entertainment
• Business Services