How to get the most out of your waiting staff

Here are our suggestions:

• Allow time to brief your staff. For house parties we generally recommend that the staff arrive 1 hour before your guests. This will give you time to talk to the staff tell them what you expect from them and and which tasks you want them to perform. At the same time it will give the staff enough to time to set up, familiarise with the suroundings and ask questions.
• Show the staff where the glassware, crockery, cutlery, food and drinks are. If you hired anything please show the staff where everything needs to go back to and whether it needs to be cleaned or not.
• Tell the staff how you think the event will run. For a Drinks & Canapes reception an example would be:
• Guests will arrive at 7pm and I would like you to collect coats and serve a drink
• Canapes will be served from 7.30pm to 9pm
• At 9pm we will serve the last drink
• At 10pm we expect all guests to leave
•  For Private dinners an example would be:
• We will serve an aperitif and some canapes in the garden
• I would like you to serve this guest first and then go cloakwise or please serve all the ladies first then the men and then me.
• We would like a swift service/relaxed service with 10 minutes in between courses
• We will serve this white and this red, then this dessert wine with the puddings. If you need extra bottles they are/we only have 3 bottles if we finish them please come and see me.
• Where to clear, do you recycle, where does the rubbish go
• In a nut shell: delegate, relax, enjoy!

Outside Catering check list

If you have hired a venue and are taking care of food, drinks, crockery, cutlery and equipment, you might want to take a look at this check list as in our experience clients, from time to time, forget simple but essential items:

• Tables, Table cloths, Napkins
• Crockery, Butter plate, Salt&Pepper
• Serving trays, Trays to present the food, Serving cutlery, Cutlery
• Buckets/containers to chill and store beverages, Glassware (check if the glasses will be delivered clean and above all polished/ready to use), Bottle openers (in case we leave before the party ends),Jugs for soft drinks
• Ice to chill drinks and to use for drinks, Ice buckets, Ice coolers, Tongs for ice
• Rubbish bin, Rubbish bags, Tea Towels, Sponges, Kitchen roll