What should I ask catering service staff to handle?
Is drinks service enough, or should the staff also look after the tables? When arranging catering, it is not always easy to decide how much to entrust to a service team.
Start with the kind of occasion you want. Would you like time to talk with your guests? Would you prefer them to help themselves freely to food and drinks? Once you can picture that time together, the service you need becomes clearer.
Check the arrangements for food and service separately
Providers arrange service staff in different ways. Some use their own team; others work with partners who specialise in service.
Preparing the food and setting up are different tasks from serving drinks and clearing empty plates during the event. When you enquire, check how much service is included with the food and who will arrange any staff needed.
Decide the scope by how you want to spend the occasion
For example, you might want guests to help themselves from a buffet while staff pour the drinks. In that case, the team could take responsibility for serving drinks and managing the glasses.
If you want to concentrate on greeting valued clients and talking with them, you may also want staff to look after the tables. Having someone circulate to collect empty plates and glasses reduces the tasks the host must attend to each time.
If your colleagues are handling reception or acting as MC, consider those responsibilities too. Tell us what your team will do on the day and how you want to spend time with your guests; we can then work through the scope together.
At HKG, we consider service that suits the atmosphere
HKG works with partners to arrange service staff whose manner and attentiveness suit the occasion. When serving drinks or clearing plates, we value care that does not interrupt a greeting, a speech or the flow of conversation.
I ask whom you are welcoming and what kind of time you want to create. We then consider the staff’s duties and positions in relation to the food service and the programme.
For drinks and floor service, our guide is approximately one service staff member for every 20 guests. By floor service, we mean circulating through the venue to clear empty tableware and glasses. We propose the actual numbers and division of responsibilities according to the size of the venue, the programme and the scope you require.
You can enquire before deciding the scope
A conversation can begin with something like this:
We are hosting a standing reception for clients. We would like to focus on talking with our guests, so we are considering help with drinks and the tables. How much would you suggest entrusting to the service team?
This is an example enquiry. You do not need to select job roles or staff numbers at the outset. We ask about the occasion and explain the service required and its cost.
On our website, you can select your preferences and see an approximate cost before submitting an enquiry. The “Staff numbers, roles and fees” information in the Service section may also be helpful.
If the approach and details seem right for you, share what is already known. We can discuss the responsibilities around the time you want to spend with your guests.