Expert: Kay Cole - 6/21/2010

Question
QUESTION: I have catered for many years.  I am putting together a Holiday Feast dinner for 500 people.  I am curious on your approach to serving this many people at a time.  They will be served family style.  My idea is to mentally split the room in two and serve 250 or half the room from one hallway.  Then serve the other 250 from the opposite hall (this is a big church auditorium).  We would have servers work in teams, come through a "line" to dish up each item in a bowl and have each table served in "teams" at once.  I am thinking 24 servers for each side.  How would you suggest doing this?  Thank You!

ANSWER: Hi - I think that your idea of the two serving/dish up lines on opposite hallways is an excellent idea.  It sounds like you plan for the 24 servers to do their own dish up and then run the food to the table, in teams with a team taking all items to one table.

I might suggest considering taking those same 24 people - and having some dish up only people...one for each item...plus one expeditor and maybe one runner should items on the serving/dish up table need replenishing from the kitchen. You know how it is with dish up on a plated dinner...the first one takes more time than any of the others...just getting your rhythm - the dish up portion would go a lot quicker with the same folks  doing their one thing. Then, depending on the number of items and the length of the table, the expeditor can get those dishes, if necessary to the end of the table for pick up. Your servers are lined up in groups of the number of items either they can carry or if one item per server, waiting for their dish up -  they run those out to each table with all items hitting that particular table at the same time.

You may not need so many people - I guess depending on how far they have to go to drop the food...does not sound like too far with your planned set up...But, each team should be back in the server wait line before the dishers could have more ready with less servers.  Sounds like a good smooth, quick set up you have planned.

Next time you are at the church - I would be an imaginary walk thru of the timing to see how long you would guess it would take a team of servers to go to the farthermost table from the dish up area and get back to the dish up table - to figure how many you will actually need.

I hope these thoughts help...but, it sounds like you already have a good handle on it. Best of luck. K

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Fantastic.. Thank you!  Would you think the same amount of people would be enough to clear tables?  I think so, but I am stepping in after another person and she had another set of "table busers" which I think is too many people which just causes confusion and bodies bumping into each other ha!  My thought is to have half clear tables with the other half serving dessert which is a warm chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream.  What is the normal ratio of servers vs. seated people?  Any ideas on how to keep ice cream frozen?  I am thinking doing ahead of time and plate it on speed racks and roll them out and serve..  Thank you so much for your time.. I appreciate the feedback.

Answer
Definitely, the servers should be the busers and desert servers...too many people is almost as bad as not enough! The industry norm I think is 1 per 25 on a banquet meal...you might could get by with less perhaps when you get up there with larger figures...and, especially since you are serving family style - are the items such that a server can carry 2 bowls at once? Even if you had 3 or 4 people with one item each... it is just boom and 10 people are served and they walk back and get in line to get their next set of bowls for another table. I would have 1-30 -

Now I am going to ask - what were you thinking with warm chocolate chip cookie and ice cream??!!  Sounds delishious for the 500 guests...trouble for you.  That ice cream is going to have to go on as they go out - but, why not have them plated as you planned on speed racks and have two people with big tub scooping and dropping on plate at those two hallway plate up tables...servers grab and go. You might consider switching servers with dippers during this process....one's arm is not going to be able to handle 75 or a hundred dips!  I think anything done ahead of time is going to be more prep trouble than it is worth...plus you have the storage issue.  But, I believe you can certainly do it all with the original set of workers.

Hagen Daz has some darling little individual ice cream tubs - for one person...what about putting a number of those in an ice tub - it could look pretty neat..(prep and stick in freezer) and doing a platter of warm cookies for each table following the family style theme. Dropping those two items would be easy and quick...just a thought!

You will be fine...sounds like you are thinking this through well...which is the secret of success.

Write back if you need to bounce off anything else...happy to brain storm with you.
K
ps - I am going on a vacation from Wednesday to the next Wednesday and have set this thing up to advise same if someone writes..