Catering is a challenging business, and it requires tenacity and a mind capable of imagining any disaster that could happen. It’s because you’ll need to think ahead and plan for anything.
If you happen to live in Kent, England, professional catering service solutions are available from some companies when you’re searching for a fix to your equipment. But if your problems are related more to operations and customer concerns, you need to tackle them yourself.
Talk to your client
Most of the problems caterers encounter happen because of poor planning. One of the most common problems in catering is the amount of food served at the event. Some customers complain that the food wasn’t enough or it was too much.
Some caterers even fail to consider the duration of an event. They may have prepared meals for a lunch event, only to find out that it extended to the afternoon. When afternoon came, the caterers no longer have food to serve the hungry guests.
Some caterers also experienced a problem wherein they served food to someone with a food allergy. Suffering from a food allergy is a dangerous thing, and a person could die if no one administers first aid or appropriate anti-allergy medication.
But you could easily avoid these mishaps as long as you talk to your client and get all the details you need. Prior to the event, ask about the number of attendees, the duration of the event, and specific dietary requirements of the guests.
Staff issues
When you’re talking to your client, you should assess how many people you’re going to need for the event. Some catering disasters occur because there are not enough people to cook food and handle guests.
Staffing is a common problem amongst caterers. It’s not easy to maintain a large crew for a catering business. Not only is it costly, but employees often leave for a higher paying job. But there’s a way to fix this. If you search online, you can find people willing to work part-time for an event. That way, you’ll be able to get enough people to help in your event and at the same time, you can minimize your expenses.
Cleanup issues
Another common problem amongst caterers is the cleanup part of their job. They need to clean their equipment as quickly as possible. On top of that, they need to do it without disrupting the event.
It can be especially difficult if the event is a keynote speech. It’s a tough task clearing all the plates and glasses, without making too much noise that can interrupt the speaker.
So, in order to avoid any disasters in this area, you should ensure that your waiters are adept in working in complete silence. If you’re hiring part-time waiters, make sure they’ve worked in the catering business before.
In addition, ask your client if you could check out the venue before the event. When you get there, take note of the whole venue and see how tight it’s going to be during the event. This way, you can come up with a route for your waiters that will prevent them from colliding with the guests.
The route will also help prevent your waiters from barring the guests from seeing the stage. That is if the event requires the guests to have their eyes focused on the front stage.
The catering business has its challenges and for those who aren’t adept in planning, it may be too overwhelming. But as long as you know how to plan out the event properly, you can have a thriving catering business with the least amount of problems.
